| Summary: | This essay examines the specific uses of literature and the implications of the expression det allmänmänskliga (what is common to all mankind) emphasized in the subject of Swedish in the curriculum for the Swedish upper secondary school, GY 2011. Using discourse analysis as a method, this essay shows that the phrase det allmänmänskliga suggests teaching literature as a way to emphasize universal experiences over time and place, thus revealing an implication of the nineteenth-century idea of World Literature. Furthermore, this essay shows that the challenges inherent in the phrase det allmänmänskliga, and its implications for World Literature, require new didactic strategies and approaches to designing courses and teaching literature. In relation to this, the essay examines theories that focus on approaches to teaching World Literature and the uses of narration as a means to understand and emphasize the specifics of World Literature and the universal experiences. The final part of this essay examines the recent use of the concept of narrativ kompetens (narrative competence) emphasizing interaction and key elements of the reading experience as a specific way to understand and approach fiction. This essay concludes that the inherent benefits of narrativ kompetens combined with approaches to teaching World Literature, seem to offer great possibilities fulfilling the obligations and the specific uses of literature suggested in the curriculum for the Swedish upper secondary school.
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