Dr. Mats Jansson

Biography

Mats Jansson is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Gothenburg, whose research primarily explores literary criticism, lyrical modernism, and reception history. His doctoral thesis, 'Tradition och förnyelse' (1991), critically analyzes Swedish lyrical reception of T.S. Eliot, highlighting its significant influence on the evolution of Swedish lyrical modernism during the 1930s and 1940s. He has translated selections of Eliot's criticism in 'Om kritik' (2002). Jansson's monograph, 'Den siste barden' (2005), investigates the literary contributions of the Swedish modernist poet and painter Sven Alfons, focusing on intertextuality and the aesthetics of Alfons' work. His further explorations include the concept of ekphrasis in poetic expression from the Romantic era to Postmodernism, as demonstrated in 'Poetens blick' (2014). Jansson also contributed to co-editing a project on the interplay between photography and literature in the modernist period, investigating how images affect the perception of literary texts. Currently, he focuses on the writings of Folke Dahlberg, addressing themes of landscape, memory, and time in Dahlberg's work.

Research Interests