This paper aims to explore how religious and spiritual experiences are conveyed in Karin Boye's novel Kris (English translation: Crisis). I study these experiences in the novel by using the French philosopher and mystic Simone Weil's theories of affliction and decreation. The study seeks answers to the following questions: which experiences in the novel are presented as Malin's spiritual experiences? How does Boye portray these spiritual experiences? What can we learn about Malin's spiritual experiences through Weil's theories of affliction and decreation? Affliction is a word that Weil uses to describe a specific suffering. Decreation is a term connected to Weil's idea that the only freedom humans are allowed is to give their consent to God, and give up their created self to become an uncreated self. The result of my analysis is not that Weil's concepts fit perfectly with what happens to Malin in the novel. But her philosophy proves to be useful when it comes to analyzing how Malin must suffer to learn how to uncreate herself, to be able to grow and develop a new self. This happens when she starts questioning the hierarchies that exist in her own family, within the education system, how and what the church teaches and preaches. In the middle of this crisis, she realizes that she is in love with Siv, a woman who she studies with. This love comes with more suffering, but also with a new spirituality that is created through love and light. In her new spirituality she can see things more clearly and it contains more love and light, compared to her earlier spirituality. This love and light are also connected to Weil's ideas in my paper.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:umu-203848 |
| Date | January 2023 |
| Creators | Tjärnén, Alice |
| 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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