LITTERÄRA OCH ANDRA KONSTNÄRLIGA EXEMPEL I INTERNATIONELL OLYMPISK KONTEXT

Abstract

The fifth modern Olympic Games were held in Stockholm in 1912 and therefore count among the first in Olympic history, and the first on Scandinavian soil. It was also the first time that representatives from all five continents took part, only later symbolically recognized at the Olympic Games in Antwerp in 1920 with the introduction of the five-ringed Olympic flag. From the start of the Olympic Games, until 1948 in London, the competition included painting, sculpture, music, literature and architecture as Olympic events. Sports competitions, which 'offered historically anchored and peaceful forms of contest between national states', according to the Olympic movement's leader, Pierre de Coubertin, would be complemented by international contests involving different arts representing sport. The idea was that artistic representation could reflect and inspire a certain perfection of the sporting idea itself. Examining the culture-historical context, this study provides an analytical-interpretative understanding of the literary element of the Olympic Arts Competitions, regarded as a thematic-typical literary phenomenon. In addition, literary documents about the experience of Olympic participation from the perspective of athletes are also analysed (diaries by Karl Lukk and David Wiman).