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This dissertation aims to explore the tension between modernism and local-colour literature as registered in the works of four Swedish writers from the immediate post-war era: the novels Hitom himlen (‘This Side of Heaven’, 1946) by Stina Aronson (1892–1956), Bröllopsbesvär (‘Wedding Worries’, 1949) by Stig Dagerman (1923–1954), and Tjärdalen (‘The Tar Still’, 1953) by Sara Lidman (1923–2004), as well as the short story ‘Pingstbrud’ (‘Whitsun Bride’) from the prose collection Nyare berättelser (‘Newer Stories’, 1949) by Tage Aurell (1895–1976). How are the provincial communities in these works portrayed socially and linguistically? In what ways, discursively and narratologically, has the setting been traellnsformed into a literary mate­rial and applied as part of a deliberate poetics? Is it possible to understand these works as a distinctive literary movement in the history of Swedish literature? The examination of the individual works approaches these questions through a linguistic and narrative analysis, that focuses on the use of dialects, free indirect discourse, and certain context-specific discourses, such as gossip, as well as the portrayal of the social norms of the rural communities portrayed. The analysis is also conducted against a backdrop of con­textual information, such as contemporary reviews and authorial reflections on their craft and their apprehensions regarding language. The dissertation re-examines so called neo-provincialism (‘nyprovinsialism’), a sup­posed school of literature in the 1950s and rejects the term in favour of the concept of modernist depictions of rural communities (modernistisk bygdeskildring), while turning to the sources of the notion: the provincial authors of the late 1940s and their original take on local-colour literature. This dissertation shows that reviewers considered their works as occupying an “avantgarde po­sition” and compared them to the ruling modernist school of the decade, 40-talisterna. The individual analyse

This dissertation aims to explore the tension between modernism and local-colour literature as registered in the works of four Swedish writers from the immediate post-war era: the novels Hitom himlen (‘This Side of Heaven’, 1946) by Stina Aronson (1892–1956), Bröllopsbesvär (‘Wedding Worries’, 1949) by Stig Dagerman (1923–1954), and Tjärdalen (‘The Tar Still’, 1953) by Sara Lidman (1923–2004), as well as the short story ‘Pingstbrud’ (‘Whitsun Bride’) from the prose collection Nyare berättelser (‘Newer Stories’, 1949) by Tage Aurell (1895–1976). How are the provincial communities in these works portrayed socially and linguistically? In what ways, discursively and narratologically, has the setting been traellnsformed into a literary mate­rial and applied as part of a deliberate poetics? Is it possible to understand these works as a distinctive literary movement in the history of Swedish literature? The examination of the individual works approaches these questions through a linguistic and narrative analysis, that focuses on the use of dialects, free indirect discourse, and certain context-specific discourses, such as gossip, as well as the portrayal of the social norms of the rural communities portrayed. The analysis is also conducted against a backdrop of con­textual information, such as contemporary reviews and authorial reflections on their craft and their apprehensions regarding language. The dissertation re-examines so called neo-provincialism (‘nyprovinsialism’), a sup­posed school of literature in the 1950s and rejects the term in favour of the concept of modernist depictions of rural communities (modernistisk bygdeskildring), while turning to the sources of the notion: the provincial authors of the late 1940s and their original take on local-colour literature. This dissertation shows that reviewers considered their works as occupying an “avantgarde po­sition” and compared them to the ruling modernist school of the decade, 40-talisterna. The individual analyse

Stina Aronson (1892–1956) is a celebrated Swedish modernist who published twenty-five works during the first part of the 20th century. Her writings are considered to be progressive and ethical due to extensive feminist and eco-critical research. Aronson’s novel Hitom himlen(This Side of Heaven, 1946) captures the life in upper Northern Sweden, in the Torne Valley, during the beginning of 20th century. In this thesis, I examine the narrative by placing it in relation to the racial hierarchies permeating society during the initial decades of the 20th century. The Finnish-speaking minority living in the Torne Valley came to be considered racially different from the national majority, due to national and international race science – today understood as scientific racism– and anthropology. My analysis shows how the characters are racialized using such ideas as the Mongolian theory and the cephalic index. It is further made evident that the novel captures a perception claiming the so-called ‘Finns’ were of an inferior race. And further, the belief that a mixture of Swedish, Finnish and Sami blood had weakened the group genetically. The mixture of races was defined as a serious threat to the Swedish population, who was regarded as the whitest and purest population on earth. Aronson captures this belief of a future extinction by depicting the death and illness of the youngest generation in the novel. Furthermore, the main character, Emma Niskanpää, believes that she meets God during the church service at the yearly holiday Marie bebådelsedag. I argue though, that the man she encounters is a fictitious Herman Lundborg (1868–1943), the most prominent of the Swedish race biologists, who, in reality, repeatedly performed skull measurement during this celebration. Directly following on this encounter, the ”deaf-and-dumb” daughter of the family Renström is buried along with several others and Emma Niskanpää’s son falls ill with tuberculosis. In this way, the novel captures

Stina Aronson (1892–1956) is a celebrated Swedish modernist who published twenty-five works during the first part of the 20th century. Her writings are considered to be progressive and ethical due to extensive feminist and eco-critical research. Aronson’s novel Hitom himlen(This Side of Heaven, 1946) captures the life in upper Northern Sweden, in the Torne Valley, during the beginning of 20th century. In this thesis, I examine the narrative by placing it in relation to the racial hierarchies permeating society during the initial decades of the 20th century. The Finnish-speaking minority living in the Torne Valley came to be considered racially different from the national majority, due to national and international race science – today understood as scientific racism– and anthropology. My analysis shows how the characters are racialized using such ideas as the Mongolian theory and the cephalic index. It is further made evident that the novel captures a perception claiming the so-called ‘Finns’ were of an inferior race. And further, the belief that a mixture of Swedish, Finnish and Sami blood had weakened the group genetically. The mixture of races was defined as a serious threat to the Swedish population, who was regarded as the whitest and purest population on earth. Aronson captures this belief of a future extinction by depicting the death and illness of the youngest generation in the novel. Furthermore, the main character, Emma Niskanpää, believes that she meets God during the church service at the yearly holiday Marie bebådelsedag. I argue though, that the man she encounters is a fictitious Herman Lundborg (1868–1943), the most prominent of the Swedish race biologists, who, in reality, repeatedly performed skull measurement during this celebration. Directly following on this encounter, the ”deaf-and-dumb” daughter of the family Renström is buried along with several others and Emma Niskanpää’s son falls ill with tuberculosis. In this way, the novel captures

I den här uppsatsen undersöker jag platsens betydelse och funktion i Stina Aronsons Feberboken. Genom en närläsning med ekokritisk ingång gör jag en tematisk undersökning av de platser där Hugo och Mimmi är fysiskt närvarande samtidigt; vistelsen i Paris och barndomshemmet. Min slutsats är att platsen fyller en funktion som bidrar med mening i Feberboken, den är inte bara en kuliss. Jag finner en skillnad i hur natur respektive kultur skildras. Naturen är en öppen plats som möjliggör och symboliserar förändring medan kulturen (staden och hemmet) beskrivs som instängda och kvävande. Samtliga platser i min undersökning kan ses som kronotoper där tiden fäster i rummet.

I den här uppsatsen undersöker jag platsens betydelse och funktion i Stina Aronsons Feberboken. Genom en närläsning med ekokritisk ingång gör jag en tematisk undersökning av de platser där Hugo och Mimmi är fysiskt närvarande samtidigt; vistelsen i Paris och barndomshemmet. Min slutsats är att platsen fyller en funktion som bidrar med mening i Feberboken, den är inte bara en kuliss. Jag finner en skillnad i hur natur respektive kultur skildras. Naturen är en öppen plats som möjliggör och symboliserar förändring medan kulturen (staden och hemmet) beskrivs som instängda och kvävande. Samtliga platser i min undersökning kan ses som kronotoper där tiden fäster i rummet.

Ämnet för denna licentiatavhandling är den konstnärliga behandlingen av landsbygden och glesbygden som språklig, social miljö, mer specifikt i romanen Hitom himlen (1946) av Stina Aronson (1892‒1956) och novellen ”Pingstbrud” (Nya berättelser, 1949) av Tage Aurell (1895‒1976). Syftet är att undersöka verkens spänningsfält mellan avantgarde och bygdeskildring. Hur används bygdemiljön som litterärt material, diskursivt och narratologiskt, i en medveten konstnärlig praktik, en poetik? I andra hand kommer frågan huruvida författarskapen delar så pass många egenskaper att det är rimligt att tala om en litteraturhistorisk strömning. Med hjälp av bland annat Ludwig Wittgensteins språkspelsbegrepp och Thomas O. Beebees transmesis-begrepp undersöks hur den språkliga, sociala miljön hämtad från Tornedalen och Värmlands skogsbygd framställs. I analysen av Hitom himlen ligger fokus inte minst på iscensättningen av den tornedalsfinska miljön, men också på romanens förhållande till en av Aronson själv antydd poetik. Analysen av ”Pingstbrud” undersöker framför allt skvallrets, inte bara tematiska, utan även formmässiga roll i framställningen. Centralt hos både Aurell och Aronson tycks vara temat kring människans ensamhet och längtan efter gemenskap och förståelse. Gestalternas ofta misslyckade försök att bryta sin isolering och nå verklig kontakt med andra grundar sig bland annat i att klyftan mellan gestalternas intention och förmågan att kommunicera denna intention är alltför vid för att lyckas. Både Aronson och Aurell förespråkar en litterär hållning som betraktar det ringa som något betydelsefullt. Genom en avlyssningens poetik försöker de uppfatta det som egentligen menas med allt som sägs. De ger orden en ny konstnärlig kontext där form och innehåll organiskt bär upp varandra. De ringa orden, de banala fraserna och de slitna uttrycken sätts i ett sammanhang som låter läsaren reflektera över deras uttrycksfullhet. Det är de ringa ordens poetik, en betydelsediger enstavighet

Beatrice M.G. Reed, Department of Language and Literature, Volda University College Civilization in the wilderness: On Stina Aronson’s critical dialogue with the literary sanatorium tradition in Sång till polstjärnan [Song to the North Star] (1948) (Sivilisasjonen i ødemarken. Om Stina Aronsons kritiske dialog med den litterære sanatoriumstradisjonen i Sång till Polstjärnan [1948]) The article argues that Swedish author Stina Aronson renews the sanatorium as a critical literary topos in her short story collection Sång till polstjärnan [Song to the North Star] (1948). By reading two of Aronson’s texts in light of Knut Hamsun’s Siste kapittel [The Last Chapter] (1923), Thomas Mann’s Der Zauberberg [The Magic Mountain] (1924) and Sven Stolpes’s I dödens väntrum [In the waiting room of death] (1930), it shows that Aronson related critically to central ideological and aesthetic tendencies of her time, especially to the primitivism of the interwar period, and the post-war pessimism of the 1940s. In light of the text being situated in a northern landscape, far from the urban centers in the south, the article seeks to illuminate how Aronson enriches the literary sanatorium tradition by introducing a new geographical environment, in which alternative forms of cultural belonging, class and gender identity are reflected in the tradition of sanatorium literature.

Beatrice M.G. Reed, Department of Language and Literature, Volda University College Civilization in the wilderness: On Stina Aronson’s critical dialogue with the literary sanatorium tradition in Sång till polstjärnan [Song to the North Star] (1948) (Sivilisasjonen i ødemarken. Om Stina Aronsons kritiske dialog med den litterære sanatoriumstradisjonen i Sång till Polstjärnan [1948]) The article argues that Swedish author Stina Aronson renews the sanatorium as a critical literary topos in her short story collection Sång till polstjärnan [Song to the North Star] (1948). By reading two of Aronson’s texts in light of Knut Hamsun’s Siste kapittel [The Last Chapter] (1923), Thomas Mann’s Der Zauberberg [The Magic Mountain] (1924) and Sven Stolpes’s I dödens väntrum [In the waiting room of death] (1930), it shows that Aronson related critically to central ideological and aesthetic tendencies of her time, especially to the primitivism of the interwar period, and the post-war pessimism of the 1940s. In light of the text being situated in a northern landscape, far from the urban centers in the south, the article seeks to illuminate how Aronson enriches the literary sanatorium tradition by introducing a new geographical environment, in which alternative forms of cultural belonging, class and gender identity are reflected in the tradition of sanatorium literature.

Beatrice M.G. Reed, Department of Language and Literature, Volda University College Civilization in the wilderness: On Stina Aronson’s critical dialogue with the literary sanatorium tradition in Sång till polstjärnan [Song to the North Star] (1948) (Sivilisasjonen i ødemarken. Om Stina Aronsons kritiske dialog med den litterære sanatoriumstradisjonen i Sång till Polstjärnan [1948]) The article argues that Swedish author Stina Aronson renews the sanatorium as a critical literary topos in her short story collection Sång till polstjärnan [Song to the North Star] (1948). By reading two of Aronson’s texts in light of Knut Hamsun’s Siste kapittel [The Last Chapter] (1923), Thomas Mann’s Der Zauberberg [The Magic Mountain] (1924) and Sven Stolpes’s I dödens väntrum [In the waiting room of death] (1930), it shows that Aronson related critically to central ideological and aesthetic tendencies of her time, especially to the primitivism of the interwar period, and the post-war pessimism of the 1940s. In light of the text being situated in a northern landscape, far from the urban centers in the south, the article seeks to illuminate how Aronson enriches the literary sanatorium tradition by introducing a new geographical environment, in which alternative forms of cultural belonging, class and gender identity are reflected in the tradition of sanatorium literature.

Beatrice M.G. Reed, Department of Language and Literature, Volda University College Civilization in the wilderness: On Stina Aronson’s critical dialogue with the literary sanatorium tradition in Sång till polstjärnan [Song to the North Star] (1948) (Sivilisasjonen i ødemarken. Om Stina Aronsons kritiske dialog med den litterære sanatoriumstradisjonen i Sång till Polstjärnan [1948]) The article argues that Swedish author Stina Aronson renews the sanatorium as a critical literary topos in her short story collection Sång till polstjärnan [Song to the North Star] (1948). By reading two of Aronson’s texts in light of Knut Hamsun’s Siste kapittel [The Last Chapter] (1923), Thomas Mann’s Der Zauberberg [The Magic Mountain] (1924) and Sven Stolpes’s I dödens väntrum [In the waiting room of death] (1930), it shows that Aronson related critically to central ideological and aesthetic tendencies of her time, especially to the primitivism of the interwar period, and the post-war pessimism of the 1940s. In light of the text being situated in a northern landscape, far from the urban centers in the south, the article seeks to illuminate how Aronson enriches the literary sanatorium tradition by introducing a new geographical environment, in which alternative forms of cultural belonging, class and gender identity are reflected in the tradition of sanatorium literature.

Ämnet för denna licentiatavhandling är den konstnärliga behandlingen av landsbygden och glesbygden som språklig, social miljö, mer specifikt i romanen Hitom himlen (1946) av Stina Aronson (1892‒1956) och novellen ”Pingstbrud” (Nya berättelser, 1949) av Tage Aurell (1895‒1976). Syftet är att undersöka verkens spänningsfält mellan avantgarde och bygdeskildring. Hur används bygdemiljön som litterärt material, diskursivt och narratologiskt, i en medveten konstnärlig praktik, en poetik? I andra hand kommer frågan huruvida författarskapen delar så pass många egenskaper att det är rimligt att tala om en litteraturhistorisk strömning. Med hjälp av bland annat Ludwig Wittgensteins språkspelsbegrepp och Thomas O. Beebees transmesis-begrepp undersöks hur den språkliga, sociala miljön hämtad från Tornedalen och Värmlands skogsbygd framställs. I analysen av Hitom himlen ligger fokus inte minst på iscensättningen av den tornedalsfinska miljön, men också på romanens förhållande till en av Aronson själv antydd poetik. Analysen av ”Pingstbrud” undersöker framför allt skvallrets, inte bara tematiska, utan även formmässiga roll i framställningen. Centralt hos både Aurell och Aronson tycks vara temat kring människans ensamhet och längtan efter gemenskap och förståelse. Gestalternas ofta misslyckade försök att bryta sin isolering och nå verklig kontakt med andra grundar sig bland annat i att klyftan mellan gestalternas intention och förmågan att kommunicera denna intention är alltför vid för att lyckas. Både Aronson och Aurell förespråkar en litterär hållning som betraktar det ringa som något betydelsefullt. Genom en avlyssningens poetik försöker de uppfatta det som egentligen menas med allt som sägs. De ger orden en ny konstnärlig kontext där form och innehåll organiskt bär upp varandra. De ringa orden, de banala fraserna och de slitna uttrycken sätts i ett sammanhang som låter läsaren reflektera över deras uttrycksfullhet. Det är de ringa ordens poetik, en betydelsediger enstavighet

Beatrice M.G. Reed, Department of Language and Literature, Volda University College Civilization in the wilderness: On Stina Aronson’s critical dialogue with the literary sanatorium tradition in Sång till polstjärnan [Song to the North Star] (1948) (Sivilisasjonen i ødemarken. Om Stina Aronsons kritiske dialog med den litterære sanatoriumstradisjonen i Sång till Polstjärnan [1948]) The article argues that Swedish author Stina Aronson renews the sanatorium as a critical literary topos in her short story collection Sång till polstjärnan [Song to the North Star] (1948). By reading two of Aronson’s texts in light of Knut Hamsun’s Siste kapittel [The Last Chapter] (1923), Thomas Mann’s Der Zauberberg [The Magic Mountain] (1924) and Sven Stolpes’s I dödens väntrum [In the waiting room of death] (1930), it shows that Aronson related critically to central ideological and aesthetic tendencies of her time, especially to the primitivism of the interwar period, and the post-war pessimism of the 1940s. In light of the text being situated in a northern landscape, far from the urban centers in the south, the article seeks to illuminate how Aronson enriches the literary sanatorium tradition by introducing a new geographical environment, in which alternative forms of cultural belonging, class and gender identity are reflected in the tradition of sanatorium literature.

This thesis explores the creative function of the pseudonym Sara Sand, used by the author Stina Aronson for four literary works in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Två herrar blev nöjda (Two gentlemen were content), Fabeln om Valentin (The tale of Valentin), Tolv hav (Twelve oceans) and Syskonbädd (Siblingbed) are modernist and experimental works that I approach with an experimental way of reading. In order to emphasize what I find to be an inherent strive for freedom within these texts, I draw from Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattaris notion of desire as a productive force and their view of the text as a rhizomatic structure, as presented in Anti-Oedipus (1972) and A Thousand Plateaus (1980). The characters in Sara Sands writing are in constant movement and in continuous processes of becomings which challenges any kind of fixity, whether that be social structures and hegemonic discourses or simply the individual self.

This thesis explores the creative function of the pseudonym Sara Sand, used by the author Stina Aronson for four literary works in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Två herrar blev nöjda (Two gentlemen were content), Fabeln om Valentin (The tale of Valentin), Tolv hav (Twelve oceans) and Syskonbädd (Siblingbed) are modernist and experimental works that I approach with an experimental way of reading. In order to emphasize what I find to be an inherent strive for freedom within these texts, I draw from Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattaris notion of desire as a productive force and their view of the text as a rhizomatic structure, as presented in Anti-Oedipus (1972) and A Thousand Plateaus (1980). The characters in Sara Sands writing are in constant movement and in continuous processes of becomings which challenges any kind of fixity, whether that be social structures and hegemonic discourses or simply the individual self.

This essay examines the body in Stina Aronsons Den fjärde vägen, and is based on theories from Sara Ahmed who writes about how the body is orientated toward and away from objects and others. The essay also intend to examine the way the character inhabit the room from a bodily experience and how this affect the way they feel and act against each other and themselves. My method is close reading, in which I approach parts of the book that refers to the body from different angles. In that way I read the book from a gender oriented perspective as well as a social perspective— in which the characters are related to different norms that causes expectations of how they should act in a certain kind of way.

This essay examines the body in Stina Aronsons Den fjärde vägen, and is based on theories from Sara Ahmed who writes about how the body is orientated toward and away from objects and others. The essay also intend to examine the way the character inhabit the room from a bodily experience and how this affect the way they feel and act against each other and themselves. My method is close reading, in which I approach parts of the book that refers to the body from different angles. In that way I read the book from a gender oriented perspective as well as a social perspective— in which the characters are related to different norms that causes expectations of how they should act in a certain kind of way.

Ett gemensamt drag i den tidigare forskningen om Stina Aronsons modernism har varit att betona Artur Lundkvists betydelse. Den här uppsatsen undersöker en roman som utkom före det att Aronson hade någon kontakt med Lundkvist, Två herrar blev nöjda från 1928, i syfte att nyansera nämnda historieskrivning. Romanen undersöks utifrån en modernistisk diskurs baserad på tre representativa översiktsverk för perioden. Dessutom anläggs Judith Butlers performativitetsteori i ett försök att åskådliggöra hur Aronson i romanen skenbart anpassar sig till en traditionellt kvinnlig författarroll. Resultatet visar att Två herrar blev nöjda tar avstånd från realismen och istället präglas av modernismens estetik och radikalt nya världsåskådning. I såväl form som innehåll märks ett tydligt intresse för det omedvetna, för det irrationella, för slumpen och för det splittrade jaget. Vidare kännetecknas romanen av formell introspektion, det vill säga en upptagenhet vid den egna litterära skapelsen.

Ett gemensamt drag i den tidigare forskningen om Stina Aronsons modernism har varit att betona Artur Lundkvists betydelse. Den här uppsatsen undersöker en roman som utkom före det att Aronson hade någon kontakt med Lundkvist, Två herrar blev nöjda från 1928, i syfte att nyansera nämnda historieskrivning. Romanen undersöks utifrån en modernistisk diskurs baserad på tre representativa översiktsverk för perioden. Dessutom anläggs Judith Butlers performativitetsteori i ett försök att åskådliggöra hur Aronson i romanen skenbart anpassar sig till en traditionellt kvinnlig författarroll. Resultatet visar att Två herrar blev nöjda tar avstånd från realismen och istället präglas av modernismens estetik och radikalt nya världsåskådning. I såväl form som innehåll märks ett tydligt intresse för det omedvetna, för det irrationella, för slumpen och för det splittrade jaget. Vidare kännetecknas romanen av formell introspektion, det vill säga en upptagenhet vid den egna litterära skapelsen.

I uppsatsen undersöker jag hur huvudkaraktären Mimmi, under vägen att etablera sig som författare och i mötet med Hugo, söker nå balans mellan intellekt och kropp. Utifrån Julia Kristevas teori om abjektionen utforskar jag på vilka sätt Mimmi förhåller sig ambivalent till viljan att vara å ena sidan innesluten, å andra sidan avgränsad, och hur i sin tur synen på kroppen, dess samverkan med själen samt synen på andra kroppar präglas av begär och äckel. Som metodisk språngbräda använder jag paradoxen utifrån Kristina Fjelkestams definition. Med hjälp av den jag fokuserar på motsättningar och dubbeltydigheter hos karaktären och i texten utifrån frågeställningen: hur ser spelet ut mellan Mimmis förhållande till kroppen (Kvinnan) respektive själen (Konstnären), och är det möjligt för henne att förena kropp och själ i något som skulle kunna bli en fullbordad Människa?

I uppsatsen undersöker jag hur huvudkaraktären Mimmi, under vägen att etablera sig som författare och i mötet med Hugo, söker nå balans mellan intellekt och kropp. Utifrån Julia Kristevas teori om abjektionen utforskar jag på vilka sätt Mimmi förhåller sig ambivalent till viljan att vara å ena sidan innesluten, å andra sidan avgränsad, och hur i sin tur synen på kroppen, dess samverkan med själen samt synen på andra kroppar präglas av begär och äckel. Som metodisk språngbräda använder jag paradoxen utifrån Kristina Fjelkestams definition. Med hjälp av den jag fokuserar på motsättningar och dubbeltydigheter hos karaktären och i texten utifrån frågeställningen: hur ser spelet ut mellan Mimmis förhållande till kroppen (Kvinnan) respektive själen (Konstnären), och är det möjligt för henne att förena kropp och själ i något som skulle kunna bli en fullbordad Människa?

Syskonbädd, or “Sibling’s bed” in English, is a short story or drama, written by Swedish author Stina Aronson and originally published in 1931 under the pen name Sara Sand. While the story did not attract wide attention for many years, it has recently been republished and performed on stage, as well as aired on the radio. The plot is centered on Harriet, a woman who starts to see the world with different eyes, in a less strict and organized way. Her new view is welcomed neither by her husband nor society, and the book starts with Harriet’s escape from a “rest home”, where she has been placed by her husband in order for her to return to her old self. During the escape, Harriet meets several people, some like herself who believe that the world was meant to be different, and some who strive to maintain the social structure. Swedish literature scholar Eva Adolfsson argues that Aronson’s later works take place in a landscape on the border of the wild, and that both the characters and the story move through such a landscape. I believe that this is also the case for Syskonbädd, one of Aronson’s earlier writings. My essay focuses on the momentum in the book, its double nature, the zone of uncertainty that it creates and the possibilities that it presents. Based on this, my thesis is that the idea of a “sibling’s bed” solidarity is a formula that drives the book; it is the engine for all movements. With a starting point in philosopher Gilles Deleuze’s and psychoanalyst Félix Guattari’s theories about literature, philosophy and art, I follow and analyze these different movements; the lines of flight that dissolve and create chaos, as well as the plane of consistency that holds the work together and on which the chaos is visualized. These structural movements constitute my starting point for an analysis also on a hermeneutical level. Harriet escapes from society and from the norms that it enforces. At the same time, she seeks a new kind of community; a connection beyond knowl

Validerat; 20120330 (anonymous)

Syskonbädd, or “Sibling’s bed” in English, is a short story or drama, written by Swedish author Stina Aronson and originally published in 1931 under the pen name Sara Sand. While the story did not attract wide attention for many years, it has recently been republished and performed on stage, as well as aired on the radio. The plot is centered on Harriet, a woman who starts to see the world with different eyes, in a less strict and organized way. Her new view is welcomed neither by her husband nor society, and the book starts with Harriet’s escape from a “rest home”, where she has been placed by her husband in order for her to return to her old self. During the escape, Harriet meets several people, some like herself who believe that the world was meant to be different, and some who strive to maintain the social structure. Swedish literature scholar Eva Adolfsson argues that Aronson’s later works take place in a landscape on the border of the wild, and that both the characters and the story move through such a landscape. I believe that this is also the case for Syskonbädd, one of Aronson’s earlier writings. My essay focuses on the momentum in the book, its double nature, the zone of uncertainty that it creates and the possibilities that it presents. Based on this, my thesis is that the idea of a “sibling’s bed” solidarity is a formula that drives the book; it is the engine for all movements. With a starting point in philosopher Gilles Deleuze’s and psychoanalyst Félix Guattari’s theories about literature, philosophy and art, I follow and analyze these different movements; the lines of flight that dissolve and create chaos, as well as the plane of consistency that holds the work together and on which the chaos is visualized. These structural movements constitute my starting point for an analysis also on a hermeneutical level. Harriet escapes from society and from the norms that it enforces. At the same time, she seeks a new kind of community; a connection beyond knowl

Denna uppsats behandlar Stina Aronsons Feberboken - stoffet till en roman (1931) i syftet att ifrågasätta verkets status som självbiografiskt dokument. Uppsatsen innehåller en komparativ analys av karaktären Hugos brevutdrag i Feberboken och de autentiska brev från Artur Lundkvist som står som förlaga till den fiktiva brevkorrespondensen. Analysen resulterar i att tidigare forsknings jämställande av Hugo och den verklige personen Artur Lundkvist framstår felaktig, och slutdiskussionen rymmer en dialog med representanter för den vedertagna läsningen av verket.

Denna uppsats behandlar Stina Aronsons Feberboken - stoffet till en roman (1931) i syftet att ifrågasätta verkets status som självbiografiskt dokument. Uppsatsen innehåller en komparativ analys av karaktären Hugos brevutdrag i Feberboken och de autentiska brev från Artur Lundkvist som står som förlaga till den fiktiva brevkorrespondensen. Analysen resulterar i att tidigare forsknings jämställande av Hugo och den verklige personen Artur Lundkvist framstår felaktig, och slutdiskussionen rymmer en dialog med representanter för den vedertagna läsningen av verket.

Who tells the true story of the world? The western civilisation is highly influenced by the written word. The writings of ancient philosophers, poets and religious authorities still have a strong cultural impact. Myths and religion as well as philosophical and political systems effects our self-concept. These models are all unified by there ambition to explain mankind and tell the story of reality. This essay examines two published diaries in order to discuss their relation to the common story of the world. The objects of the study are Feberboken, by Stina Aronson (written in 1934) and Allt, by Martina Lowden (written in 2006). The diary is a place for the personal story, it gives the writer an opportunity to confront the surrounding world. The conventional conception of reality can be questioned. I will use Pierre Bourdieus theory about the biographic I to discuss the Self in the texts. Two definitions of mimesis will be treated. The traditional meaning of the term, given by Plato, and the postmodern point of view, represented by Gilles Deleuze. I aim to investigate how Feberboken and Allt are confronting the generic image of reality.

Who tells the true story of the world? The western civilisation is highly influenced by the written word. The writings of ancient philosophers, poets and religious authorities still have a strong cultural impact. Myths and religion as well as philosophical and political systems effects our self-concept. These models are all unified by there ambition to explain mankind and tell the story of reality. This essay examines two published diaries in order to discuss their relation to the common story of the world. The objects of the study are Feberboken, by Stina Aronson (written in 1934) and Allt, by Martina Lowden (written in 2006). The diary is a place for the personal story, it gives the writer an opportunity to confront the surrounding world. The conventional conception of reality can be questioned. I will use Pierre Bourdieus theory about the biographic I to discuss the Self in the texts. Two definitions of mimesis will be treated. The traditional meaning of the term, given by Plato, and the postmodern point of view, represented by Gilles Deleuze. I aim to investigate how Feberboken and Allt are confronting the generic image of reality.

Den befriade sången. Stina Aronsons berättarkonst Liberated song. Stina Aronson’s narrative art Abstract This thesis discusses the narrative art of the Swedish author Stina Aronson (1892-1956) with special emphasis on Hitom himlen (“This Side of Heaven”) from 1946. This work forms the subject of the first part, with formal aspects like narrator construction, composition and genre as the starting-point. These aspects, and the originality with which they are treated by Aronson, are put in relation to modernist æstheticism. In the next step the modernist approach is linked to a discussion of modernity. The basis of this thematic analysis consists of entities like language, time, faith and individuality, all of which play an important part in Aronson’s writing. The thematization of individual freedom versus determinism makes the work a counterpart to existentialism, the current philosophy of the time. What becomes especially apparent is a striking ambivalence towards modernity, but also towards a more traditional, almost pre-modern, attitude to life prevailing in the severe Læstadianist village community described. This interpretation deviates from the idea of pure civilization criticism and of the near idealization of the world described, which has dominated earlier analyses of the Aronson’s work. Gender issues, too, play an important part in the thesis, especially in the section analyzing the main characters and the attitudes they represent. The two central characters of the text are women and they are fundamentally different. The criticism of the village community and the destructive effects on the individual of the austere faith is most evident in the portrait of Mira, one of the women. She emerges as a more modern character than the others, driven by an urge to break free and make her own destiny, a project which, however, fails completely. There are several reasons for this, but the decisive factor is that as a woman she is more strictly bound by conventions and n

Den befriade sången. Stina Aronsons berättarkonst Liberated song. Stina Aronson’s narrative art Abstract This thesis discusses the narrative art of the Swedish author Stina Aronson (1892-1956) with special emphasis on Hitom himlen (“This Side of Heaven”) from 1946. This work forms the subject of the first part, with formal aspects like narrator construction, composition and genre as the starting-point. These aspects, and the originality with which they are treated by Aronson, are put in relation to modernist æstheticism. In the next step the modernist approach is linked to a discussion of modernity. The basis of this thematic analysis consists of entities like language, time, faith and individuality, all of which play an important part in Aronson’s writing. The thematization of individual freedom versus determinism makes the work a counterpart to existentialism, the current philosophy of the time. What becomes especially apparent is a striking ambivalence towards modernity, but also towards a more traditional, almost pre-modern, attitude to life prevailing in the severe Læstadianist village community described. This interpretation deviates from the idea of pure civilization criticism and of the near idealization of the world described, which has dominated earlier analyses of the Aronson’s work. Gender issues, too, play an important part in the thesis, especially in the section analyzing the main characters and the attitudes they represent. The two central characters of the text are women and they are fundamentally different. The criticism of the village community and the destructive effects on the individual of the austere faith is most evident in the portrait of Mira, one of the women. She emerges as a more modern character than the others, driven by an urge to break free and make her own destiny, a project which, however, fails completely. There are several reasons for this, but the decisive factor is that as a woman she is more strictly bound by conventions and n

Den befriade sången. Stina Aronsons berättarkonst Liberated song. Stina Aronson’s narrative art Abstract This thesis discusses the narrative art of the Swedish author Stina Aronson (1892-1956) with special emphasis on Hitom himlen (“This Side of Heaven”) from 1946. This work forms the subject of the first part, with formal aspects like narrator construction, composition and genre as the starting-point. These aspects, and the originality with which they are treated by Aronson, are put in relation to modernist æstheticism. In the next step the modernist approach is linked to a discussion of modernity. The basis of this thematic analysis consists of entities like language, time, faith and individuality, all of which play an important part in Aronson’s writing. The thematization of individual freedom versus determinism makes the work a counterpart to existentialism, the current philosophy of the time. What becomes especially apparent is a striking ambivalence towards modernity, but also towards a more traditional, almost pre-modern, attitude to life prevailing in the severe Læstadianist village community described. This interpretation deviates from the idea of pure civilization criticism and of the near idealization of the world described, which has dominated earlier analyses of the Aronson’s work. Gender issues, too, play an important part in the thesis, especially in the section analyzing the main characters and the attitudes they represent. The two central characters of the text are women and they are fundamentally different. The criticism of the village community and the destructive effects on the individual of the austere faith is most evident in the portrait of Mira, one of the women. She emerges as a more modern character than the others, driven by an urge to break free and make her own destiny, a project which, however, fails completely. There are several reasons for this, but the decisive factor is that as a woman she is more strictly bound by conventions and n

Den befriade sången. Stina Aronsons berättarkonst Liberated song. Stina Aronson’s narrative art Abstract This thesis discusses the narrative art of the Swedish author Stina Aronson (1892-1956) with special emphasis on Hitom himlen (“This Side of Heaven”) from 1946. This work forms the subject of the first part, with formal aspects like narrator construction, composition and genre as the starting-point. These aspects, and the originality with which they are treated by Aronson, are put in relation to modernist æstheticism. In the next step the modernist approach is linked to a discussion of modernity. The basis of this thematic analysis consists of entities like language, time, faith and individuality, all of which play an important part in Aronson’s writing. The thematization of individual freedom versus determinism makes the work a counterpart to existentialism, the current philosophy of the time. What becomes especially apparent is a striking ambivalence towards modernity, but also towards a more traditional, almost pre-modern, attitude to life prevailing in the severe Læstadianist village community described. This interpretation deviates from the idea of pure civilization criticism and of the near idealization of the world described, which has dominated earlier analyses of the Aronson’s work. Gender issues, too, play an important part in the thesis, especially in the section analyzing the main characters and the attitudes they represent. The two central characters of the text are women and they are fundamentally different. The criticism of the village community and the destructive effects on the individual of the austere faith is most evident in the portrait of Mira, one of the women. She emerges as a more modern character than the others, driven by an urge to break free and make her own destiny, a project which, however, fails completely. There are several reasons for this, but the decisive factor is that as a woman she is more strictly bound by conventions and n

This thesis deals with the writing of Stina Aronson. The main objective is to study how Aronson (1892–1956) developed as a writer in a contempory cultural context, as well as to revise the image of Aronson as a provincial writer. Aronson’s literary output stands at the centre of the investigation, and a crucial task has been to study how gender affected her work as an author. It took a long time for Aronson to find her footing in the literary field, and the different chapters of the thesis correspond to fresh starts and sudden turns in her writing. Generally speaking, Aronson was sensitive to the shifts and changes in literary sensibility. In the 1920s she adheres to an idyllic aesthetic, characteristic of the period, whereas in the ’30s she approaches more modernist modes of writing. Not until the 1940s was Aronson finally recognised as a major writer. Her writing now became devoted to the lives of people in a remote part of the country, while she employed different idioms. This resulted in what this thesis theorises as a dialectical mode of narration, enabling the narrator to observe a rural, far northern community from the inside and outside simultaneously. Marginality, in class as well as gender terms, is a consistent motif in Aronson’s fiction. In both her early and late work one finds powerless, eccentric characters who experience great difficuly in securing a position in society. The gap between the haves and have-nots is a recurring theme, as is the narrator’s desire to overcome this disparity. In her later work, one discerns a civilisational critique of the privilege to define others. Aronson’s contrasting ideal is that of tolerance towards strangeness, difference and alterity, in terms of novelistic content as well as narrative technique. In this way, her work takes an ethical turn that underscores the equal worth of all human beings and, as a consequence, modifies the received image of Aronson as a provincial writer.