In this essay different aspects of the motif of the criminal have been traced in Lotta Lotass’s Min röst ska nu komma från en annan plats i rummet and Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita. By seeking its representation in the texts, the intention was to show how themes, stylistic patterns and narrative functions interrelate in the construction of the motif. The perpetrator’s position within the narrative structure and its consequences have also been assessed. By discussing the meta-fictive aspects of the novels I stressed the importance of the reader’s function, arguing the reader’s participation in the construction of the motif.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine nature as a literary theme in four collections of poetry by the Swedish author Lotta Lotass in an attempt to understand what deeper meaning and significance nature brings to the poems. The four works are Redwood, Hemvist, Kraftverk and Nya dikter. I have chosen two poems from each work which menas I focus primarily at eight selected poems. A comparison between these poems is also made in an attempt to both widen and deepen the analysis. This means my study is based on what kind of message or meaning nature as a theme has within these poems. Furthermore I have chosen ecocriticism as my theoretical tool. This perspective is used in my analysis as a way to explore the two concepts of nature and culture and to take a closer look at what meaning they bring to both nature as a literary theme and to the interpretation of the poems content. I argue that the anthropocentric perspective is visible in Lotass poems as a way of questioning the relationship between these two concepts and to show their arbitrary basis. I also suggest that both the terms human, culture and nature and the limits that surround them are being explored and investigated in the poems by Lotass in an ambiguously and multi-layered way. There is no clear definition of neither of these terms and that's what makes them so intriguing and adds a special underlying nerve to the poems and their meaning.

Den här uppsatsen visar hur fyra kvinnliga författare debutromaner, från 1891-2000, har blivit mottagna. Undersökningen diskuterar hur kritiker förhåller sig till verken och författarnas kön. Undersökningen vill visa på hur kritikernas förhållningsätt till kvinnliga författare har förändrats under ett sekel. Vidare studeras vilka tendenser som påvisar att författarna har blivit recenserade med utgångspunkt i traditionella könsmönster.   Vår teoretiska utgångspunkt är genus och uppsatsens metodologiska tillvägagångssätt utgörs av Ruth Wodaks definition av kritisk diskuranalys (CDA).  Resultatet visar att normen kring kvinnans ställning i samhället präglar hur litteraturkritiken bemöter kvinnliga författare. Den förändring som har skett under hundra år avspeglas även i mottagandet av romanerna.   Summeringen är kritiken har tidigare haft ett tydligt fokus på författarens kön och en förmyndarartad hållning. I recensionerna av de senare verken från sent 50-tal och framåt är istället innehållet och språket i fokus och författarens kön har en underordnad betydelse.

Serial killers are present in most Media today: TV-shows, books, magazines, news shows and music. Research about them has been made in many fields, such as criminology, psychology and psychiatry. There is also research about the serial killer as a cultural being. In my paper I have looked into the serial killer in fiction. I have chosen to compare two novels that deal with the serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. The novels are Lotta Lotass’ Min röst skall nu komma från en annan plats i rummet and Joyce Carols Oates’ Zombie. By examining how the novels relate to the actual case and how they describe the violence and the person,I wanted to see if fiction can give a contrasting picture of how serial killers are usually described. I wanted to know if itis possible for fiction to represent serial killers as persons rather thanas inhuman monsters. My paper shows that although the novels differ in a lot of aspects, they both manage to contrast the picture of Dahmer. Zombieis more loosely based on Dahmer than Min röst, but focuses more on the violence. The Dahmer character in Zombie is more psychologically complex than the one in Min röst, but they both manage to describe the characters as human and they both avoid the stereotypical representation of serial killers.