The forgotten 33%? Finland-Swedish literature from a database perspective

University of Eastern Finland DRDHum 2024 Conference Submission26 Authors

Keywords: Finland-Swedish literature, databases, digital archives

TL;DR: The impact of datatabases in the visibilty/invisibility of Finland-Swedish authors.

Abstract:

In the digital era, one could say, that literary history is partly written and shaped in databases and digital archives, via metadata about authors and literature. What is the impact of such resources on the visibility – or invisibility – of authors of literary work? And to what extent is the Finland-Swedish minority literature “forgotten” seen from a database perspective?
In my paper, I will approach these questions with starting point in my research on the amount of database references, and secondary literature about the group of Finland-Swedish authors writing in 1830–1930 (Biström 2021). The study builds on information especially in the database Finna (finna.fi), and bibliographies. My ongoing research focuses the group of “invisible authors” – those with no relevant database references in searches with the authors’ name as subject, exploring the question what the Finland-Swedish literary field looks like from the point of view of the invisible authors, with a theoretical starting point in the concept of cultural memory (Assmann 2010). Among other things, my data indicates that these forgotten authors represent – not 99% (Moretti 2013)- but around 33% of all the authors, which supports a point made by Kristina Malmio (2021) about Finland-Swedish literary history about the year of modernist debutants 1916.
The database or archive on which quantitative studies are based, is however not complete, as has been pointed out by Katherine Bode (2014: 7–25) in her critique of Franco Morettis’ claims to accuracy and objectivity. I have approached this issue with the concept of “database visibility” – which represents not only the actual amount of literature about an author, but rather the visibility and accessibility of this literature. From this perspective, the database or archive is not only an (imperfect) source of information, but also in itself an interesting objective for research. In my paper, I will also develop this concept a bit further against the background of the forgotten Finland-Swedish authors.

Literature:
Aleida Assmann, “Canon and Archive”, A Companion to Cultural Memory Studies, Astrid Erll & Ansgar Nünning (eds.), Berlin 2010.
Anna Biström, ”Forskarnas favoriter och det stora outforskade. En grovgenomgång av finländska skönlitterära författare på svenska 1830–1930 och deras synlighet i databasreferenser och sekundärlittertur”, Samlaren. Tidskrift för svenska och annan nordisk litteratur 142, 2021, s. 188–239.
Katherine Bode, Reading by Numbers. Recalibrating the Literary Field, London, New York, Delhi 2014.
Kristina Malmio, ”99%? En kvantitativ studie av litteratur publicerad på svenska i Finland året 1916”, Tonavan Laakso: Eine Festschrift für Johanna Laakso, Central European Uralic Studies 2, J Bradley (ed.), Wien 2022, s. 538–567.
Franco Moretti, ”The Slaughterhouse of Literature”, Franco Moretti, Distant Reading, London/New York 2013 [2000],

Submission Number: 26