”Så går ock til/ när wåld för rätt regerar i et land”. Historieskrivning och fabelbruk i Polska Kongars Saga och Skald (1736)

Summary, in English

In 1736, a volume entitled Polska Kongars Saga och Skald (Saga and Song of Polish Kings) was published at the royal printing house in Stockholm. The rulers of Poland, from the nation’s foundation up to the present day, are here portrayed in 51 individual chapters, each of which contains an engraving of the monarch, an historical sketch in prose, and a concluding comment in verse. Apart from discussing the attribution of this unusual work, the article specifically investigates the verse comments, arguing that the delineation of Poland’s history is used primarily as a stock of exempla, being explained in terms of virtues and vices in the terminating poems. In particular, the chapters on the medieval rulers Bolesław V and Ludwik I are scrutinized. Both of them employ verse fables by Jean de La Fontaine, translated into Swedish, as moralizing end comments on the historical events, a fact – it is shown – of remarkable significance within the fable tradition as well as the La Fontaine reception in eighteenth century Sweden.

• Author: Erik Zillén
• Editor: Magdalena Wasilewska-Chmura; Ewa Data-Bukowska
• Department/s: Comparative Literature
• Publishing year: 2013
• Language: Swedish
• Pages: 181-196
• Publication/Series: Filologiskt smörgåsbord 2. Vetenskapliga bidrag från skandinavistiken i Kraków
• Document type: Book chapter
• Publisher: Jagellonian University, Cracow, Poland
• Topic: Languages and Literature
• Keywords: Johan Göstaf Hallman (1701–57); history; Polish kings; exempla; fables; La Fontaine
• Status: Published
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISBN: 978-83-233-3598-6