Massimo Ciaravolo

Massimo Ciaravolo is an Associate Professor of Nordic Languages and Literatures (SSD: GERM-01/D) at the Department of Comparative Linguistic and Cultural Studies, Ca' Foscari University of Venice. He holds office hours at Ca' Bembo and teaches Scandinavian Literatures across multiple degree programs including European, American and Postcolonial Languages and Literatures, and Languages, Civilizations and Language Sciences. His academic career spans from 1996 as Researcher at the University of Milan, Associate Professor at the University of Florence (2005-2017), and at Ca' Foscari since 2017.

Graduating in 1990 with a degree in Scandinavian Languages and Literatures from the University of Milan, Ciaravolo specialized in Swedish with a thesis on Hjalmar Söderberg's literary criticism. His research focuses on modern and contemporary Scandinavian literature, particularly examining the experience of modernity and urban life in late 19th and early 20th century Swedish, Swedish-Finnish, Norwegian, and Danish literature. He has published three monographs (1994, 2000, 2022) and numerous scholarly articles, with special emphasis on August Strindberg's work. He edited and co-authored the History of Scandinavian Literatures (2019).

Ciaravolo's scholarly output demonstrates consistent focus on Scandinavian literary traditions, with recent publications analyzing Eyvind Johnson's autobiographical novels, translating key Swedish literary works including Hjalmar Söderberg's 'The Youth of Martin Birck' and August Strindberg's poetry. His research spans multiple dimensions of Scandinavian literary culture from urban narratives and humor studies to memory representation and individual-collective identity dynamics.

Scientific Awards and Recognition:

• Literary prize from the Swedish Literature Association in Finland (2001) for 'En ungdomsvän från Sverige' (2000)
• Swedish Academy Prize (2023) for 'introducing Swedish culture abroad'

Ciaravolo has served as thesis advisor for numerous students since 2005 and has been a member of doctoral committees at the Universities of Turin, Florence, and since 2022 at Ca' Foscari. He has secured multiple research grants including FFABR funding from MIUR (2017), and several Swedish institutional grants for Swedish language teaching at Ca' Foscari from Svenska Institutet, Fondazione Lerici, and Pro Venezia Sweden. He also participated in competitive research projects including 'ScandLit' and 'Forme e modi dell'autorialità nella cultura europea.'

As an active member of the international academic community, Ciaravolo serves on editorial boards of major Scandinavian studies journals including European Journal of Scandinavian Studies (as co-editor since 2025), Tidskrift för litteraturvetenskap, Annali di Ca' Foscari, and the Scientific Committee of 'Scandinavica Venetiana.' He has organized four international conferences in Italy (2009, 2013, 2015, 2019) and has been a referee for the Bank of Sweden's Riksbankens Jubileumsfond since 2022.