The aim for this study is to compare Victoria Benedictsson’s position and views in the morality debate during the modern breakthough in the nordics. The works that I have choosen for this study is firstly Benedictsson’s book Money, published in 1885 and secondly the play Theories, written in 1887 and published in 1994. I will research whether or not Benedictsson’s position in the debate will change since there are only two years in between them. Money is published in the beginning of the morality debate and Theories at the end, wich will make the essence of the discussion.

La thèse compare quelques romans suédois et français écrits entre 1884 et 1892 et comment ceux-ci sont imprégnés par les thèmes de la Décadence, et cela à partir de l’implication esthétique des portraits de femmes. Huit textes sont étudiés afin de comparer la littérature suédoise fin-de-siècle – en partie interprétée comme de la littérature de « percée moderne » – à la littérature française et la Décadence. L’étude est divisée en trois parties concernant : 1) la représentation de la femme indépendante ; 2) les nouveaux rôles des sexes ; 3) les rapports à l’esthétique et l’ontologie décadentes. Comme l’époque est concernée par de nouveaux rôles de sexes, l’attention attirée sur les figures féminines est fructueuse et originale, car la plupart des personnages principaux décadents sont masculins, un fait qui imprègne la recherche sur la Décadence littéraire. La première partie analyse aussi bien les apparences et les comportements, que l’approche de « la femme fatale » et le regard des femmes d’elles-mêmes. Dans la deuxième partie, des thèmes comme androgynie, sexualité et érotisme sont étudiés. Finalement, la thèse examine, dans la troisième partie, les relations entre les figures féminines et les idées liées à la sécularisation, à l’artifice et aux maladies fin-de-siècle. Plus les analyses évoluent, plus il devient clair que les œuvres suédoises sont marquées par les mêmes thèmes et idées que les œuvres françaises. Cependant, une différence est que les traits des figures féminines françaises sont plus souvent exagérés que ceux des figures suédoises – une différence que la thèse voit comme une influence du programme littérairement politique de la « percée moderne ». / This thesis compares Swedish and French literary prose fiction written between 1884 and1892 and its approach to Decadent themes, with focus on the female portraits and their aesthetic impact. Eight texts are analyzed in order to explore how the Swedish fin de siècle literature – partly interpreted as belonging to the political literary program of the ”Modern Breakthrough” – relates to the French literature and the Decadence. As the literary Decadence is concerned about the gender roles, the focus on the female characters is profitable and original; most main characters in Decadent literature are male, which has also influenced earlier research on this period’s literature. The study is divided into three major parts: 1) pictures of the independent woman; 2) gender roles and sexuality; 3) female characters and decadent ontology. In the first part, the analyses focus on features and behavior – as well as “la femme fatale” and the women’s look upon themselves. In the second part, themes such as androgyny, sexuality and eroticism are examined. In the third part, the study explores how the female figures relate to the ideas of degeneration and the feelings of loss: secularization, artifice and (non-)health. The more the analyses are developed, the clearer it becomes that the Swedish texts are influenced by the same decadent themes and ideas as the French texts. Nevertheless, a difference is that the French literature’s female characters more often are depicted with exaggerated traits than the Swedish characters, a difference that the thesis points out as connected to the Modern Breakthrough and its political program.

This essay examines possible subject positions offered to a female in relations to the decadence genre in the novel Berta Funcke (1885) by Stella Kleve, pseudonym for Mathilda Malling. The aim is to study how a female can be decadent. I analyze subject positions and examine how they enable decadent expressions of the female character. To understand subject positions in relations to the historical context I use Chris Weedon’s approach to feminist poststructuralism. I define decadence as a relative concept and understand it as a wider experience of decadence and dissolution in society. The methodological framework is based on hermeneutic reading. The result shows that the female protagonist is under the influence of many subjectivities simultaneously. Her decadence can be seen as both a source of emancipation and of constraint. From the analysis, I’ve been able to distinguish four characteristic subject positions: The Erotic, The Hermaphrodite, The Actress and The Hothouse Plant. The subject positions are bound to stereotypes of the time but also permits the female protagonist to transcend gender definitions. The result shows that the decadent aesthetics, expressions and vocabulary open up new ways of being for the female character.

<p>Anne Charlotte Leffler, Victoria Benedictsson and Frida Stéenhoff were all part of the Modern Breakthrough in Swedish literature. By utilizing Jürgen Habermas theoretical works on communicative action, and Nancy Fraser’s supplementary reading of his theory, this essay makes clear that the authors’ struggle for an understanding and a rethinking of social norms in their plays <em>Skådespelerskan </em>(1873), <em>Romeos Julia </em>(1888) and <em>Lejonets unge </em>(1896) can be read as a contribution to the public debate. Dialogue has a key function for female authors during the Modern Breakthrough. Women and mens’ possibilities to take part in conversation and argument as equals, requires the professional woman’s transgression and access to the privileges of both public (State) administration – “system”, and world of everyday life – “lifeworld”. As oppositional authors, Leffler, Benedictsson and Stéenhoff took advantage of the literary public domain, in this case the theatre. The theatre as public sphere had a more effective capacity to affect its audience than fiction. The plays were written and staged in a cultural period that, compared with the present one, in a greater sense influenced public opinion. The theatre was a powerful part of the public debate, and this debate involved parties from both on-stage and off-stage positions.</p><p>At the theatre Leffler, Benedictsson and Stéenhoff turned the private into politics. Their powerful contribution to the public debate were directed specifically towards the bourgeois audience. They carried on a controversy concerning the notion of the bourgeois family by showing scenarios that raised objection to its idealistic point of view. The bourgeois living room was exposed on stage. Conflicts related to the private sphere were brought up as a theme in a public sphere and by so means were incorporated into the public debate, which at that time was dominated by men. The plays mirrored the audience and the authors’ strategies were based upon the remodeling power inherent in conversation and argumentation. Thereby, the audience were confronted with an alternated reflection of themselves. This reflection should be read as a problematic representation of the writing of history. The alternate mirroring brought in itself forward an argument that emphasized why a new reflection was necessary.</p><p><em>Skådespelerskan</em>, <em>Romeos Julia </em>and <em>Lejonets unge</em> examine female artists in a bourgeois environment. Through the artist the structures that maintain bourgeois ideals are exposed and questioned, but first and foremost the artist show that communicative action between men and women was insufficient. The androcentric order did not acknowledge women and men as equals, in accordance with that, the possibility of conversation, in the sense of Habermas, came to nothing. Under such circumstances an understanding between men and women could not be reached. Love within the institution of marriage also suffered since it could not be founded in acknowledgement as long as the structure maintained. Saga and Adil, the main characters in <em>Lejonets unge</em>, personify, on the other hand, Stéenhoffs ideas of what is being needed to change the androcentric structure. They are citizens of the future.</p><p>My focus is on human action (in an Aristotelian sense) in the plays, the way characters stage themselves and bring the plot forward, shed light upon their possibilities and limitations in proportion to each other as men and women. My analysis thereby contrasts with the greater part of earlier research. I give prominence to the connection between psychological conflict and social position/role. In <em>Skådespelerskan</em>, <em>Romeos Julia</em> and <em>Lejonets unge</em> all of the characters’ psychological conflicts are based in gender issues, the consequences of being a man or woman in the 18th century, rather than explicit existential matters.</p>

Anne Charlotte Leffler, Victoria Benedictsson and Frida Stéenhoff were all part of the Modern Breakthrough in Swedish literature. By utilizing Jürgen Habermas theoretical works on communicative action, and Nancy Fraser’s supplementary reading of his theory, this essay makes clear that the authors’ struggle for an understanding and a rethinking of social norms in their plays Skådespelerskan (1873), Romeos Julia (1888) and Lejonets unge (1896) can be read as a contribution to the public debate. Dialogue has a key function for female authors during the Modern Breakthrough. Women and mens’ possibilities to take part in conversation and argument as equals, requires the professional woman’s transgression and access to the privileges of both public (State) administration – “system”, and world of everyday life – “lifeworld”. As oppositional authors, Leffler, Benedictsson and Stéenhoff took advantage of the literary public domain, in this case the theatre. The theatre as public sphere had a more effective capacity to affect its audience than fiction. The plays were written and staged in a cultural period that, compared with the present one, in a greater sense influenced public opinion. The theatre was a powerful part of the public debate, and this debate involved parties from both on-stage and off-stage positions. At the theatre Leffler, Benedictsson and Stéenhoff turned the private into politics. Their powerful contribution to the public debate were directed specifically towards the bourgeois audience. They carried on a controversy concerning the notion of the bourgeois family by showing scenarios that raised objection to its idealistic point of view. The bourgeois living room was exposed on stage. Conflicts related to the private sphere were brought up as a theme in a public sphere and by so means were incorporated into the public debate, which at that time was dominated by men. The plays mirrored the audience and the authors’ strategies were based upon the remodeling power inherent in conversation and argumentation. Thereby, the audience were confronted with an alternated reflection of themselves. This reflection should be read as a problematic representation of the writing of history. The alternate mirroring brought in itself forward an argument that emphasized why a new reflection was necessary. Skådespelerskan, Romeos Julia and Lejonets unge examine female artists in a bourgeois environment. Through the artist the structures that maintain bourgeois ideals are exposed and questioned, but first and foremost the artist show that communicative action between men and women was insufficient. The androcentric order did not acknowledge women and men as equals, in accordance with that, the possibility of conversation, in the sense of Habermas, came to nothing. Under such circumstances an understanding between men and women could not be reached. Love within the institution of marriage also suffered since it could not be founded in acknowledgement as long as the structure maintained. Saga and Adil, the main characters in Lejonets unge, personify, on the other hand, Stéenhoffs ideas of what is being needed to change the androcentric structure. They are citizens of the future. My focus is on human action (in an Aristotelian sense) in the plays, the way characters stage themselves and bring the plot forward, shed light upon their possibilities and limitations in proportion to each other as men and women. My analysis thereby contrasts with the greater part of earlier research. I give prominence to the connection between psychological conflict and social position/role. In Skådespelerskan, Romeos Julia and Lejonets unge all of the characters’ psychological conflicts are based in gender issues, the consequences of being a man or woman in the 18th century, rather than explicit existential matters.

In this essay I perform readings of five influential literary works of the Modern Breakthrough in Nordic literature: Et dukkehjem (1879) by Henrik Ibsen, Niels Lyhne (1880) by Jens Peter Jacobsen, Barndomsvänner (1886) by Karl August Tavaststjerna, Fru Marianne (1887) by Victoria Benedictsson, and Ensam (1903) by August Strindberg. My aim is to identify and analyze discourses of loneliness and community. A central theme, both in this literature and in the contemporary society, is the problematization of gender roles. I find that the literature questions the polarization of gender roles through its depiction of marital relationships. At the same time, alternative communities are often portrayed as more fallible than those of marriage and nuclear family, forming discourses where marriage and nuclear family are prioritized over alternative communities – with a possible exception of national community. This paradoxical existence of modernity highlights the complexity of societal development: societal change requires not only political reforms but also change within subjects. The paradoxicality can be viewed as a manifestation of inner struggles. Finally, I reflect upon the endeavor to obtain entity that I find in these literary works. As connections between nature, culture and kinship, as well as between the past, the present and the future are formulated, issues of power/powerlessness and responsibility are brought into question. I propose further studies on these themes in relation to the emergence of nationalism, racial biology and fascism in 19th and 20th centuries, in order to deepen the understanding of the structure and the conditions of nationalism, racial biology and fascism in this context.