From cheery chums to death mates – aspects of masculinity in swedish boys’ books and young adult fiction
This project starts off with a bibliographic inventory of the field of Swedish boy’s books, a survey which also discuss the historical roots of this literary tradition and problems with the genre issue. In the project’s next phase, a representative part will be drawn from this text corpus, and this set of key text will be a subject to several thematic studies.
Critical studies about men, masculinities and homosociality represent key approaches to this study. The first step is to establish representations of the hegemonic ideal of masculinity in the texts, and thereafter compere this role models with the boy protagonist’s, and examine how they agree and differ. There will also be a chapter dealing with the relationship between the boy protagonist’s and femininity, which includes women protagonist’s as well as traditionell female qualities and the domestic world of women. Furthermore, the project will explore the concept of a free nation of boys in the texts; a distinct cultural world with its own rituals and values, set in its own boundaries and often free from adult intervention. The hierarchies and the functions within the gang of boys will be studied, in terms of homosociality and homosocial attraction. Also the boy’s jargong in the texts will be examined as a male coded discourse. The present project aims at filling a gap in Swedish literary scholarship; up to date there are no major study about the Swedish boy’s book.
Final report
The aim of this project has been to examine the Swedish boy book, in particular to analyze the construction of the boy characters. After a bibliographic inventory of the genre, a representative part was drawn from this text corpus, and this set of key text was a subject to several thematic studies. Critical studies about men, masculinities and homosociality represented key approaches to this study, the theoretical framework also includes an intersectional approach, primarily the categories gender, ethnicity, and class.
The first step was to establish representations of the hegemonic ideal of masculinity in the texts, and thereafter compare the role models with the boy protagonist's, and examine how they agree and differ. Furthermore, the project has explored the concept of a free nation of boys in the texts; a distinct cultural world with its own rituals and values set in its own boundaries and often free from adult intervention. The hierarchies and the functions within the gang of boys have been studied, in terms of homosociality and homosocial attraction. There is also a survey dealing with the relationship between the boy protagonist's and femininity, which includes women protagonists as well as traditional female qualities and the domestic world of women.
The three most important results of the project:
1. An inventory of the texts, on basis of different para textual markers, shows that the Swedish boy book is a fairly distinct and homogeneous genre. The duration stretches from the 1890s to the 1950s; in the middle of the later decade the para textual markers gradually disappear. The inventory resulted in circa 700 titles, written by about 170 authors, of which 25 wrote close to half of the titles. This circumstance, along with the fact that there were about ten publishing houses that dominated the market, partly explains the genres homogeneity.
2. The main characters are mainly boys around 14 years old (about the same age as the presumed reader), and most of these boys can be described as a "gentle savage". This term refers to a construction of a boy within the discourse of boyology, as presented by Kenneth B. Kidd in Making American Boys. Boyology and the Feral Tale (2004). Kidd means that boyology is a comprising descriptive and prescriptive writing on boyhood across a variety of genres, a discourse that celebrates the pre- or early pubescent boy as irrational, primitive, fiercely masculine, and attuned to nature. Eventually the boy-savage will outgrow and incorporate his variously primitive tendencies, and he will be prepared for a full-fledged manhood. Although Kidds study refers to an Anglo-Saxon context, the notion of boyology and the gentle savage also corresponds with the ideology concerning boys and boyhood in the Swedish boy book. The analyze of the boy character also shows that he is constructed in contrast to different contertypes, such as the milksop (a coward), the mugger (an allied to the adults), the bad egg (a savage without gentleness, often a criminal), and the snob (a conceit) Moreover, this discourse also tries to counter inappropriate forms of feminine influence.
3. Even if the idea of the gentle savage was suppose to be universal and without class boundaries, one can conclude that the majority of the boys in the Swedish boy books are middle-class white boys, often blond with blue eyes. This Swedishness is often put in contrast to racifying representations of the Other. Through an ethnocentric discourse, that assumes a racial hierarchy and biology, the Swedish boys are placed at the top, while stereotypical representations from other countries and ethnic groups follow on a sliding scale. At the very bottom we find representations of the black, such as they occur during the boys adventures in Africa (ethnic contertypes are also to be find on home ground, such as Jews, Lapps and Romani). But some groups are approached in a more ambivalent manner, in particular the Indians: on one hand they are described as uncivilized "redskins", on the other they have qualities that are normally attributed to the gentle savage.
New research questions that have been generated through the project:
An important question, which has come out of this work, is how to describe the connections between the boy book and the youth novel. A common opinion in Swedish research is that the development of the youth novel in Sweden during the 1960s and 1970s mainly is contributed to different tendencies in girl's fiction. But during the last decades of the Swedish boy book genre there are a number of incitements in the texts that points forward; hence: what part did the boy book play in the development of the youth novel? Another important issue concerns the ethnocentric discourse, which is still noticeable in the boy book during the genre last decades. The questions are when and how this changes.
The project's international base:
Since the projects focus has been to analyze Swedish material exclusively, its headmost interest is domestic, although the study can be used to compare the genre in other countries and language areas. Its ties to international research lie mainly in introducing Anglo-Saxon theories on boys and boyhood in a Swedish context: Foremost Kenneth B. Kidds ideas about the discourse of boyology (including "the gentle savage), and E Anthony Rotundos theory concerning the development of a boy culture during the nineteenth century. With small adjustments both these theories has proven profitable in a Swedish context.
The spreading of research information beyond academia:
A consequence of the project is the course (first level) "Swedish boy's literature before 1965" (7,5 ECTS credits), which I created and have given three times during 2012-2014, at the Department of Literature and History of Ideas, Stockholm University. The project has also been presented for the public The Swedish Institute for Children's Books (SBI) and at a couple of public libraries.
The project's two most important publications:
My main goal has been to compile my findings in a book (the final work on this will be finished in 2015, a contact with a publishing house is established). Here I would like to put forward two of the seven articles that the project have generated. First: "Bättre rustad än de andra? Georgs manligblivande i Sigfrid Siwertz Mälarpirater" ("Better equipped than the others? Georg's way to manhood in Sigfrid Siwertz' novel Mälarpirater"). This novel is one of the most famous Swedish boy books, with great impact on the genre, and in this study I make use of several of the ideas mentioned above, such as boy culture, contertypes, the gentle savage, and class). Second: "En mild vilde. Några nedslag i svensk pojkologi" ("A Gentle Savage. A few notes on Swedish boyology"). In this article I introduce the discourse of boyology in a Swedish context and give some examples from Swedish boy books on how the gentle savages are constructed.
The project's publication strategy:
The project has been presented at conferences: "Nordisk forskarkonferens om barn- och ungdomslitteratur", SBI, Stockholm (2010); "Fält i förvandling - litteraturvetenskaplig genusforskning idag och I morgon", Uppsala University (2011); "Svenska med didaktisk inriktning 10", Stockholm University (2012). And at seminars at the Department of Literature and History of Ideas, Stockholm University (2010); Department of Culture and Media Studies, Umeå University (2011); Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Linnæus University, Växjö (2014). The project have also generated seven articles, of which three are published in open access.
Publications:
"Från mammas kjol till pappas like. Pojkdomens livslinje i äldre svensk barnlitteratur", Livslinjer. Berättelser om ålder, genus och sexualitet, red. Fanny Ambjörnsson & Maria Jönsson, Göteborg/Stockholm 2010 (22 s.) Makadam ISBN 978-91-7061-089-9
"Medelklassens buspojkar - en maskulinitetsstudie i Erik Pallins Pojkarna på Klasro", Aktuell nordisk barnlitteraturforskning/Nedslag i børnelitteraturforskning, specialnummer av Barnboken - tidskrift för barnlitteraturforskning, 2011:1 (17 s.) ISBN 978-91-974892-3-2
Länk: http://www.barnboken.net/index.php/clr/article/view/25/25
"Klart slut varulvstjut - den litterära pojkhumorn och exemplet Bert", Barnboken - tidskrift för barnlitteraturforskning, 2011:2 (23 s.) ISSN 0347-772X.
Länk: http://www.barnboken.net/index.php/clr/article/view/124/174
"Bättre rustad än de andra? Georgs manligblivande i Sigfrid Siwertz Mälarpirater", Tidskrift för litteraturvetenskap, 2011:2 (13 s.) ISSN 1104-0556
Länk: http://ojs.ub.gu.se/ojs/index.php/tfl/article/view/1751/1531
"'Ja e rö', förstår du!' - Hjalmar Wallanders skildringar av arbetarklasspojkar från 1920-talet", Litteraturens arbetare. En vänbok till Per-Olof Mattsson, red. Christer Johansson & Per Anders Wiktorsson, Lund 2012 (17 s.) ellerströms, ISBN 978-91-7247-322-5
"En mild vilde. Några nedslag i svensk pojkologi", Fält i förvandling. Genusvetenskaplig litteraturforskning, red. Eva Heggestad, Anna Williams & Ann Öhrberg, Möklinta 2013 (15 s.) Gidlunds, ISBN 978-91-78448838
"Jäntor, systrar och några skeva pojkar. Om flickan i den svenska pojkboken", Flicktion. Perspektiv på flickan i fiktionen, red. Eva Söderberg, Mia Österlund & Bodil Formark, Malmö 2013 (23 s.) Universus Academic Ptess, ISBN 978-91-87439-03-2
The first step was to establish representations of the hegemonic ideal of masculinity in the texts, and thereafter compare the role models with the boy protagonist's, and examine how they agree and differ. Furthermore, the project has explored the concept of a free nation of boys in the texts; a distinct cultural world with its own rituals and values set in its own boundaries and often free from adult intervention. The hierarchies and the functions within the gang of boys have been studied, in terms of homosociality and homosocial attraction. There is also a survey dealing with the relationship between the boy protagonist's and femininity, which includes women protagonists as well as traditional female qualities and the domestic world of women.
The three most important results of the project:
1. An inventory of the texts, on basis of different para textual markers, shows that the Swedish boy book is a fairly distinct and homogeneous genre. The duration stretches from the 1890s to the 1950s; in the middle of the later decade the para textual markers gradually disappear. The inventory resulted in circa 700 titles, written by about 170 authors, of which 25 wrote close to half of the titles. This circumstance, along with the fact that there were about ten publishing houses that dominated the market, partly explains the genres homogeneity.
2. The main characters are mainly boys around 14 years old (about the same age as the presumed reader), and most of these boys can be described as a "gentle savage". This term refers to a construction of a boy within the discourse of boyology, as presented by Kenneth B. Kidd in Making American Boys. Boyology and the Feral Tale (2004). Kidd means that boyology is a comprising descriptive and prescriptive writing on boyhood across a variety of genres, a discourse that celebrates the pre- or early pubescent boy as irrational, primitive, fiercely masculine, and attuned to nature. Eventually the boy-savage will outgrow and incorporate his variously primitive tendencies, and he will be prepared for a full-fledged manhood. Although Kidds study refers to an Anglo-Saxon context, the notion of boyology and the gentle savage also corresponds with the ideology concerning boys and boyhood in the Swedish boy book. The analyze of the boy character also shows that he is constructed in contrast to different contertypes, such as the milksop (a coward), the mugger (an allied to the adults), the bad egg (a savage without gentleness, often a criminal), and the snob (a conceit) Moreover, this discourse also tries to counter inappropriate forms of feminine influence.
3. Even if the idea of the gentle savage was suppose to be universal and without class boundaries, one can conclude that the majority of the boys in the Swedish boy books are middle-class white boys, often blond with blue eyes. This Swedishness is often put in contrast to racifying representations of the Other. Through an ethnocentric discourse, that assumes a racial hierarchy and biology, the Swedish boys are placed at the top, while stereotypical representations from other countries and ethnic groups follow on a sliding scale. At the very bottom we find representations of the black, such as they occur during the boys adventures in Africa (ethnic contertypes are also to be find on home ground, such as Jews, Lapps and Romani). But some groups are approached in a more ambivalent manner, in particular the Indians: on one hand they are described as uncivilized "redskins", on the other they have qualities that are normally attributed to the gentle savage.
New research questions that have been generated through the project:
An important question, which has come out of this work, is how to describe the connections between the boy book and the youth novel. A common opinion in Swedish research is that the development of the youth novel in Sweden during the 1960s and 1970s mainly is contributed to different tendencies in girl's fiction. But during the last decades of the Swedish boy book genre there are a number of incitements in the texts that points forward; hence: what part did the boy book play in the development of the youth novel? Another important issue concerns the ethnocentric discourse, which is still noticeable in the boy book during the genre last decades. The questions are when and how this changes.
The project's international base:
Since the projects focus has been to analyze Swedish material exclusively, its headmost interest is domestic, although the study can be used to compare the genre in other countries and language areas. Its ties to international research lie mainly in introducing Anglo-Saxon theories on boys and boyhood in a Swedish context: Foremost Kenneth B. Kidds ideas about the discourse of boyology (including "the gentle savage), and E Anthony Rotundos theory concerning the development of a boy culture during the nineteenth century. With small adjustments both these theories has proven profitable in a Swedish context.
The spreading of research information beyond academia:
A consequence of the project is the course (first level) "Swedish boy's literature before 1965" (7,5 ECTS credits), which I created and have given three times during 2012-2014, at the Department of Literature and History of Ideas, Stockholm University. The project has also been presented for the public The Swedish Institute for Children's Books (SBI) and at a couple of public libraries.
The project's two most important publications:
My main goal has been to compile my findings in a book (the final work on this will be finished in 2015, a contact with a publishing house is established). Here I would like to put forward two of the seven articles that the project have generated. First: "Bättre rustad än de andra? Georgs manligblivande i Sigfrid Siwertz Mälarpirater" ("Better equipped than the others? Georg's way to manhood in Sigfrid Siwertz' novel Mälarpirater"). This novel is one of the most famous Swedish boy books, with great impact on the genre, and in this study I make use of several of the ideas mentioned above, such as boy culture, contertypes, the gentle savage, and class). Second: "En mild vilde. Några nedslag i svensk pojkologi" ("A Gentle Savage. A few notes on Swedish boyology"). In this article I introduce the discourse of boyology in a Swedish context and give some examples from Swedish boy books on how the gentle savages are constructed.
The project's publication strategy:
The project has been presented at conferences: "Nordisk forskarkonferens om barn- och ungdomslitteratur", SBI, Stockholm (2010); "Fält i förvandling - litteraturvetenskaplig genusforskning idag och I morgon", Uppsala University (2011); "Svenska med didaktisk inriktning 10", Stockholm University (2012). And at seminars at the Department of Literature and History of Ideas, Stockholm University (2010); Department of Culture and Media Studies, Umeå University (2011); Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Linnæus University, Växjö (2014). The project have also generated seven articles, of which three are published in open access.
Publications:
"Från mammas kjol till pappas like. Pojkdomens livslinje i äldre svensk barnlitteratur", Livslinjer. Berättelser om ålder, genus och sexualitet, red. Fanny Ambjörnsson & Maria Jönsson, Göteborg/Stockholm 2010 (22 s.) Makadam ISBN 978-91-7061-089-9
"Medelklassens buspojkar - en maskulinitetsstudie i Erik Pallins Pojkarna på Klasro", Aktuell nordisk barnlitteraturforskning/Nedslag i børnelitteraturforskning, specialnummer av Barnboken - tidskrift för barnlitteraturforskning, 2011:1 (17 s.) ISBN 978-91-974892-3-2
Länk: http://www.barnboken.net/index.php/clr/article/view/25/25
"Klart slut varulvstjut - den litterära pojkhumorn och exemplet Bert", Barnboken - tidskrift för barnlitteraturforskning, 2011:2 (23 s.) ISSN 0347-772X.
Länk: http://www.barnboken.net/index.php/clr/article/view/124/174
"Bättre rustad än de andra? Georgs manligblivande i Sigfrid Siwertz Mälarpirater", Tidskrift för litteraturvetenskap, 2011:2 (13 s.) ISSN 1104-0556
Länk: http://ojs.ub.gu.se/ojs/index.php/tfl/article/view/1751/1531
"'Ja e rö', förstår du!' - Hjalmar Wallanders skildringar av arbetarklasspojkar från 1920-talet", Litteraturens arbetare. En vänbok till Per-Olof Mattsson, red. Christer Johansson & Per Anders Wiktorsson, Lund 2012 (17 s.) ellerströms, ISBN 978-91-7247-322-5
"En mild vilde. Några nedslag i svensk pojkologi", Fält i förvandling. Genusvetenskaplig litteraturforskning, red. Eva Heggestad, Anna Williams & Ann Öhrberg, Möklinta 2013 (15 s.) Gidlunds, ISBN 978-91-78448838
"Jäntor, systrar och några skeva pojkar. Om flickan i den svenska pojkboken", Flicktion. Perspektiv på flickan i fiktionen, red. Eva Söderberg, Mia Österlund & Bodil Formark, Malmö 2013 (23 s.) Universus Academic Ptess, ISBN 978-91-87439-03-2