A scientific and practical seminar “Scandinavian detective” was held at the Department of Germanic Philology and Scandinavian Studies

A scientific and practical seminar “Scandinavian detective” was held at the Department of Germanic Philology and Scandinavian Studies.
This is not the first time such a seminar has been held, attracting young researchers to the problem of studying this genre. The Scandinavian detective story is very popular among readers, and every year the attention of philologists, both literary critics and linguists, is increasingly drawn to it. Scientists are interested in this genre primarily for its non-standard and syncretic nature. This property of the genre, as well as its other striking features, characteristic of a number of works, was the subject of a report by Yulia Evgenievna Kozina.

Natalya Gennadievna Sharapenkova, Doctor of Philology, immersed the audience even more into the specifics of the Scandinavian detective story, referring to one of the most popular novels by P. Høg “Smilla and Her Sense of Snow”. The reports presented at the seminar were very diverse: about the images of detectives and criminals, the problems of self-identification of heroes, the problems of modern society, about the detective story in children’s literature, about the specifics of translation of works and even the methodology of using the detective in education.

The seminar was attended by graduate students of St. Petersburg State University. Anastasia Lavrentieva shared her experience of translating the novel by Thomas Marko Blatt “Lake Varsjoen” from Norwegian into Russian, and Anastasia Bezukladnikova told how in a Norwegian school in the classroom they turn to the educational animated series “School Mystery”, which, despite its specificity, has characteristic features Scandinavian detective.

The variety of the presented works was also noted by the lecturer of the Swedish Institute Camilla Wristel, who now teaches Swedish at PetrSU:

All reports were very different, but incredibly interesting.

The high level of the reports and the interest of the participants themselves caused a lively discussion after each presentation. The listeners noted that they were inspired by the theme of studying a Scandinavian detective story.