<p>Uppsatsen ingår i kursen Skapande svenska C, 30 hp, inom ämnet Litteraturvetenskap vid Umeå universitet</p>

The purpose of this essay is to do an ecocritical reading of Vilhelm Moberg’s The Emi-grants from 1949. By asking and answering the three following questions; How does a system present itself, What are the different reasons for emigration; Why does differentsystem fit some well and some not. By using two articles from Green Planets - Ecology and Science Fiction to illus-trate two different views; Different parts value in an ekosystem and The Ship as an ecosystem. I have also created, based on the literary text four different terms concern-ing the dynamic system; Stable, Static, Unstable and Collapsing systems. I have found that all system goes through changes, some drastic, that changes the way the parts of the systems fit with in it. The reason for leaving the system in Småland varies a lot, not only nature, and the drive to feed, is responsible for emigration, also persecutions of religious views and class conflict are apparent. The emigrants also end up in a system that does not fit them very well, the ship Charlotta, in which they must struggle to sur-vive. The conclusion that I arrived at is that change will keep happening and that it is natural for a system to change.

The purpose of this essay is to do a narratological analysis of Utvandrarna by Vilhelm Moberg to see how the form affects the theme of freedom and liberation. I used narratology as the method of analysis and my questions for the text regards the significance of the narrator, the use of focalization, the powers, helpers and opponents, the locations and spaces, and how these aspects affect the theme. In my analysis of the novel I found that the narration took place in three levels. This gave the story different perspectives of the theme; an outer perspective, a semi-distant perspective and a more personal perspective. The focalization of the main characters creates sympathies, and the focalization of non-main characters gives the reader an outer perspective on the characters. This could both enhance the perception of oppression in Sweden and make clear that the characters move out of their comfort zone in order to travel to the new country. There are not many helpers in the novel, the main characters are often left to help themselves. The opponents found in the book were mostly characters in Sweden who kept the main characters from their freedom. Negative powers are the social structure and religious oppression, positive powers are determination that help the characters go through with their journey. The locations and the perception of space often enhances the feeling of being shut in which is contrasted to the longing for freedom. One of the main characters opposes the journey and does not see freedom at the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. This, together with the miserable conditions on the ship, problematizes the theme of liberation. The ocean can stand for opportunity and freedom, but once the main characters are on the ship the ocean becomes a threat and the ship holds them prisoners. Since it is not clear whether the main characters reach freedom in America or not, the focus in this novel is on the process of liberation. In my analysis I could see that the theme of freedom was visible in different ways in the different aspects of the narrative.

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether contemporary norms have influenced the content and design of three selected films based on gender and ethnicity. The selected films are Utvandrarna (1971), Nybyggarna (1972) and Utvandrarna (2021). In addition to the films, there are three newspapers that have been used as a complement to the films, they are Aftonbladet, Dagens Nyheter and Svenska Dagbladet. Furthermore, other secondary sources have been used to support the study in the form of background information on what gender and ethnicity looked like during the two time periods in Sweden, as well as previous research that will be used to deepen the analysis and draw parallels to this study. Some of the most important results that emerge are that contemporary standards have had a great impact on the design and content of the films. But not as much as it was thought, in the first time period, feminism is only reflected in Ulrika, the parish whore. In the later period, it is mainly the daughter and Karl-Oskar who stand for contemporary norms and descriptions within the gender and ethnicity perspective. But Kristina follows them after a scene that changed her perception of life.

Since 1995 the musical Kristina från Duvemåla has been performed on many national theatre stages in Sweden and is still obtaining success and fame. It is based on novels by the famous Swedish author Vilhelm Moberg, Utvandrarna (1949), Invandrarna (1952), Nybyggarna (1956) and Sista brevet till Sverige (1959) that revolve around a Swedish family emigrating to the United Stated during the 19th century. This thesis investigates both the novels and the musical adaptation in a comparative way. Theory of adaptation and intermediality is used to analyse differences and similiarities of the stories used in the novels and the musical. It can be assumed that major changes were implemented in the adaptation of the main characters, specifically Kristina. According to that a shift in importance and variations in characteristics of the main characters appeared in the musical. Since the musical is named after the character Kristina who is moreover the key figure in the overall scenic performances, it leads to the conclusion that there exist major shifts in importance of content structures. For the analysis, individually chosen scenes are investigated in comparison with the novel contents as well as certain musical songs and dialogues. It can be ascertained that Kristina’s role in the musical has changed significantly in comparison to the novels by Vilhelm Moberg. The results do make contributions to the applied analysis of media adaptations in literary studies and musicology and might state an example for further analysis of adaptations. / Kristina und Kristina ist eine vergleichende literaturwissenschaftliche Analyse der Auswandererromane Vilhelm Mobergs und dem Musical Kristina från Duvemåla. Bei den Werken Vilhelm Mobergs, die als Grundlage für diese Arbeit dienen, handelt es sich um Utvandrarna – Die Auswanderer (1949), Invandrarna – In der neuen Welt (1952), Nybyggarna – Die Siedler (1956), Sista brevet till Sverige (1959) – Der letzte Brief nach Schweden. Vergleichend dazu wird das Manuskript des Musicals Kristina från Duvemåla aus dem Jahr 2012 untersucht, insbesondere dessen Liedtexte, Szenendialoge sowie Monologe. Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es, mithilfe einer komparativen Analyse der vier Romane und des Musicals, mögliche Gemeinsamkeiten und Unterschiede festzustellen. Der Fokus liegt dabei auf dem Hauptcharakter Kristina, welche im Vergleich zu den anderen Hauptcharakteren Karl Oskar, Robert und Ulrika bedeutend häufiger im Musical auftritt. Für die Textanalyse werden besonders Linda Hutcheons A Theory of Adaptation (2006) und Hans Lunds Intermedialitet. Ord, bild och ton i samspel (2002) genutzt. Es werden ausgewählte Episoden aus dem Musical mit den Inhalten der vier Romane Mobergs verglichen. Auf Grund des limitierten Umfangs der Arbeit ist nur eine begrenzte Betrachtung der Primärquellen möglich. Die szenische Darstellung erhält keinen Einzug in die Analyse. Bei der musikalischen Umsetzung der Romane im Musical erfolgt eine Betrachtung an ausgewählten Beispielen. Nach der vergleichenden Textanalyse beider Werke ist festzustellen, dass es sich um eine gelungene Adaption handelt, da nur bei genauer Betrachtung einzelner Episoden aus dem Musical Unterschiede zu den ursprünglichen Romanen deutlich werden. Zudem ist das Musical inhaltlich sehr nah an Mobergs Auswandererromanen angelegt. Notwendige Anpassungen, wie Kürzungen und Zusammenfassungen von Episoden aus den Romanen, sowie eine Fokussierung auf die wichtigsten Geschehnisse sind ebenfalls zu verzeichnen. Die These, dass Kristina im Musical anders dargestellt wird als in den Büchern Vilhelm Mobergs, kann durch die genaue Textanalyse bestätigt werden. Während die Figur Kristina in den Romanen eher eine zurückhaltende, vorsichtige und schüchterne Rolle einnimmt, wird sie im Musical als eine mutige, direkte und starke Frau dargestellt und wahrgenommen. Bis heute erfreut sich das Musical Kristina från Duvemåla in Schweden größter Beliebtheit und dies nicht nur aufgrund der gelungenen Umsetzung der Auswandererromane Vilhelm Mobergs, sondern auch dank der musikalischen Inszenierung durch Benny Andersson und der stilvollen Liedtexte Björn Ulvaeus‘.

The aim of this this study is to investigate how different schools in the region Småland in Sweden work with the author Vilhelm Moberg and his literature. The aim is also to see wich aspects are central in the teaching of Moberg. Seven teachers have been interviewed  and asked about how they teach about Moberg. The results schow that the novel The Emigrants is the most popular amongst Moberg's books when it comes to education and that Moberg is important in the schools of Småland, because of this connection to region and what he wrote about Swedish emigration. All of the teachers use different strategies when it comes to reading Mobergs's works and some of them take the pupils to the areas where Moberg was born. Most of the teachers also show the pupils a film based on one of Moberg's books. The results also show that there is no big difference between lower secondary school adn upper secondary school in how they teash about Moberg, but there is a difference in how much each teacher works with the author.

This study is an adaptation analysis focusing on the portrayal of Sweden in Jan Troell´s film The Emigrants (1971) and Eric Poppe´s film The Emigrants (2021), which is based on the book by the same name, written by Vilhelm Moberg. Both the films and book are discussed and analyzed to find similarities and differences between them. The purpose of this paper is to identify the changes and similarities that have been made due to the different contexts of the adaptations and how they reflect the Swedish society in which they were released with the fallacies in contemporary adaptation theory that points out wrong assumptions about the similarities of this classic story.   All through this study I have shown the context specific attributes that have contributed to the differences between the contexts of the adaptations but also reported the similarities in the overall story. The context in the representation of Sweden has changed a lot between the different adaptations, many of them appear more clearly when you look closer at the time in Swedish society in which they were released. Context specific differences are behind much of this, through the adapter's interpretation of the source text. The representation of Sweden as a nation can be based on this, but also through Vilhelm Moberg´s, Jan Troell´s and Erik Poppe´s choice to emphasize specific societal problems as a central part of their interpretation. The fallacies in contemporary adaptation theory have shown that the assumptions about how The Emigrants have been adapted are in some cases incorrect. This paper can shed light on the changes and similarities that take place when a work is adapted into different time periods in a nation's history.

I denna uppsats ämnar jag undersöka den historiska romanen som koncept genom en karaktärsanalys av fyra romaner av Vilhelm Moberg: Utvandrarna, Invandrarna, Nybyggarna och Sista brevet till Sverige, samt en av Jan Guillou: Brobyggarna. Dessa romaner är alla uppbyggda kring karaktärer som besitter mycket beslutsamhet och kampvilja, även om Jan Guillous karaktärer uppvisar kvaliteter som oftare associeras med superhjältar.  Som stöd i uppsatsen använder jag Georg Lukács The Historical Novel, i vilken han definierar hur en välskriven historisk är uppbyggd. Jag har även undersökt hur de båda författarna som är föremål för denna uppsats själva ser på sina verk, med extra fokus på deras sanningsanspråk. Detta eftersom Lukács särskilt poängterar att den historiska romanen måste vara, om inte sann, så trovärdig.  I analysen jämför jag ett urval av karaktärer från de olika verken med varandra för att se hur de passar in i Lukács definition av den historiska romanen. Jag poängterar att Guillous karaktärer är en aning för perfekta för att kunna betraktas som realistiska, medan Mobergs karaktärer framstår som mer levande och ärliga i sin strävan efter ett bättre liv. Guillou verkar skriva sin karaktärer som representanter för specifika historiska skeenden, snarare än som riktiga människor som påverkar av dessa skeenden. Därefter öppnar jag upp för en diskussion om de typiska egenskaperna hos karaktärerna i en historisk roman, och gör ett försök att förklara varför de måste skrivas på detta vis. / In this essay I aim to study the concept of the historical novel through a character analysis of four novels by Vilhelm Moberg: Utvandrarna, Invandrarna, Nybyggarna and Sista brevet till Sverige; and one by Jan Guillou: Brobyggarna. These novels all portray characters of great determination and grit, although the ones created by Jan Guillou tend to also have qualities moe commonly associated with superheroes.  To support my thesis, I use Georg Lukács´The Historical Novel, in which he defines what constitutes a well written historical novel. I have also researched how the two authors view their own works, with special emphasis on their claims to write truthfully, since one om Lukács main points is that the historical novel must be — not truthful — but realistic.  In the analysis I compare the characters from the different works with each other to see how they fit into Lukács´ definition of the historical novel. I make a point out of Guillou´s characters being a bit too perfect for them to be realaistic, while Moberg´s characters seem more alive and honest in their quest for a better life. Guillou seems to write his characters as representants of specific historical movements. I then open up for a discussion about the key characteristics of the characters in a historical, and attempt to explain why they have to be written in such a way.

Vilhelm Moberg (1898–1973) var en av sin tids mest inflytelserika svenska författare. De fyra romanerna i hans episka utvandrarserie hör de till de mest lästa svenska romanerna genom tiderna. Trots att forskningsfältet om Moberg är stort har hans verk hitintills inte analyserats utifrån ett queerperspektiv. Syftet med denna magisteruppsats är att göra en queer läsning av Mobergs utvandrarserie, med fokus på relationen mellan Robert och Arvid. Dessa unga drängars relation har sällan givits utrymme inom Mobergforskningen och när den omnämnts har den lästs som kamratskap. Min hypotes är att det, trots indikationerna på ett homofobt förhållningssätt hos Moberg vid tiden för utvandrarseriens tillkomst, är möjligt att läsa fram en romantisk kärlekshistoria mellan männen. I uppsatsen lyfts frågeställningen om huruvida textens djur, djuriskhet och djursymbolik öppnar upp för att läsa fram de unga männens kärlekshistoria. Tidelagstemat som i utvandrarserien är förbundet med Arvid kan förstås som en omskrivning för homosexualitet, vilket ihop med queerbetonad djursymbolik som i texten omgärdar Robert, framhäver deras icke-utskrivna begär och kärlek. Analysen synliggör den dikotomi mellan manlighet och omanlighet som i romanerna gestaltas genom Robert och hans storebror Karl Oskar. Storebrodern tillskrivs stark karaktär, individualism och arbetsstyrka, egenskaper som historiskt sett kategoriserats som manliga. Robert skrivs fram som arbetsskygg, lögnaktig och med ett infantilt drömmande om guld och rikedom, egenskaper som kategoriseras som omanliga. Analysen påvisar att i likhet med tidelagstemat kan också omanligheten läsas som en omskrivning för homosexualitet. Frågan om huruvida Mobergs föreställning om homosexualitet som ett ”olycksöde” har haft konsekvenser för gestaltningen av Robert och Arvid, genomsyrar analysen. Avsikten med detta har inte varit att smutskasta Moberg utan att lyfta det motsägelsefulla med hans homofoba hållning då det i denna uppsats fastställs att han författat en vacker kärlekshistoria om två unga män. / Vilhelm Moberg (1898–1973) was one of the most influential Swedish writers of his time. His epic The Emigrants with its four parts are among the most read Swedish novels of all time. The field of research about Moberg is large; despite this none of his works have been analyzed from a queer angle until now. The purpose of this master’s thesis (one year) is to do a queer reading of Moberg’s The Emigrants, focusing on the relationship between Robert and Arvid. The bond between these young farmhands has rarely been given attention within the research about Vilhelm Moberg; when it is mentioned in previous research, it’s perceived as camaraderie. My hypothesis is that, despite indications of a homophobic attitude in Moberg, it is possible to make visible a romantic love story between these men. In this thesis, a question regarding whether animals, animality or animal symbolism in the text makes the young men’s love story increasingly visible, is raised. The theme of bestiality in The Emigrants coincides with Arvid, and can be seen as a synonym for homosexuality. In combination with queer animal symbolism surrounding Robert, the men’s hidden desire and love is enhanced. The analysis highlights a dichotomy between masculinity and unmanliness that is portrayed through the relationship between Robert and his older brother Karl Oskar. The latter is being ascribed traditionally masculine traits, such as resilient character, individualism and physical ability for labor, whereas Robert is associated with unmanly attributes such as laziness, untrustworthiness, and an infantile longing for gold and riches. The analysis shows that Robert’s unmanliness, just as the bestiality theme, is a synonym for homosexuality. The question as to whether Moberg’s impression that homosexuality is an “unfortunate fate” has had consequences for to the portrayal of Robert and Arvid, permeates this analysis. The purpose has not been to smear Moberg but to highlight the paradox of his homophobic stance, since this thesis conclusively determines that he has written a beautiful love story involving two young men.