Literature in use

♥♥♥♥♥ Jes Stein Pedersen, Politiken
"The liberation movement has been a reality for a long time, but sometimes it takes a significant book release to establish that a new reality has indeed arrived. That the old world is falling and that a new one is rising itself (...) Reality has overtaken the decrees of the academic literature police, because there is of course no contradiction between enjoying literature for its own sake, while at the same time experiencing what it accomplishes in relation to one's own feelings and understandings and the common culture . Can a literary successful collection of poems about growing up in a ghetto contribute to the social debate? Yes. Can a testimonial novel about violence against girls and women in Kurdistan be 'used' by its readers? Yes. Does literature's constant exploration of what it means to be human grow , into various professions and fields of knowledge? Yes. Lock in the enchantment (...)
'Literature in use' does not push a single point over the edge, but contains a learned, well-laid out and inspiring bouquet of studies, which point to an enormous untapped potential in literature, but also to much of what is already underway."

★★★★★ Svend Skriver, Kristeligt Dagblad
New anthology by Anne-Marie Mai is a milestone in Danish literary research (...)
It is rare that one is emotionally gripped by reading literary texts, but that is actually the case here (...)
A solid and impressive book that you will return to again and again.


Literature in use offers a kaleidoscopic look at different forms of use of literature. How can contemporary fiction and poetry function as dynamic actors in Danish and Scandinavian cultural life – what does literature do? What are the connections between literature and a diverse range of institutions and professions? How is literature used by, for example, the church or in social work? In law and political debate, or in the training of doctors? How is literature taught at school, and are there new opportunities? And what can we learn from discussions of literature in psychology and sociology? Alongside this, the concept of use, existing definitions of literature and the need for new theories and methods are widely discussed.

Literature in Use is an introduction to current debates and trends in literary studies, including the growing interest in unsettled literary studies and making them more open to connecting with other fields, contributing to other fields and to public life .
Niels Bohr professor Rita Felski, University of Southern Denmark/University of Virginia opens the book, and the contributions all relate to Felski's pioneering thinking and works in the field.

Paper cut for cover: Simon Væth

CONTENTS
Rita Felski
PREFACE

Anne-Marie May
INTRODUCTION

Lars Handesten
LITERATURE IN USE
The social status of literature and a status of the users of literature

Jon Helt Haarder 43
UTILITY THEFT
Theory, method and the unruliness of literary fact

Dan Ringgaard
USER READING AT CAFFE DANTE

Nikolaj Elf, Tina Høegh and Vibeke Christensen
USE OF LITERATURE IN SCHOOL AND TEACHING

Johanne Gormsen Schmidt
"OVERCOME THE NEED TO INTERPRET"
New reading strategies and new literature

Anne-Marie May
WORDS THAT CAN BE USED
About poetic actors in Naja Marie Aidts
If death has taken something from you, give it back. Carl's book

Camilla Schwartz
THE AUTHOR AS READER
Literature in use by Karl Ove Knausgård, Tomas Espedal and Pablo Llambías

Tue Andersen Nexø
THE TRUTH IS SIMPLE AND WARRIOR
Engaged literature and the political use of the particularly literary

Karen-Margrethe Simonsen
THE MAN WHO BROKE HIMSELF OUT OF PRISON
On the court's use of stories and stories about human rights

Patrick Fessenbecker, Klaus Petersen and Bryan Yazell
IDEA, INSPIRATION OR ILLUSTRATION?
When social scientists use the literature

Anders Juhl Rasmussen and Anita Wohlmann
NARRATIVES AND EMPATHY
The use of literature in narrative medicine

Mogens Lindhardt
USE OF LITERATURE IN THE PEOPLE'S CHURCH

Svend Brinkmann
USE OF LITERATURE FROM A CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW

Marie-Elisabeth Lei Holm
“I JUST WANT TO READ ABOUT SOMEONE WHO HAS COME
OUT OF THIS SHIT”
Use of literature in social work