Uppsatsen är en rumslig läsning av Ulla Isakssons Kvinnohuset (1952) där romanens rumsliga aspekter och Huset som motiv undersöks med narratologiska verktyg. Romanen diskuteras också utifrån rollteori och sin ideologiska kontext i det socialdemokratiska välfärdssamhället. Romanen kretsar kring några av de kvinnor som bor i “Huset” - ett kollektivhus för självförsörjande kvinnor. Triangeldramat mellan Tryggve (en regissör med en våning på Stan), Anna (som är hans fru men bor i Huset) och Eva (en skådespelerska och Tryggves nya älskarinna) är centralt i romanen då Tryggve ordnar en lägenhet åt Eva i Huset. Studien visar att det i Kvinnohuset finns en stark sammanlänkning av rumslig, social och känslomässig ordning. De rum de olika kvinnorna tillskrivs hjälper till att definiera både dem själva och deras relationer - i romanen finns det ett tematiserat samband mellan den plats där kärleksrelationer utspelas och den karaktär dessa relationer har. Trapphuset är det främsta rummet för interaktion mellan kvinnorna och därigenom ett rum där de tydligast kämpar om att definiera situationer och upprätthålla roller och masker. Huset fungerar som en viktig organiserande princip för romanen, vilket märks på fabulaplan men också genom att narrerandet placeras i Husets lägenheter, även när de händelser som beskrivs skett på andra platser. Huset beskrivs i romanen både som ett väsen och som ett begrepp för kvinnokollektivet. Att vara bosatt i Huset är i romanen starkt förknippat med att inneha en viss erfarenhetsposition - den erfarna och svikna kvinnans. I uppsatsen undersöker jag också konstruktionen av manligt och kvinligt i relation till hem och offentliga platser. Trots att kvinnorna inte bor tillsammans med män fokuserar de flesta av kvinnorna sin längtan på män, och flera av dem får under romanen tillfälle att agera värdinnor i det egna hemmet. / This thesis is a spatial reading of the Ulla Isaksson novel Kvinnohuset (first published in 1952) where the focus is on the spatial aspects of the novel and the House as a motif. Kvinnohuset is set in 1952 and revolves around a group of women who live in a residential building for single working women, Stockholm. The main plot is a love triangle between the director Tryggve, his wife Anna and his new mistress Eva, an actress. For the analysis I use contextualization on both an internallevel and an external level and an interdisciplinary selection of theories are used – performativity theory, spatial theory, narratology. The novel is also seen in relation to the historic context of socialdemocrat twentieth century Sweden. The house is found to function as a main organizing principle of the novel. The novel is also found to be a rich example of narrative space being intertwined with the social and emotional aspects of the text. The fabula revolves around the house – from Eva moving in to Anna being brought out – and narrating is often situated within the apartments, even when the events narrated take place in the city or elsewhere. The House is referred to as a creature, sometimes at the sametime referring to the collective of women residents as a social unit. The character of The House depends on the focalizor, and therefore shifts. Individual women characters' spaces are also used tocharacterize them and their relations – to the House, the novel and the narrative universe. The interplay between rooms and human relationships are thematized in the novel – each love affair isassigned its own space. The interaction in the stairways and the connection between the collectiveand the outside male world are also found to be central for the novel. In this thesis the construction of female and male in relation to homes and public space is also explored, since the novel is set in the 1950's when the idea of the woman as a housewifepeaked in popularity. The women are found to act as hostesses in their homes, using housework as acomforting practice in difficult situations.

This thesis is a study of spatial practice and literary depictions of homes in novels by Elsie Johansson, Kerstin Thorvall and Kristina Sandberg. The theoretical perspective is based on Henri Lefebvre´s view on social space, and on the concept of spatial practice. Research questions are: What homes are depicted? How does spatial practice function in the texts? How does the depictedspatial practice relate to norms and ideals? The novels, published 1993-2014, depict an interesting period in Swedish history (cirka 1920-1970) when politics and society at large was deeply involved in reshaping the homes and lives of Swedish citizens. The aim was to turn the citizens into new, healthy and rational parts of the new and rational society. Housewives where put in a position where the new rational housekeeping clashed with the standards and practices of earlier generations. Class is found to be a crucial factor in performing and experiencing domesticity in the studied novels. Housewive characters in the Thorvall and Sandberg novels, raised in working class families, struggle in adapting the spatial practice of home in their new middle class environments.Part of the thesis is a discussion on domesticity seen as an adaptive pracitce – catering to the needs of husbands and children. The novels show this, but also depict housework being used as a way to escape unpleasant conversations or forget ones unpleasant feelings. Another task with complex connotations and uses is cleaning. Cleaning in these novels have a strong connection to positive feelings like pleasure and pride, but also to negative feelings of shame and a loss of control. Acting normal to achieve a state of normality within the home and family is a common strategy for the housewives. The material is found to support Lefebvres idea on the importance of spatial practice - sense of home, for the studied housewife characters, is found to be more dependent on spatialpractice than on the home itself.