Lesbianism in Swedish Literature

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 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 Sweden. I. Title. PT9370.L47B56 2014 839.7'093526643 dc23 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 ISBN 978-1-137-36496-8 (ebook)

Contents Acknowledgments 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 vii

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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 helpful 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- Johnsson, 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 different 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 University 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 providing 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 Rausings stiftelse för Humanistisk Forskning; Stiftelsen Lars Hiertas Minne; Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation; Magnus Bergvalls Stiftelse; Stiftelsen Torsten Amundsons fond; Helge Ax:son Johnsons stiftelse; The Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities (Stiftelsen Wallenbergsstiftelsens 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 without 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 litteraturvetenskap 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 förvandling: 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.