Lesbianism in Swedish Literature: An Ambiguous Affair

216 Pages·2014·1.8 MB·English

by  Jenny Björklund (auth.)

Lesbianism in Swedish Literature
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Lesbianism in Swedish Literature
An Ambiguous Affair
Jenny Björklund
LESBIANISM IN SWEDISH LITERATURE
Copyright © Jenny Björklund, 2014.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2014 978-1-137-36495-1
All rights reserved.
First published in June 2014 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in
the United States— a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth
Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of
the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan
Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998,
of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above
companies and has companies and representatives throughout the
world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United
States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-47362-5 ISBN 978-1-137-36496-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137364968
Björklund, Jenny, 1974– author.
Lesbianism in Swedish Literature : an Ambiguous Affair / Jenny
Björklund.
pages cm
1. Swedish
literature— 20th century— History and criticism. 2. Lesbianism in
literature. 3. Homosexuality and literature—S weden. I. Title.
PT9370.L47B56 2014
839.7'093526643—d c23 2013050422
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Scribe Inc.
First edition: June 2014
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction 1
1 The Political Scene of Love: Agnes von
Krusenstjerna and the 1930s 13
2 Sexual Revolution? Annakarin Svedberg
and the 1960s 57
3 Challenging the Image of Sweden: Louise
Boije af Gennäs, Mian Lodalen, and the
Turn of the Millennium 107
Conclusion: The Literary Discourse on Lesbianism 167
Notes 175
References 191
Index 203
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Acknowledgments
Writing this book has been a long process, and many people
have been involved along the way. Some of them have read parts
or all of the manuscript at various stages and provided help-
ful and insightful comments. Without them, this book would
not be what it is today. Others have invited me as a visiting
scholar, which has given me invaluable time to write, or to give
lectures that have developed into chapters. Some have helped
with practical issues, such as sending me books from Sweden
when I lived in California or providing emotional and practical
support at home. I am extremely grateful to everyone listed as
follows, and I would like to thank them deeply for their time
and investment in my project: Rebecca Ahlfeldt, Marika Andræ,
AnnaCarin Billing, Elisabeth Björklund, Kenneth Björklund,
Annelie Bränström Öhman, Jacob Bull, Matthew Davidson,
Sigrid Ekblad, Lars Elleström, Stina Ericsson, Peter Forsgren,
Charlotte Furth, Jack Halberstam, Robert Höglund, Christina
Kullberg, Lisa Folkmarson Käll, Ursula Lindqvist, Ann- Sofie
Lönngren, Benjamin Martin, Piia Posti, Magnus Rodell, Linda
Sjögren, Cecilia Steen-J ohnsson, Tim Tangherlini, and Anna
Williams. I am also grateful to the anonymous reviewers, whose
readings improved the manuscript significantly. A special thank
you goes to everyone who has been involved in the project at
Palgrave Macmillan, including my editor Brigitte Shull and her
editorial assistants Ryan Jenkins and Naomi Tarlow.
While writing this book I have been part of a few differ-
ent academic environments: The Centre for Gender Research
at Uppsala University has been my base camp, but I have also
spent time at the Center for Feminist Research at the University
of Southern California; in the Scandinavian Section at Univer-
sity of California, Los Angeles; and at the School of Language
viii Acknowledgments
and Literature at Linnæus University. I would like to thank all
my colleagues, past and present, in these departments for pro-
viding intellectually engaging and friendly spaces to work in.
I have been very fortunate to receive generous financial
support from many different sources: The Swedish Academy
(Stina och Eriks Lundbergs stiftelse); Gästrike- Hälsinge nation
(Göransson- Sandviken stipendium); Birgit och Gad Raus-
ings stiftelse för Humanistisk Forskning; Stiftelsen Lars
Hiertas Minne; Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation; Mag-
nus Bergvalls Stiftelse; Stiftelsen Torsten Amundsons fond;
Helge Ax:son Johnsons stiftelse; The Royal Swedish Academy
of Letters, History and Antiquities (Stiftelsen Wallenbergs-
stiftelsens fond); The Wenner- Gren Foundations; Sven och
Dagmar Saléns Stiftelse; and Stiftelsen Karl Staaffs Fond för
frisinnade ändamål. I am very grateful to these benefactors who
decided to support my project—w ithout them, this book would
have been much more difficult to write.
Different versions of some of the text in Chapter 1 have
already appeared in print as “Frihet, jämlikhet, systerskap:
Samkönat begär och gränsöverskridande kärlek i Agnes von
Krusenstjernas Fröknarna von Pahlen” in Tidskrift för littera-
turvetenskap 35 (3– 4): 65– 83 (2006); “Kärlekens gränsland:
Kvinnlig homosexualitet i Agnes von Krusenstjernas Fröknarna
von Pahlen” in Gränser i nordisk litteratur/Borders in Nordic
Literature, IASS XXVI 2006, vol. 2, edited by Clas Zilliacus,
Heidi Grönstrand, and Ulrika Gustafsson (Åbo: Åbo Akademis
förlag, 2008); and “Angela + Stanny = sant: Samkönad kärlek
som politik i Agnes von Krusenstjernas Fröknarna von Pahlen”
in Tänd eld! Essäer om Agnes von Krusenstjernas författarskap,
edited by Jenny Björklund and Anna Williams (Stockholm:
Norstedts Akademiska Förlag, 2008). A summary of the main
arguments in this book has been published as “En ambivalent
historia: Kärlek mellan kvinnor i svensk litteratur” in Fält i för-
vandling: Genusvetenskaplig litteraturforskning, edited by Eva
Heggestad, Anna Williams, and Ann Öhrberg (Hedemora:
Gidlunds, 2013). I would like to thank these publishers, who
have made it possible for me to further develop the ideas in
these texts and include them here.
Introduction
I
n a world of ever- changing understandings about human
sexuality, Sweden is often seen as one of the most gay- friendly
countries. Same-s ex sexual activity has been legal since 1944, the
first national organization for gays and lesbians was founded in
1950, and Swedish law today is among the most progressive on
lesbian, bisexual, gay, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) issues
in the world. However, Swedish literature tells a different, more
nuanced story. This book examines representations of lesbian-
ism in Swedish literature across the twentieth century, revealing
a discourse that challenges the straightforward understanding
of a progressive and tolerant Sweden. Moreover, it calls into
question Sweden’s role as a representative and even a pioneer
in the broadly accepted Western discourse on homosexuality.
The way same-s ex love is viewed in society has undergone
several changes during the twentieth century, but the devel-
opment has followed a similar path in most North American
and European countries. The parallel courses of the history of
same- sex love in these countries suggest that there is a common
Western understanding of homosexuality—a n understanding
that has developed from what began with the repression and
persecution of homosexuality in the beginning of the twentieth
century but transformed into more open and tolerant attitudes
toward the end (Norrhem, Rydström, and Winkvist 2008;
Rizzo 2006; Tamagne 2006). As one of these European coun-
tries, Sweden can be seen as representative of this Western way
of understanding homosexuality, and being viewed as one of
the most liberal and progressive countries, Sweden thus has a
kind of pioneer status (Hekma 2006).
This book uncovers a Swedish literary discourse on lesbian-
ism between 1930 and 2005 by studying novels with lesbian
themes. Throughout, the investigation explores the ways