https://www.ouvroir.fr/deshima/index.php?id=186 Publications de Auteurs Davide Finco fr 0 https://www.ouvroir.fr/deshima/index.php?id=682 Only a part of what we know and perceive depends on direct experiences, and we often have (or are forced) to integrate our knowledge with our deduction, imagination or hearsay, sometimes drawing inspiration from widespread prejudices. Erlend Loe’s protagonist has been commissioned a brochure on Finland for Norwegian tourists and wants to fulfil this task, even though he has never been there and he knows very little about the country. By collecting all the features he has heard of or read about (we could say all the mythemes) on Finland, he realizes that he already has of a great deal of ideas he can work on. Moreover, the accomplishment of this mission is constantly entwined with his psychological development and his facing of his inner troubles, from his fear of water—which always implies change—to his relationship with people and even natural space, in the town of Oslo, where the novel is set. In long, lively and very ironical monologues, which make up one unique discourse through the whole book, the construction of a suitable image of Finland for potential tourists develops in parallel with the protagonist’s awareness of his own situation, by passing through check points of reference, providential intuitions and unforeseen crises. Finland is built up with the help of a complex, unusual and questioned set of features, occasionally by transfiguring events which have just happened to the protagonist in such a way that offers him even temporary solutions to his troubles. Eventually, in spite of itself, this imagined country turns out to be not only a place to sell with all its attractions, but also a kind of alter-ego, a friend to rely on, a therapeutic course to escape one’s own frailties, as well as a threatening presence for this thirty–year–old, methodical, awkward, naïve and funny brochure writer. This paper aims to reconstruct the development of these different courses and highlight the multifaceted image of Finland conveyed by the novel, together with the multiplicity of purposes for which the idea of this country in the protagonist’s mind is used. mer., 01 oct. 2025 13:56:30 +0200 mer., 03 déc. 2025 10:57:55 +0100 https://www.ouvroir.fr/deshima/index.php?id=682 https://www.ouvroir.fr/deshima/index.php?id=175 In Björn Larsson’s novels and essays, Northern seas are experienced as one example of what the sea can offer human beings in terms of freedom from any boundaries and intimate relation with nature; at the same time, however, since his first literary attempts Larsson seems to have pointed out (or built up) an expansion of the Northern dimension when approaching life by and on the sea: this broader image has much to do with the traces of ancient Celts’ culture, as well as with his characters’ destinies and ambitions and, not least, his own accounts for real sea experiences. This paper provides meaningful examples of Larsson’s attitude and contribution to the representation of the Northern Sea, while reflecting on the role of the sea in his works. Dans les romans et les essais de Björn Larsson, les mers du Nord sont vécues comme un exemple de ce que la mer peut offrir aux êtres humains en termes de liberté de toute frontière et de relation intime avec la nature ; en même temps, cependant, depuis ses premières tentatives littéraires, Larsson semble avoir signalé (ou construit) une expansion de la dimension septentrionale en abordant la vie par et sur la mer : cette image plus large a beaucoup à voir avec les traces de l’ancien culture des Celtes, ainsi que les destins et les ambitions de ses personnages et, non des moindres, rend compte de ses propres expériences. Cet article fournit des exemples significatifs de l’attitude de Larsson et de sa contribution à la représentation de la mer du Nord, tout en réfléchissant au rôle de la mer dans ses œuvres. lun., 22 sept. 2025 09:46:18 +0200 mer., 03 déc. 2025 15:37:09 +0100 https://www.ouvroir.fr/deshima/index.php?id=175