<p>Lucie Lagerbielke (1865-1931) is a fairly unknown writer who lived and worked in Stockholm. All her life she was writing with a strong aim to tell her truth and she had an aspiration to change the world for the better.  Her main points of views in her authorship were; oneness, the power of love, a belief in a supreme purpose to be served, religious mysticism and the interest in understanding and to prove the transcendent on a scientific basis. </p><p>In my discussion I relate to Rita Felski and her expression <em>the popular sublime,</em> a term she applies to illustrate a sublime way of writing that was common in women popular fiction in the late nineteenth-century. This romantic literature with escapist tendencies was popular among the ordinary readers but very seldom met with success with the professional critics.</p><p>Focus in this BA thesis is the spiritual Lagerbielke and in what way she wants to change the society. I have analyzed two of her novels, <em>Daniel- ett lifsöde</em> and <em>En sällsam upplefvelse</em> with intention to examine how she used her novels to plead for her cause.</p><p>By making such an analysis I come to the conclusion that both her novels have the purpose to emphasize her philosophy of life. <em>En sällsam upplefvelse</em> focus on explain the supernatural scientifically and in the novel <em>Daniel – ett lifsöde</em> her intend is to enlighten oneness and selfless love. </p>

Lucie Lagerbielke (1865-1931) is a fairly unknown writer who lived and worked in Stockholm. All her life she was writing with a strong aim to tell her truth and she had an aspiration to change the world for the better.  Her main points of views in her authorship were; oneness, the power of love, a belief in a supreme purpose to be served, religious mysticism and the interest in understanding and to prove the transcendent on a scientific basis.  In my discussion I relate to Rita Felski and her expression the popular sublime, a term she applies to illustrate a sublime way of writing that was common in women popular fiction in the late nineteenth-century. This romantic literature with escapist tendencies was popular among the ordinary readers but very seldom met with success with the professional critics. Focus in this BA thesis is the spiritual Lagerbielke and in what way she wants to change the society. I have analyzed two of her novels, Daniel- ett lifsöde and En sällsam upplefvelse with intention to examine how she used her novels to plead for her cause. By making such an analysis I come to the conclusion that both her novels have the purpose to emphasize her philosophy of life. En sällsam upplefvelse focus on explain the supernatural scientifically and in the novel Daniel – ett lifsöde her intend is to enlighten oneness and selfless love.

The aim of this study is to investigate how and why Swedish upper secondary school teachers use fiction in relation to the fundamental values in the EFL classroom. Using fiction as pedagogical material is an advantageous method when raising topics related to the fundamental values, which include topics such as democracy, equality, and gender awareness. The study is based on seven semi-structured interviews with Swedish upper secondary school teachers who all teach English. A content analysis was conducted in order to thematize and categorize the results. The project’s theoretical framework is based on modes of engagement as  presented by Rita Felski and phases of the reading process as presented by Judith Langer. The theoretical framework illuminates how and why teachers use fiction in relation to the fundamental values. The results show that the teachers mostly use novels and films to raise topics related to the fundamental values, since extensive narratives and character developments allow the pupils to get to know the characters and hence identify with them easily. In class, all the teachers appreciated[A1]  discussion as a method for their pupils to gain a deeper understanding of the topic at hand. The results further showed that the teachers believe fiction has great potential when raising topics related to the fundamental values. Pupils are able to react, respond to, and recognize themselves in what they read, which in turn teaches them something about themselves and the surrounding world. The results also show that the most prominent challenge with fiction is that not all pupils read or like to read. In conclusion, teachers prefer to use longer fictional texts, such as novels or films, to raise topics related to the fundamental values, and they use fictional texts because fiction as pedagogical material shows great potential in English classes.

This thesis has two purposes: (1) to analyze the emptiness in Blodbok by Christine Falkenland, and (2) to analyze my own reading of the same book. I have chosen to focus on how emptiness is expressed through the body, the language and the place in Blodbok, because of the deep impact these seem to have on the emptiness. The thesis discusses what kind of emptiness that is described, what it does to me as a reader, and how it is connected to other works by Falkenland. Cultural politics of emotions by Sara Ahmed, Uses of literature by Rita Felski and Pouvoirs de l’horreur by Julia Kristeva together form the theoretical framework. Blodbok is a poetry collection, about the loss of a mother. The first part of the thesis shows how emptiness is connected to the borders of the body. When the borders of the body are solid, emptiness is expressed trough the I’s will to pass these borders, to become a part of the mother or at least less lonely. When emptiness surround the I her body becomes indistinct and borderless, which makes the emptiness take place both inside and outside the body. The indistinctness of the body also leads to confusions between the body of the mother and the body of the daughter (the I), which also implies an uncertainness about the limit between life and death. This uncertainness becomes ‘sticky’, and I experience my own body being more borderless than before, and threatened by the death in the same manner as the bodies in the book. Emptiness also takes place as a part of the language in Blodbok, because of its inability to describe the feelings of the I. Though, in what I have called the simple language, for example clichés, the I find a way to express some of the despair, loss and fear that she feels. As a reader I find it very releasing when the I manage to express the emptiness in words. Even if loss is described I feel satisfaction while reading, because I recognize myself in the feelings of the I. I find the text being a witness to a horrible feeling and by functioning as a witness the poem moves the feeling from inside of me, to the outside. The place in Blodbok is connected to emptiness by being the place where life meets death. It is in this place the I circulate, and the emptiness and death is described again and again through the circulation. The place becomes the centre of the book, it is at the same time the beginning and the end. The thesis also shows how the emptiness in Blodbok corresponds to emptiness in other works by Falkenland. The emptiness is Blodbok isn’t empty; it is filled with death, horror, loneliness, love, mourning and loss. This emptiness ‘sticks’ to me as a reader. By picturing an in many ways indescribable emptiness, Blodbok manages to give me a feeling of satisfaction, a feeling of being filled.

<p>The main purpose of this study is to analyse how the main themes of alienation and the search for identity is portrayed by Swedish author Inger Edelfeldt. I have applied the theories of Rita Felski concerning feminist novels of self-discovery, in which the development of the female identity is the main question. As Edelfeldt’s writing consists of literature for the young as well as adults, I have included material from both of these genres. I have also taken use of Ulla Lundqvists theories about Swedish juvenile books when examining aspects of the main character’s feelings of alienation and identity searching.</p><p>The results of my analysis show that the reading of my material as feminist novels of self-discovery has revealed pervading charachteristics of alienation, love, friendship and psychological development. The genre-crossing tendency of Edelfeldt’s writing shows in that the theme of identity crisis and the search for identity is an important issue in all of her novels, despite the protagonist’s age. Finally, I show in my study, that by rejecting the heterosexual love-story narrative, Edelfeldts novels put the woman’s own psychological development in focus.</p>

The main purpose of this study is to analyse how the main themes of alienation and the search for identity is portrayed by Swedish author Inger Edelfeldt. I have applied the theories of Rita Felski concerning feminist novels of self-discovery, in which the development of the female identity is the main question. As Edelfeldt’s writing consists of literature for the young as well as adults, I have included material from both of these genres. I have also taken use of Ulla Lundqvists theories about Swedish juvenile books when examining aspects of the main character’s feelings of alienation and identity searching. The results of my analysis show that the reading of my material as feminist novels of self-discovery has revealed pervading charachteristics of alienation, love, friendship and psychological development. The genre-crossing tendency of Edelfeldt’s writing shows in that the theme of identity crisis and the search for identity is an important issue in all of her novels, despite the protagonist’s age. Finally, I show in my study, that by rejecting the heterosexual love-story narrative, Edelfeldts novels put the woman’s own psychological development in focus.

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This thesis examines the use of form and spatial language in confessional fiction by men to elucidate how they conceptualise and negotiate material, corporeal, and psychological boundaries amidst the shifting social and political landscape of the United States since the Second World War. In light of increasingly urgent calls to address gender and racial discrimination in the United States, this study offers timely insight into an identity that, while culturally dominant, often escapes examination: white, heterosexual masculinity. Focusing on the representation of forms and spatial imagery, the chapters explore how five formally experimental novelists-Vladimir Nabokov, Joseph McElroy, Harry Mathews, William H. Gass, and Peter Dimock- employ the confessional genre to illustrate the way men perceive themselves as spatially and temporally circumscribed, and to look at the way they reinforce or transgress the boundaries of masculine identity. The post-war period in the United States witnessed a proliferation of confessional writing that coincided with the popularisation of Freudian psychoanalysis, the cold war rhetoric of suspicion, and the rise of second-wave feminism. As a result, the concept of the self increasingly becomes a repository for fantasies of potential discovery and hidden danger that rely, significantly, on metaphors of surface and depth. It is within, and often against, this cultural preoccupation with the self that these writers address, both directly and indirectly, the status of white masculinity. Drawing on innovative theories of forms and spatiality, this study examines the diverse language and imagery men use to describe their sense of selfhood as well as the bonds they form with others. The works considered in this study demonstrate a common preoccupation with the boundaries that separate interior from exterior and private from public. In response to pressures both intimate and impersonal, the narrators of the texts discussed in this thesis turn to confessional practices of written self-examination to locate themselves within networks of fluctuating relations and obligations. The question that this thesis seeks to resolve is whether the forms and spatial language the narrators employ enable or obstruct their efforts to negotiate the competing demands of ethical responsibilities to others and the desire to preserve a stable sense of self.

Towards the end of the 19th century, Wilde produced the three comedies that I will focus on in this essay. These plays, Lady Windermere’s Fan, A woman of No Importance and An Ideal Husband, are all comedies of manners: intelligent dramatic comedies satirising contemporary fashionable circles of society and its manners, as well as social expectations. This type of comedy is often represented by stereotypical characters, such as the fallen woman, the good woman and the young innocent maiden, all three of which I will investigate in this essay.