This essay, through Julia Kristeva’s theory of abjection, seeks to shift the focus from the society that abjects towards the abjected through a generous reading of two contemporary Swedish queer novels, Du är rötterna som sover vid mina fötter och håller jorden på plats by Eli Levén and Ett så starkt ljus by Lyra Ekström Lindbäck. I discuss how the queer subject relates to different types of borders that Kristeva posits, such as the bodily border, the border of the I, and a moral or societal border. I find that the queer subject has a different relationship to these borders, and view and experience them in ways different than Kristeva suggests. Furthermore, I analyse how the queer subject experiences being made abject. I find that this experience can both be harmful and be somewhat self-sustaining in maintaining societal norms, but also that it can be a way for the queer subject to further position itself as different from a heteronormative society, a position that is truer to who the queer subject feels they are. Through José Esteban Muñoz’ Cruising Utopia I discuss how there are potentialities with being queer, or queer being, such as an expanded worldview and an outstretched concept of possible ways of being and living. The broader aim of this essay is to test Kristeva’s claim that literature is a place for a person to approach the abject, and to examine if literature also has a possibility of portraying an abject position, being a place where the abject itself can examine abjection and being made abject. My conclusion is that this is the case, and furthermore that literature also is a place for the abject to examine potentialities beyond the heteronormative sphere.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:umu-227053 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Randeblad, Joel |
| Publisher | Umeå universitet, Institutionen för kultur- och medievetenskaper |
| 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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