Passions between women as a theme in Swedish literature 1900–1930
Around 1900 same-sex love was a demonised and criminalised phenomenon, that simply could not be described in literature in an open and at the same time affirmative way. The authors had to establish some kind of distance to the controversial topic. At the same time same-sex love was the subject of research by physicians, psychologists and biologists. Their work later on contributed to the decriminalisation of homosexuality 1944, but it also gave rise to images and ideas that were problematic, not the least from a literary point of view. Three decades later the topic was described more openly and in a nuanced way in literature. How did this change come about?
The project aims at finding new aesthetic dimensions in literature by means of queer theory, investigating different portrayals of same-sex love and describing how the motif changed over time. The new findings are going to be discussed in relation to the findings in my book "Love Story. Passions between women in Swedish literature 1830-1900", 2008. The project analyses continuity and discontinuity in the conception of same-sex desire over a relatively long historical period and will hopefully contribute to the historical and theoretical understandings not only of same-sex love but also of heterosexuality.
The project deals with the Swedish authors Maria Sandel, Anna Maria Roos, Selma Lagerlöf, Klara Johanson, Lydia Wahlström and the nom de plume Elsa Gille.
Final report of the research project P09-0504: 1-E.
The project resulted, among other things in the monograph "Stories of the forbidden. Love between women in Swedish literature 1900-1935"
By Eva Borgström, Department of Literature, History of Ideas and Religion, University of Gothenburg
The aims of the project:
1) To uncover new aesthetic dimensions of already researched literary texts by using queer theory. 2) To examine literary depictions of same-sex love, see how different figurations, literary and other, interact with each other and examine how the motif has changed over time. 3) To investigate continuity and change in literary depictions of women's same-sex desires over a relative long historical period. 4) To contribute to the historical understanding and the theoretical discussion about not only same-sex love, but also of heterosexuality. This description has been followed. A few changes were that I became more critical of queer theory during work, partly for historical arguments, and that I realized that it would take too long to write more in detail about the forth component.
Results:
1) Same-sex love is a far more important motif in Swedish literature than hitherto has been known. Many of our most distinguished writers have written about it in one way or another. CJL Almqvist, Fredrika Bremer, August Strindberg, Ellen Key, Edith Södergran, Karin Boye, Agnes von Krusenstjerna and proletarian writer Maria Sandel, to name a few. Others were the feminist activists Lydia Wahlström and Frida Stéenhoff and lesser-known writers such as Gertrude Almqvist, Margareta Suber and pseudonym Elsa Gille. (My research is about love between women - if relationships between men had been included the list would have been much longer.) Same-sex sexuality was forbidden by law during the entire investigation period and taboo in culture, but nonetheless a recurring motif. It became a more common motif in literature during decadence and symbolism, and in the medical and psychological sciences same-sex love can speak of a real boom in the 1910s. The traffic between literary depictions of transgender and homosexuality and the scientific descriptions was intense. The researchers borrowed examples from the authors, who then borrowed from the researchers, who then borrowed from the authors. The book's final chapter is about just that.
2) The ideas about what later would be called "lesbianism" and "homosexuality" were diverse and deeply contradictory, which, inter alia, is reflected in the many terms that were used. Physicians and psychologists introduced concepts such as "homosexuality", "heterosexuality" and "bisexuality" but also lots of words that no one use anymore: for example, "dioning" and "urning". Other words were "inverted", "the third sex", "intermediate sex" and "psychic hermaphroditism", all connecting same-sex desires with various forms of transgender. Words that still are used are "decadent," "depraved", "degenerate" and "perverse". The obsolete word "sodomy", linking homosexuality with bestiality, hung around long after that more appropriate words had been constructed. People outside the academy could call a women-loving woman "lesbian," "sapfian", "tribad", "like that", "perverted", "man-hater", "gynander", "hermaphrodite" or "hermaphrodite". Among other things. There were more words used within the lesbian circuits but they have not been explored yet in Sweden.
3) A third general observation is that the ideas of love between women changed dramatically from the early 1800s and a century ahead. The idea of "romantic friendship" gave a cultural space for women's same-sex love during the 1800s. Women could have passionate and lifelong relationships with each other, with the unspoken assumption that they did not include sexuality. Modern literature created new images. Doctors and psychologists presented new theories and the suffrage movement helped to create the political basis for women to shape their own lives. While all these changes happened many medieval homofobic ideas remained. Thus old and new ideas about same-sex love existed side by side, homofobic ideas co-existed with new ones. Around 1930 something radically new happened: Karin Boye, Gertrude Almqvist and Margareta Suber analysed discourses of same-sex love from recent decades, criticized them and opened the door to new ways of thinking.
New research questions generated by the project:
During the project, I became more and more interested in knowing more about how women living in same-sex relationships themselves saw on same-sex love. Many women in the suffrage movement lived in same-sex relationships. They seldom spoke openly about this, but still it sometimes is observable today. This question led to the anthology project "Same-sex couples in the women's movement" that I lead, together with historian Hanna Markusson Winqvist. A dozen writers are involved. We have had a first seminar in spring 2016 and is planning a new one spring of 2017. The project is part of the larger project "Vote 2021".
The project's international presence:
"Stories of the forbidden. Love between women in Swedish literature 1900-1935 ", along with my book "Love Story. Love between women in the 1800s literature", in 2008, is the largest work done on same-sex love between women in the Nordic region and has few counterparts even from an international perspective.
Research informative activities outside the research community:
During the work I have given lots of lectures in libraries, Pride festivals, science festivals, etc.
Publications:
The project has resulted in the monograph "Stories of the forbidden. Love between women in Swedish literature 1900-1935" and the article "Unveiling The Forbidden. On the fictional and autobiographical works of Lydia Wahlström", Nora, (forthcoming).
Publishing strategy:
The book is reviewed by Kriterium and will be freely available on the web at the same time as it will be sold in bookstores. (About Kriterium: "Kriterium is a portal for the review and publication of high-quality academic books, in accordance with the accepted principles of open access. Kriterium is a new quality mark for Swedish academic books. To obtain the Kriterium stamp of approval, all publications will undergo a stringent peer review according to set guidelines. All books with the Kriterium mark will be freely available online on open access.") The project has also been presented at several scientific conferences.
Publications
Berättelser om det förbjudna. Begär mellan kvinnor i svensk litteratur 1900-1935, Makadam förlag, 2016.
”Unveiling the forbidden. On the fictional and autobiographical works of Lydia Wahlström”, Nora, (Accepted. Ca 21 s.).
”Romaner, memoarer och kulturens mysterium tremendum”, i Personligt talat, 2014, red Maria Sjöberg. (19 s.)
”Frida Stéenhoff, Ellen Key och den samkönade kärleken”, Tidskrift för genusvetenskap, 2012:3. (25 s.)
”Emancipation och evolution. Ellen Key och den villkorade kärleken”, i Kvinnovetenskaplig tidskrift, 2004:3. (15 s.)
”Drottning Kristina och hermafroditens tankefigur”, Lambda Nordica, 1998:1.
(24 s.)
”Med ironin som vapen”. Om Klara Johanson, Könspolitiska nyckeltexter, red. Klara Arnberg, Fia Sundevall, David Tjeder. Makadam 2012. (6 s.)