The Swedish author Birgitta Stenberg (1932-2014) is primarily known for her subversive autobiographical novels based on her travelling and adventures in Europe, mainly Kärlek i Europa. Her work is characterized by subjects as sex, drugs, crime and breaking free from the limiting demands of everyday life. The book Eldar och is (2010) creates an autobiographical narrative around her grandmother Alma, her mother Ingeborg, and Birgitta herself. In the turn towards her own history the novel can be seen as a break from Stenberg’s earlier authorship. To analyze how motherhood is depicted in the novel I use Sara Ahmed and Judith Halberstam theorization of queer orientations and life lines, and motherhood studies based primarily on Jenny Björklunds queer reading of mothers who leave. In the analysis of the text two major themes emerged: Motherhood and class, and Motherhood, sexuality, and blood ties. The class theme shows how motherhood is shaped through class position and also how different class positions makes certain life lines within reach. Motherhood was also directly tied to changing class positions making motherhood both a sacrifice and possibility. The mothers also shaped their daughter’s orientation in the world in a profound way. The theme on sexuality and blood ties shows how sexuality posed both as a threat and a possibility to negotiate positions tied to motherhood. The result shows how heteronormative life scripts circumference motherhood but also how slips and slides on the straight line forms a resistance against these norms. By exposing the fantasy of the family motherhood as a construction, as balancing along a straight line, including slips, and uncertain blood ties, different realities come within reach.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:sh-48225 |
| Date | January 2021 |
| Creators | Löfholm, Nora |
| Publisher | Södertörns högskola, Litteraturvetenskap |
| 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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