In the research area of historicity and historiography, we study what it means to approach literature from the past, and how the narrative of the past is established and changed.
Many researchers in literary studies at Stockholm University study literature before 1800. The period after 1800 and modernism are also central research areas. Our teaching is characterised by a historicising perspective with chronological studies of Western literature. Thus, we constantly ask questions about the historicity of texts, and we encounter and rethink previous historiography. Our focus on historicity and historiography is characterised by theoretical reflection on temporality. The area includes many theoretical perspectives with a focus on historicity, from edition philology, textual criticism and archival studies to memory studies, reception studies, hermeneutics and critical perspectives on periodisation.