I OSS ÄR EN MÅNGFALD LEVANDE Karin Boye Som Kritiker Och Prosamodernist
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I OSS ÄR EN MÅNGFALD LEVANDE Karin Boye som kritiker och prosamodernist Akademisk avhandling som med tillstånd av humanistiska fakulteten vid Umeå universitet offentligen försvaras för fil. doktorsexamen i litteraturvetenskap i Humanisthuset, hörsal G, torsdagen den 11 december 1986, kl 10.15 av Gunilla Domellöf Umeå 1986 Domellöf, Gunilla: »I oss är en mångfald levande». Karin Boye som kritiker och prosamodernist. (Within us a multiplicity is living. Karin Boye as a critic and a modernist novel writer.) Swedish. Summary in English. Department of Literature, Umeå University. Kungälv, 1986, 321 pp. Mono graph. Acta Universitatis Umensis. Umeå Studies in the Humanities 77. ISSN 0345-0155 ISBN 91-7174-263-8 Distributed by Almqvist & Wiksell International, Box 45 150, S—104 30 Stockholm Abstract The aim of this dissertation is to describe Karin Boye as a critic and a moder nist novel writer. The material consists of Karin Boye's works, articles from newspapers and periodicals and secondary sources. The method applied is a critical investigation of basic hermeneutic principles with special reference to sexual/textual politics. The introductory survey of the development of critical methods in the Swedish literary institution from 1925 to 1935 shows the total domination of traditional hermeneutic methods based on an idealistic conception of man and on aesthetic norms and ideological presumptions inherited from the 19th century novel. The reception of Karin Boyes novels 1931—1934 shows to what extent patriarchal ideology also informed the critical terms. In later research on Karin Boye the interpretation of her early novels has never been questioned. Nor has her position as an introducer of the new modernist aesthetics as an editor of the avantgarde journal Spektrum or as a critic in the left wing press been regarded as a factor to take into account. In Spektrum Karin Boye formulates a radical program which combines the new aesthetics with the social situation of the time as well as with psycho analytic theory. Karin Boye's awareness that the medium — language — was part of the modern writer's dilemma led her to explore new methods of representation. Like other modernists Karin Boye shows a desire for inclusive- ness. She looks for literary forms that can bring together the full complexity of modern experience in a meaningful way. Karin Boye stresses that the shift from traditional literary conventions to a new way of representation demands of the reader a far more active participation in understanding the work of art. In her novels Astarte, Merit vaknar and Kris Karin Boye develops her ideas of poetic language, which could have an emancipatory function in the life of modern man. She uses an experimental method to criticize the rationalism of the Platonic tradition. Karin Boyes way of organizing the text involves irony, the use of analogy and the mythical method. She also lets the novels draw attention to themselves as works of art, emphasizing that they are subject to the techniques of presentation the novelist adopts. A matter of special inquiry is the connection between women's liberation and the female writer's use of images, symbols and myths. The works of Karin Boye show an interesting rela tionship between feminism and modernism. Keywords: Karin Boye, Sweden in the 1930's, literary criticism, modernism, feminism. »I oss är en mångfald levande». Karin Boye som kritiker och prosamodernist. Acta Universitatis Umensis Umeå Studies in the Humanities 77 Gunilla Domellöf I OSS ÄR EN MÅNGFALD LEVANDE Karin Boye som kritiker och prosamodernist Universitetet i Umeå Almqvist & Wiksell International, Stockholm, Sweden Domellöf, Gunilla: »I oss är en mångfald levande». Karin Boye som kritiker och prosamodernist. (Within us a multiplicity is living. Karin Boye as a critic and a modernist novel writer.) Swedish. Summary in English. Department of Literature, Umeå University. Kungälv, 1986, 321 pp. Mono graph. Acta Universitatis Umensis. Umeå Studies in the Humanities 77. ISSN 0345-0155 ISBN 91-7174-263-8 Distributed by Almqvist & Wikseil International, Box 45 150, S—104 30 Stockholm Abstract The aim of this dissertation is to describe Karin Boye as a critic and a moder nist novel writer. The material consists of Karin Boye's works, articles from newspapers and periodicals and secondary sources. The method applied is a critical investigation of basic hermeneutic principles with special reference to sexual/textual politics. The introductory survey of the development of critical methods in the Swedish literary institution from 1925 to 1935 shows the total domination of traditional hermeneutic methods based on an idealistic conception of man and on aesthetic norms and ideological presumptions inherited from the 19th century novel. The reception of Karin Boyes novels 1931—1934 shows to what extent patriarchal ideology also informed the critical terms. In later research on Karin Boye the interpretation of her early novels has never been questioned. Nor has her position as an introducer of the new modernist aesthetics as an editor of the avantgarde journal Spektrum or as a critic in the left wing press been regarded as a factor to take into account. In Spektrum Karin Boye formulates a radical program which combines the new aesthetics with the social situation of the time as well as with psycho analytic theory. Karin Boye's awareness that the medium — language — was part of the modern writer's dilemma led her to explore new methods of representation. Like other modernists Karin Boye shows a desire for inclusive- ness. She looks for literary forms that can bring together the full complexity of modern experience in a meaningful way. Karin Boye stresses that the shift from traditional literary conventions to a new way of representation demands of the reader a far more active participation in understanding the work of art. In her novels Astarte, Merit vaknar and Kris Karin Boye develops her ideas of poetic language, which could have an emancipatory function in the life of modern man. She uses an experimental method to criticize the rationalism of the Platonic tradition. Karin Boyes way of organizing the text involves irony, the use of analogy and the mythical method. She also lets the novels draw attention to themselves as works of art, emphasizing that they are subject to the techniques of presentation the novelist adopts. A matter of special inquiry is the connection between women's liberation and the female writer's use of images, symbols and myths. The works of Karin Boye show an interesting rela tionship between feminism and modernism. Keywords: Karin Boye, Sweden in the 1930's, literary criticism, modernism, feminism. FÖRORD Med inrättandet av Kvinnoforskningsseminariet vid Umeå univer sitet 1979 skapades ett forum för en tvärvetenskaplig kvinnoforsk ning, som vid det här laget resulterar i avhandlingar vid olika institu tioner. Jag riktar ett varmt tack till Kvinnoforskningsseminariets »kärna» för ett inspirerande samarbete över åren. Främst vänder jag mig till Ingegerd Lundström, Institutionen för tillämpad psykologi, Gerd Lindgren, Institutionen för sociologi, Anita Göransson, Insti tutionen för ekonomisk historia, och Lena Eskilsson, Institutionen för idéhistoria. Jag har också haft privilegiet att få deltaga i arbets- seminarierna inom Karin Westman Bergs Kvinnolitteraturprojekt i Uppsala, 1978—1981, och arbeta som forskningsassistent vid Birgitta Holms tvärvetenskapliga Kraka-projekt i Umeå, 1982 — 1984. Jag är mycket tacksam för allt jag lärt i denna forskarmiljö. Jag vill tacka min handledare Sverker Ek för stöd och upp muntran. Även doktorandseminariet vid Institutionen för littera turvetenskap skall ha tack för god hjälp. Jag framför ett speciellt tack till Ingeborg Nordin Hennel, Umeå, och Toril Moi, Bergen, för läsning av slutmanuskript. Min stora, underbara familj kan jag aldrig tacka nog för den förståelse jag fått för mina strävanden med forskningsuppgiften! Umeå i oktober 1986 Gunilla Domellöf Redaktion: Per G Råberg Humanistiska fakulteten, Umeå universitet, S—901 87 Umeå Omslagsbild: Teckning av Yngve Berg efter ett fotografi av Karin Boye. Composersättning: Maise Nordström, Umeå universitet Tryckt vid Goterna, Kungälv, 1986 Distribution: Almqvist & Wikseil International Box 45 501, S-104 30 Stockholm © Gunilla Domellöf ISSN 0345-0155 ISBN 91-7174-263-8 INNEHÅLL Ingress I KAPITEL I: DEN NYA TIDSSTILEN OCH DEN KVINNLIGA FÖRFATTAREN Metodiska utgångspunkter Den litterära institutionen 1 De hermeneutiska grundfrågorna 4 Könsteoretiskt perspektiv 7 Litteraturkritiken inom den svenska litterära institutionen 10 vid mellankrigsmodernismens genombrott Kritikerställningen 1925 10 Frontbildningen 1930 13 Kritikerpositioner 1935 16 Implikationer för kvinnliga författare 23 Modernistisk kvinnosyn 26 Samtidsmottagandet av Karin Boyes romaner 1931—1934 Astarte 29 Merit vaknar 34 Kris 38 Bilden av mellankrigsmodernismens framväxt i svensk 44 litteraturhistorisk framställning Den nya tiden 45 De nya författarna 45 Det nya språket 46 Placeringen av Karin Boyes författarskap i den litte 47 rära kanon KAPITEL II: KARIN BOYE OCH SPEKTRUM Karin Boyes tidiga kulturjournalistik 49 Kulturtidskriften Spektrum 51 Karin Boye 1931 53 »Dagdrömmeriet som livsåskådning» 54 Spektrum nr 1 1931 59 Spektrums program 61 Spektrum nr 1 1932 64 »Nattens djupa violoncell» 67 »Om litteraturkritik» 73 Den nya litteraturkritiken 77 Spektrum nr 2—4 1932 79 »Språket bortom logiken» 82 Spektrum nr 6 1932 88 »Rädslan och livet» 90 KAPITEL III: KARIN BOYE