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Studien är en analys av Elin Wägners Norrtullsligan (1908) och Pennskaftet (1910) ur ett rumsligt perspektiv, med inriktning på genus. Syftet är att fördjupa läsningen av romanerna samt relatera dem till sin tids- och samhällskontext. Romanerna utspelar sig i medelklassmiljöer i Stockholm under tidigt 1900-tal, och handlar om kvinnor som omformulerar sina roller ochengagerar sig i bättre villkor. De centrala frågorna är: Hur gestaltas, representeras och diskuteras rum och stad i romanerna? Vilka rum använder karaktärerna och hur använder de dem? Den teoretiska utgångpunkten är att kombinera litteraturvetenskap med rumsteori, inspirerad av Alexandra Borgs avhandling En vildmark av sten (2011). Rummet uppfattas som en social produkt, med hjälp av begrepp från Henri Lefevbre. Studien relaterar till de tidigare analyser av Wägners romaner som gjorts med feministiska eller rumsliga förtecken. Studien visar att rummen skildras ur romanernas tydligt kvinnligt subjektiva perspektiv. Kvinnorna lever under alternativa bostadsformer men erkänner inte dessa bostäder som hem. De anser sig behöva en man för att legitimera hemmet. Vidare är kvinnornas tillvaro i de offentligastadsrummen sexualiserad och i romanerna hanterar kvinnorna detta genom att ge sig in i en identitetsmaskerad, där de genom att utge sig vara omoraliska skapar sig frihet. Studien diskuterar också arbetsplatser och rum för politisk verksamhet i romanerna.

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The purpose of this essay is to examine how Elin Wägner depicts the middle-aged woman who lives in the country in Sweden, in the 1920’s. The question at issue is: What problems and what subjects for rejoicing does she raise? My aim is to try to understand the women’s situation, as well as how Elin Wägner describes the situation in her four novels from the 1920’s: Den namnlösa (1922), Silverforsen (1924), Natten till söndag (1926) och Svalorna flyga högt (1929). At the same time I intend to compare the woman of the 1920’s to the situation of women today. I am writing from a feministic literary theory called “omläsning” according to the description of Gunilla Domellöf. In other words, a re-reading of the text with new eyes, in order to let the view of the woman become more visible. The method I have used is Hans Robert Jauss’ “Rezeptionsästhetik”. I came to the conclusion that the novels describe the reality in a plain way, possibly somewhat coloured by Elin Wägner’s feministic starting point. She is commited to the public debate on problems of modern society as well as very familiar with the woman question. Her main themes are love, marriage, divorce and self-realization.           Keywords: Elin Wägner, woman, the 1920’s, the church, love, marriage, divorce, feminism

<p>The purpose of this essay is to examine how Elin Wägner depicts the middle-aged woman who lives in the country in Sweden, in the 1920’s. The question at issue is: What problems and what subjects for rejoicing does she raise? My aim is to try to understand the women’s situation, as well as how Elin Wägner describes the situation in her four novels from the 1920’s: <em>Den namnlösa</em> (1922),<em> Silverforsen</em> (1924), <em>Natten till söndag</em> (1926) och <em>Svalorna flyga högt</em> (1929). At the same time I intend to compare the woman of the 1920’s to the situation of women today.</p><p>I am writing from a feministic literary theory called “omläsning” according to the description of Gunilla Domellöf. In other words, a re-reading of the text with new eyes, in order to let the view of the woman become more visible. The method I have used is Hans Robert Jauss’ “Rezeptionsästhetik”.</p><p>I came to the conclusion that the novels describe the reality in a plain way, possibly somewhat coloured by Elin Wägner’s feministic starting point. She is commited to the public debate on problems of modern society as well as very familiar with the woman question. Her main themes are love, marriage, divorce and self-realization.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Keywords: Elin Wägner, woman, the 1920’s, the church, love, marriage, divorce, feminism</p>

I Pennskaftet utformar kvinnorna ett systerskap när de känner sig solidariska med sitt kön. Utan systerskap skulle inte rösträttsarbetet kunna utföras. Flera av kvinnorna i romanen visar en solidaritet både till de kvinnor som följer normer och de som är normbrytande. I frågan om kvinnlig rösträtt uppstår ett ”vi” och ”de andra”, vilket medför en begränsning för systerskapet. Detta sker även inom familjen och när kvinnor från skilda samhällsklasser möts. Kvinnosolidariteten blir lidande när kvinnor från olika samhällsklasser har svårt att känna en samhörighet. Bevisligen finns en frånvaro av systerskap i Pennskaftet. Men när de två huvudkaraktärerna, Pennskaftet och Cecilia, interagerar blir en kvinnlig solidaritet ytterst framträdande. I Pennskaftet utbildas några män till att lära sig mer om kvinnor och rösträtten och de blir en tillgång. Till skillnad från Norrtullsligan där männen ses som det största hindret för kvinnor att uppnå riktig systerskap. Kvinnorna sviker varandra för männens skull och systerskapet blir bortvalt då kvinnorna hellre fokuserar på att träffa en make. I Norrtullsligan är det frånvaron av systerskapet som är som mest påtagligt, vilket medför begränsningar för kvinnorna i romanen. Trots att kvinnorna möts i en gemenskap med sin dåliga ekonomi, och på grund av det anordnar en strejk, så misslyckas strejken då några av kvinnorna bestämmer sig för att dra sig ur och inte ställa upp för sina medsystrar. Frånvaron av systerskapet är markant. För systerskapet i Pennskaftet är männen till kvinnornas fördel, medan männen i Norrtullsligan blir en nackdel.

<p>Ulla Isaksson (1916 – 2000) wrote many novels, often with a woman or several women as protagonists. In <em>Dit du icke vill</em> (“Where Thou Willst Not”) from 1956 she depicts a crisis of faith in a woman, which would not have been successful had she chosen a contemporary setting. She uses an adequate historical framework, the prosecution of witches in Sweden in the 17^th century, well documented in reliable sources. Her novel includes a message about oppression of women, manifest in patriarchal ambition to control ancient wisdom about healing and herbs and the denial of pre-Christian habits that include knowledge about female fertility, earlier exercised by midwives and wise women and men.</p><p>In “The Root of Evil” the novel is placed in a feminist tradition, where the author, like older writers like Fredrika Bremer, Ellen Key and Elin Wägner, pleads for “social mothering”.  A major difference is that, in her own life, Ulla Isaksson has experienced pregnancy, giving birth and breastfeeding which none of the pioneering Swedish feminist writers had. Emilia Fogelklou, pioneering theologian, wrote about witches as wise women, a study that influenced Ulla Isaksson. The witches are described as mirroring Hanna “the Good Mother”. Their fantasies about life at “Blåkulla” are similar to the everyday life at a wealthy farmstead. This kind of mirroring reminds of the theories of Gilbert and Gubar, who assume that female writers in the 19^th Century hid their revolt against patriarchy in mad women, like “The Madwoman in the Attic” in Jane Eyre. In the 1950s, golden age of the Swedish housewife, a female writer might well hide her anger at the circumscribed role model dedicated to women in a similar use of Anti-Women. The real witches clearly contrast the obedient protagonist, a true “Angel in the house”.</p><p>The villagers´ struggle to clear the ground from the ensnaring roots that hinder the male prosecution of witches imply a symbolic reading: this evil root is ancient matriarchal knowledge of childbearing and birth control. A theory on the original causes for the witch hunts in western Europe is introduced: the population sank in the 15^th century and one reason, beside plagues, starvation and warfare, was that women aware of how to prevent childbearing and giving birth to a lot of children were killed during the witch hunt. Churches and kings introduced the prosecution of witches and wise women, including midwives.</p>

Ulla Isaksson (1916 – 2000) wrote many novels, often with a woman or several women as protagonists. In Dit du icke vill (“Where Thou Willst Not”) from 1956 she depicts a crisis of faith in a woman, which would not have been successful had she chosen a contemporary setting. She uses an adequate historical framework, the prosecution of witches in Sweden in the 17th century, well documented in reliable sources. Her novel includes a message about oppression of women, manifest in patriarchal ambition to control ancient wisdom about healing and herbs and the denial of pre-Christian habits that include knowledge about female fertility, earlier exercised by midwives and wise women and men. In “The Root of Evil” the novel is placed in a feminist tradition, where the author, like older writers like Fredrika Bremer, Ellen Key and Elin Wägner, pleads for “social mothering”.  A major difference is that, in her own life, Ulla Isaksson has experienced pregnancy, giving birth and breastfeeding which none of the pioneering Swedish feminist writers had. Emilia Fogelklou, pioneering theologian, wrote about witches as wise women, a study that influenced Ulla Isaksson. The witches are described as mirroring Hanna “the Good Mother”. Their fantasies about life at “Blåkulla” are similar to the everyday life at a wealthy farmstead. This kind of mirroring reminds of the theories of Gilbert and Gubar, who assume that female writers in the 19th Century hid their revolt against patriarchy in mad women, like “The Madwoman in the Attic” in Jane Eyre. In the 1950s, golden age of the Swedish housewife, a female writer might well hide her anger at the circumscribed role model dedicated to women in a similar use of Anti-Women. The real witches clearly contrast the obedient protagonist, a true “Angel in the house”. The villagers´ struggle to clear the ground from the ensnaring roots that hinder the male prosecution of witches imply a symbolic reading: this evil root is ancient matriarchal knowledge of childbearing and birth control. A theory on the original causes for the witch hunts in western Europe is introduced: the population sank in the 15th century and one reason, beside plagues, starvation and warfare, was that women aware of how to prevent childbearing and giving birth to a lot of children were killed during the witch hunt. Churches and kings introduced the prosecution of witches and wise women, including midwives.

This dissertation investigates the way that feminist resistance is expressed in two Swedish and two German so-called New Woman novels from the turn of the twentieth century: Elin Wägner’s Pennskaftet (1910, Penwoman), Gabriele Reuter’s Aus guter Familie (1895, From a Good Family), Hilma Angered-Strandberg’s Lydia Vik (1904), and Grete Meisel-Hess’s Die Intellektuellen (1911). The theoretical apparatus is comprised by the work of Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, Jacques Lacan, and Jessica Benjamin. By introducing a psychoanalytic and feminist perspective, this dissertation seeks to develop the possibilities for agency and resistance within the framework of Foucault’s theories. It investigates four textual and contextually grounded strategies of resistance that are prominent in these novels: individuality, openness, desire, and eugenics. This study demonstrates how Gabriele Reuter, Grete Meisel-Hess, and  Hilma Angered-Strandberg, inspired by the ideas of Friedrich Nietzsche and Ellen Key, depict feminine individuality in relation to a scientific and philosophical discourse that specifically denied women individuality. The authors anchor individuality in a corporality that was similarly denied to women by a bourgeois and dogmatic Christian discourse. Openness and wit function as resistance strategies in Elin Wägner’s Pennskaftet. Humorous rejoinders and narrative comments can disarm a conservative. An open attitude towards the emancipation project could also help to resolve the conflicts between different feminist positions and between different women. Desire functions as an important resistance strategy in each of the novels examined. It is variously represented as a vital instinct, a desire for knowledge, and a sexual desire, as in Gabriele Reuter’s Aus guter Familie – or as a desire for suffrage, as in Pennskaftet, or for maternity legislation, as in Grete Meisel-Hess’s Die Intellektuellen. By formulating a notion of feminine desire, turn-of-the-century feminists were able both to seize control of sexuality from the church and to wrest morality from the grasp of the bourgeoisie. These resistance strategies could also have a biopolitical character: in Grete Meisel-Hess’s Die Intellektuellen, woman is placed at the service of humanity on eugenicist grounds, and her good qualities are seen as capable of promoting humanity’s progress. This dissertation shows that in these novels desire at the individual level serves to reinforce feminine subjectivity. Love is seen as associated with an intensified sense of life and as a precondition of creativity. At the social level, desire also functions as the basis for a feeling of solidarity among women that instils in them courage and an urge to persevere in the suffrage struggle, this latter a highly protracted process. In this way desire acquires political potential. A framing chapter on context provides the intellectual and philosophical backgrounds of the various strategies of resistance. It is followed by four analytical chapters, each of which addresses one novel.