Transgressive Femininity Gender in the Scandinavian Modern Breakthrough Kristina Sjögren UCL PhD in Gender Studies 2 I, Kristina Sjögren, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. 3 Abstract This PhD thesis deals with how new discourses on femininity and gender developed in Scandinavian literature during the Modern Breakthrough, 1880-1909. Political, economic and demographic changes in the Scandinavian societies put pressures on the existing, conventional gender roles, which literature reflects; however, literature also created and introduced new discourses on gender. The main focus has been on transgressive female characters in Danish, Swedish and Norwegian novels, which I have seen as indicators of emerging new forms of femininity. The study shows how the transgression of gender boundaries is used in the novels, when presenting their views on what femininity is, should be or could be. In addition to analysing the textual strategies in the representation of these ‘deviant’ literary characters, I have examined how the relevant texts were received by critics and reviewers at the time, as reviews are in themselves discursive constructs. The theoretical basis of this study has mainly been Michel Foucault’s discourse theory, Judith Butler’s theory of performativity and Yvonne Hirdman’s theory of gender binarism. I have also used concepts from several (mainly Anglo-American and Scandinavian) literary gender theorists and historians in the analyses. The four novels analysed in this study are as follows: 1) Danish author Herman Bang’s early decadence novel Haabløse Slægter (1880), where I use a queer theory perspective. 2) Norwegian author Ragnhild Jølsen’s Rikka Gan (1904), where the strong elements of pre-psychoanalysis are analysed. 3) Swedish author August Strindberg’s Le Plaidoyer d’un fou (1887-88), where I make a narratological examination of the narrative voice from a gender perspective. 4) Swedish author Annie Quiding’s Fru Fanny (1904), analysed as an example of ‘negative’ New Woman literature. The thesis shows how literature of the time represented and introduced new forms of femininity, often in the form of ambiguous female characters, and often to the disapproval of the critics. It also shows that gender discourses were much alike within Scandinavia. Furthermore, my study lays bare the skeleton of normative Breakthrough femininity, what can be called the dominant discourse on femininity at the time: a non- existing sexual desire, feminine immobility/containment in the home and an imperative, self-sacrificing motherliness. 4 Acknowledgements First of all I would like to thank my supervisors, Helena Forsås-Scott and Clarie Thomson at the Scandinavian Department at UCL for their great helpfulness and patience. Thanks to their encouragement, I have slowly found my way along a narrow, winding path through all the books I have read and all the re-writings I have done. Helena especially has been a fantastic support, never failing to show an interest in my personal life, projects and problems along the way. I also feel grateful to all the other staff and PhD students at the department, who have been supportive and encouraging, helping me translate Danish and Norwegian words and proposing literature and solutions to problems. Some have had the kindness to read and comment on parts of my thesis, which has been a great help. I would especially like to thank Margrethe Alexandroni and my PhD colleagues Elettra Carbone and Reynir Eggertsson in this respect. During the journey of this thesis, on conferences and courses, I have met several PhD students and lecturers from other departments and universities, who have kindly offered help and insights that I have used. Some of them have made a lasting impression on me; some have even become my friends. I thank them all collectively, but would like to give a special thanks to Professor Janet Garton at East Anglia University for proposing Norwegian novels to analyse and to Dag Heede at Syddansk Universitet for reading and extensively discussing my chapter on Bang’s Haabløse Slægter. A special thank you to my PhD colleague Maria Lival-Lindström at Åbo Akademi för reading and commenting on my whole manuscript, and to my friends Camilla Webster, Janet Addison and John Mitchinson for proofreading and valuable comments. Needless to say, all mistakes and faults in this study are entirely my own. Thank you to my partner Martin Kristell for his everlasting patience. Thank you to my grown children Alexander, Rebecka and Gabriella Jarhall for listening to my ramblings about the Modern Breakthrough. Thank you to my youngest son, Albin Kristell, for enticing me away from my computer when I most needed it. Thank you to my brother, Jonas Sjögren, for all the moral support and help with administration during and after my move to England. Thank you to my parents, Gerd and Lennart Sjögren, for their financial support, and for always impressing on me that life is a journey and that I can do anything I believe in. Sjuhalla, Karlskrona, Sweden in August 2009 5 General comments Translations: Unless a specific English-language source is given, all translations are mine. The indented Scandinavian quotes have not been translated because of lack of space. Instead, an appendix with rough translations will be presented separately. Italics: Italics in quotations are always in the original unless I state otherwise. Bibliography: A few works that have been an inspiration to my thinking, and that I find relevant to this study, have been included in the bibliography in spite of the fact that they are not directly quoted. I have marked these in grey. 6 Contents 1. Introduction 9 1.1 The Analysed Novels 10 1.1.1 Herman Bang’s Haabløse Slægter 11 1.1.2 Ragnhild Jølsen’s Rikka Gan 12 1.1.3 August Strindberg’s Le Plaidoyer d’un fou 13 1.1.4 Annie Quiding’s Fru Fanny 14 1.2 The Scandinavian Modern Breakthrough 17 1.2.1 Short Historical Background 17 1.3 The Legal Situation of Scandinavian Women during the Modern Breakthrough 20 1.3.1 Organised Feminism 25 1.4 Literature and Debates 28 1.4.1 Periodisation and Limitations 28 1.4.2 A Change of Style and Topics 31 1.4.3 Ibsen’s Influence 34 1.5 The Scandinavian Middle Classes 36 1.6 Existing Gender Research about the Breakthrough 38 1.7 Michel Foucault’s Discourse Theory 39 1.7.1 Discourses 42 1.7.2 The Subject 43 1.7.3 Power 44 1.7.4 Foucault and the Study of Gender 45 1.8 Judith Butler’s Theory of Performativity 46 1.9 Chris Weedon: A Strategy of Reading 49 1.10 Hirdman, Lanser, Badinter, Witt-Brattström and Florin 50 1.10.1 Yvonne Hirdman: Feminine Subjugation through Binarism 51 1.10.2 Susan S. Lanser’s Gender-based Narratology 52 1.10.3 Elisabeth Badinter and the Non-existence of Motherly Instinct 52 1.10.4 Ebba Witt-Brattström and the Seamy Side of Male Decadence 53 1.10.5 Christina Florin and Swedish Suffragism 53 2. Border Beings: Subverting Gender Dichotomy in Herman Bang’s Haabløse Slægter (1880) 54 2.1 Gender Dichotomy in the Modern Breakthrough 57 2.1.1 ‘En bestämd väsensolikhet’: Ellen Key and Gender Binaries 62 2.1.2 ’I hvarje människa hennes eget mål’: Frida Stéenhoff 63 2.2 The Reviews, the Lawsuit and the Verdict 64 2.3 Decadence and the Demonisation of the Feminine 69 2.3.1 Decadence in a Scandinavian Context 70 2.3.2 The Importance of Family and Inheritance 73 2.3.3 Demonic Femininity 74 2.3.4 Textual Representation of the Feminine in Haabløse Slægter 77 2.4 Boundaries 78 2.5 The Non-human Femininity and its Contagiousness 80 2.6 The Vampire 82 2.7 Non-reproduction and its Punishment 89 2.8 Pathological Sexuality 90 2.9 Cross-dressing 94 2.10 Summary 96 7 3. Desire, Reproduction and Death: Ragnhild Jølsen’s Rikka Gan (1904) 98 3.1 Plot and Literary Style 100 3.2 Decadence and Pre-psychoanalytical Literary Impulses 101 3.3 The Reviews 104 3.4 Writing about Sexuality 104 3.5 Normative Feminine Sexuality in Breakthrough Scandinavia 107 3.5.1 The Chastity Debate 107 3.5.2 Prostitution 108 3.5.3 Ruled by Instinct 111 3.6 Textual Strategy: What Must Not Be Said Openly 114 3.6.1 The Narrator 114 3.6.2 Essential, ‘Original’ Femininity 116 3.6.3 The Silences Telling the Story 117 3.7 Feminine Sexuality in Rikka Gan 119 3.7.1 The Symbols of Sex and Desire 120 3.7.2 Transgressive Sexuality 124 3.7.3 The Right to Look 126 3.8 ‘Strong Women and Feeble Men’ 127 3.8.1 Gender Asymmetry 131 3.9 Evil Mothers 132 3.9.1 Motherliness as a Discourse during the Modern Breakthrough 132 3.9.2 The Infanticides in Rikka Gan 139 3.9.3 Infanticide and Sexuality 142 3.9.4 The Evil Stepmother 143 3.10 The Closure 144 3.11 Summary 145 4. Threatened Masculinity: The Narrative Voice in August Strindberg’s Le Plaidoyer d’un fou (1887-88)147 4.1 The question of Originality 150 4.2 A Short History of Le Plaidoyer d’un fou 151 4.3 Le Plaidoyer’s Narrator 152 4.4 Lanser about Narrative Voice 155 4.4.1 Public and Private Narrators, and Focalisers 155 4.4.2 The Autodiegetic Narrator 156 4.4.3 Narrative Authority 158 4.4.4 The Narratee 159 4.4.5 Absence/Silence 160 4.5 The Silent Female Voice 161 4.6 What Does Axel Speak About? 163 4.6.1 The Inferiority of Women, and Men as Their Creators 164 4.6.2 Feminine Sexuality 166 4.6.3 The Fear of Infidelity 168 4.6.4 The Father during the Modern Breakthrough 169 4.6.5 Lesbianism around the Fin de Siècle 171 4.6.6 Lesbianism in Le Plaidoyer 173 4.6.7 The Actress: The Public Woman 174 4.6.8 The New Woman in Le Plaidoyer 175 4.7 The Male Hysterical Voice 176 4.7.1 A Lost Sense of Humour 176 4.7.2 The Axioms 179 4.8 The Reviews 181 4.9 Summary 184 8 5.