This thesis explores the role of things in the literary work Storgården. En bok om ett hem, by writer Karl-Erik Forsslund (1872–1941). Through a thematic reading of things, coupled with a historical contextualization, the thesis aims to understand how characters are affected by things within the home as a material place in Storgården. By distinguishing between "objects", which can be used and understood, and "things", which resist being used and understood, I argue that things and thingness play an important role in two distinct ways. Firstly, by letting the subject experience continuity over time, in his or her own life as well as with previous generations. Secondly, by creating a "mood" of homeliness, which the subject feels connected to. Both of these two ways are enabled by the oscillation between things as objects which can be used and understood, and things which resist such conceptualizations. By emphasizing the thingness of things, Forsslund makes things appear as unique, as if they existed only in the particular home. At the same time, he emphasizes the usefulness of the things to the subject living there. The feeling of homeliness is thus achieved when things appear both as objects which can be used and things with their own lives. By assigning things this role in his literary work, Forsslund formulates a critique of accelerating modernity, the city, and increasing standardization. In his vision, things and humans exist in a close relationship, and this challenges the notion of a subject clearly separated from the object world. Through this relationship with things, the home in Storgården becomes a place where multiple temporalities exist in a harmonious relationship. And it is this harmony that creates the mood of homeliness.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-418155 |
| Date | January 2020 |
| Creators | Emanuelsson, Viktor |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Litteraturvetenskapliga institutionen |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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