Signe Karlstrom Lectures

Haugtussa, Edward Greig (1898)

Tessa Romano, mezzo-soprano

César Cañon, piano

Sonata for cello and Piano, Edward Grieg (1882)

Clamavi, Arne Nordheim (1980)

Katri Ervamaa, cello

Naki Sung Kripfgans, piano

August Strindberg and His Turbulent Life lecture by Lena Einhorn. Swedish author and playwright August Strindberg – a brilliant and yet highly controversial personage – died a hundred years ago this year. He is considered by many to be the best author who ever wrote in the Swedish language. But Strindberg is known not only for his extensive body of work, but also for his complicated personality, which combined a deep-rooted misogyny with an attraction to strong women (to name only one of his many contradictions). Consequently Strindberg has become known, and hotly debated, not only for what he wrote, but also for how he lived.

Nina's Journey movie screening followed by a discussion with the director, Lena Einhorn. The true story of one woman's struggle to escape the Nazi pogroms of World War II inspired this historical drama from writer and director Lena Einhorn. Nina Rajmic (Agnieszka Grochowska) was born and raised in Warsaw, but when Poland was invaded by Germany, she and her family discovered their nationality didn't matter as much as the fact they were Jewish. Nina, her brother Rudolph (Pawel Iwanicki) and her parents were driven from their home and relocated to the Warsaw ghetto, where they became second-class citizens and learned first hand about the ruthlessness of the Third Reich. While Nina and Rudolph were lucky enough to survive the abuse that the occupying forces meted out, their parents were not so lucky, and in time Nina fled Poland in the company of fellow student Jerzy Einhorn (Andrzej Niemczyk) and settled in Sweden, where they completed their education and enjoyed successful careers in medicine. Ninas Resa (aka Nina's Journey) was adapted from Lena Einhorn's book about the life of her mother Nina Rajmic-Einhorn, with recordings of Nina used on the soundtrack for narration.

The Making of Equality: Social Processes and Swedish Experiences &

The Union of Europe: From Europeanization to Global Ambition and Global Subservience

Both lectures by Göran Therborn, Director of the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study in the Social Sciences, Uppsala, and University Professor of Sociology at Uppsala University.

Ideas of Wealth and Welfare in Sweden and the USA Two lectures by David Östlund, historian and Fulbright-lecturer from Stockholm University.

"Social Engineering": From Benevolent Business Efficiency to the Experts' Welfare State "Social engineering" became a catchword among American progressives in the interwar period. In recent decades it has often been used with reference to Swedish society as the epitome of the rationally planned welfare state. The concept was originally launched in America in 1899, referring to a kind of expert-guided benevolence on the part of Big Business, seen as a partial solution to "the social question". This origin has immediate links to the group of Swedish "progressives" who shaped the first foundations of the Swedish welfare state in the start of the 20th century. Both contrasts and similarities with American thought shed new light over the Swedish way from "social war" to "social peace".

The Swedish Model: Soft-Socialism or Vigorous Capitalism with a Human Face? Since the 1930s Sweden has often appeared as a symbol in international debates. Cherished as an enviable ideal society by American left-liberals, Sweden has also been painted as a dystopia by conservatives. What gave this small country on the northern fringe of Europe its reputation to possess a unique "model"? Conspicuous economic prosperity? Cultural traits of modernist-rationalistic consensus? A comprehensive social security system? Were such features rooted in ancient national traditions and mentalities? Were they on the contrary a result of pure chance in the interplay between a unique set of social forces, such as a strong and autonomous business community? Or was the "People's Home" an edifice built by the Social Democrats, using their governmental power 1932-1976 to materialize the ideas of reformist socialism?

Scandinavian Chamber Music Concert #1 Faculty and students, including Soren Hermansson, Erling Blondal Bengtsson, Eric Ronmark, and the School of Music Chamber Choir, conducted by Jerry Blackstone. "Visions of Northern Sounds" a film portrait by Peter Berggren introduces us to maestro Eric Ericson, leading choral conductor of our age. Discussion with the director follows.

Scandinavian Chamber Music Concert #2 Featuring School of Music faculty and students, including Megan Besley accompanied by Steve McGhee.

The Poetic and Beautiful Scandinavia An exhibition of photography by Merete Blöndal Bengtsson

Two Lectures On Swedish Theater and Film by Swedish theater and film historian and translator Leif Janzon

Exorcising On Stage: Ingmar Bergman's Theater Since 1942, Ingmar Bergman's stage work in Sweden has been both controversial and celebrated. First seen at major theaters outside Stockholm, from the sixties at the Royal Dramatic Theater and at the Royal Opera, his productions have since the eighties also visited the USA. Leif Janzon has followed his work closely since the sixties and shows the continuous interaction between his theater and his films and TV productions, with "the Bergman actors" as an important common denominator. Bergman's work is also considered in its cultural, social, and biographical context. Cosponsored by Film and Video Studies.

The Smile Of Garbo: The Emigrant One of the most fascinating and elusive film stars of our times, Garbo rose early to cult status. Née Greta Gustafson from the poor South Side of Stockholm, she – like so many Swedes before her – became a US emigrant. To most Swedes, Garbo's is not a mysterious, but an easily comprehensible Swedish fate, one among hundreds of thousands of compatriots, who out of poverty, ambition, and dreams, were forced to leave their physical and spiritual home. Her professional and private life is seen by Leif Janzon as emblematic of Sweden's social transformation since the late 19th century.

Biographical Notes Leif Janzon (b. 1944) has written extensively on modern Swedish theatre (in Swedish and English), and been a lecturer at several universities, both in Sweden and internationally. He is a librettist; his recent works include the opera "Trädgården" (The Garden; music Jonas Forssell), about Swedish scientist Carl von Linnaeus; and the musical "Kejsarinnan" (The Empress; music Mikael Wiehe), based on Selma Lagerlöf’s novel "Kejsaren av Portugallien."

He is also a translator of novels, plays, musicals, essays and poetry. Among writers translated are Norman Mailer, William Faulkner, Seamus Heaney, James Purdy and Arthur Koestler.

The Night Walkers By Kristina Lugn, Translated from the Swedish by Verne Moberg. A staged reading directed by Robert Greer, featuring Yvette Edelhart and Meg Gibson. With an introductory talk by the translator about the author and the play.