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Den moderne Ivar Lo-Johansson: Modernisering, modernitet och modernism i statarromanerna

Nilsson, Magnus LU (2003)
Abstract
This dissertation examines the modernity of the Swedish proletarian author Ivar Lo-Johansson (1901-1990), as manifested in the so-called 'statare' novels: Godnatt, jord (Breaking Free, 1933), Bara en mor (Only a Mother, 1939), and Traktorn (1943). The dissertation examines, on the one hand, modernisation and modernity as the topoi of these novels, and on the other, how the author relates to the literary tendency that has come to signify the aesthetic modernisation of the 20th century, i.e. modernism. The theoretical basis of the dissertation is Marxist. The primary source of inspiration has been the model for a Marxist hermeneutics presented by Fredric Jameson in The Political Unconscious, comprising three levels of textual interpretation:... (More)
This dissertation examines the modernity of the Swedish proletarian author Ivar Lo-Johansson (1901-1990), as manifested in the so-called 'statare' novels: Godnatt, jord (Breaking Free, 1933), Bara en mor (Only a Mother, 1939), and Traktorn (1943). The dissertation examines, on the one hand, modernisation and modernity as the topoi of these novels, and on the other, how the author relates to the literary tendency that has come to signify the aesthetic modernisation of the 20th century, i.e. modernism. The theoretical basis of the dissertation is Marxist. The primary source of inspiration has been the model for a Marxist hermeneutics presented by Fredric Jameson in The Political Unconscious, comprising three levels of textual interpretation: the text is read, first, as an historical allegory, and second, as a statement within a class-related discourse, and, finally, in relation to the transformation of the modes of production. The accounts in the novels of modernisation and modernity are first close read and then studied in a historical context. Then the aesthetics of the novels are related to modernism. The account of modernisation and modernity in the novels is found to be fundamentally embracing, even if the negative or threatening aspects of modern society are never downplayed by the author. This position is founded in Lo-Johansson’s socialist outlook, according to which the labour movement guarantees the fulfilment of modernity’s utopian promises and avoidance of its dangers. This view is expressed by Lo-Johansson in a critical dialogue with other contemporary accounts, literary and non-literary, of modernity and modernisation. This dialogue is examined historically with the aid of Mikhail Bakhtin’s concept of dialogue and Antonio Gramsci’s theory of hegemony, as interpreted by Raymond Williams and other Marxist critics. First, Lo-Johansson's relationship to other literary responses to modernity and modernisation – mainly primitivism and socialist realism – is examined. Then, the 'statare' novels are related to non-literary modernist discourses, such as the ideology of the social democratic welfare state and the ideas about the new woman and the new youth. The description of the relation between the aesthetics in the 'statare' novels and modernism is focussed on the term 'social modernism'. This term was coined by Michael Denning and it signifies an attempt to redirect modernist aesthetics away from the abandonment of political, avant-garde ideals as well as the celebration of artistic autonomy, by establishing contacts with extra-literary movements who aim for a change of society. Avant-gardist and social modernist ideas were propagated in Sweden in the interwar period by socialist critics such as Ture Nerman and Arnold Ljungdal. That Lo-Johansson embraces similar ideals is showed in an analysis of three constitutive components of the aesthetics of the 'statare' novels: polyphony, facticity, and the grotesque. These stylistic traits are placed within a modernist context through comparison to the social modernist American documentarism of the 1930s , as well as to different examples of experimental modernism, such as the American non-fiction novel and the nouveau roman. (Less)
Abstract (Swedish)
Popular Abstract in Swedish

Denna avhandling handlar om arbetarförfattaren Ivar Lo-Johanssons modernitet, sådan den kommer till uttryck i de sk. statarromanerna: Godnatt, jord (1933), Bara en mor (1939) och Traktorn (1943). Först undersöks hur modernisering och modernitet skildras i romanerna och därefter hur författaren förhåller sig till den litterära riktning som kommit att symbolisera den estetsiska moderniseringen under 1900-talet, nämligen modernismen. Avhandlingens teoretiska grundval är marxistisk. Framför allt har inspiration hämtats från den modell för marxistisk hermeneutik som presenteras av Fredric Jameson i Det politiska omedvetna och som inbegriper tre nivåer för textstudiet. På det första nivån läses texten... (More)
Popular Abstract in Swedish

Denna avhandling handlar om arbetarförfattaren Ivar Lo-Johanssons modernitet, sådan den kommer till uttryck i de sk. statarromanerna: Godnatt, jord (1933), Bara en mor (1939) och Traktorn (1943). Först undersöks hur modernisering och modernitet skildras i romanerna och därefter hur författaren förhåller sig till den litterära riktning som kommit att symbolisera den estetsiska moderniseringen under 1900-talet, nämligen modernismen. Avhandlingens teoretiska grundval är marxistisk. Framför allt har inspiration hämtats från den modell för marxistisk hermeneutik som presenteras av Fredric Jameson i Det politiska omedvetna och som inbegriper tre nivåer för textstudiet. På det första nivån läses texten som en historisk allegori, på den andra som ett yttrande inom en klassrelaterad diskurs och på det tredje, slutligen, i relation till produktionssättens förvandling. Skildringen i statarromanerna av modernisering och modernitet underkastas först en närläsning och placeras därefter i en historisk kontext. Därefter relateras romanernas estetik till modernismen. Lo-Johanssons skildring av modernisering och modernitet i statarromanerna är på ett grundläggande plan bejakande, även om han aldrig behandlar dess negativa sidor lättvindigt. Denna inställning har sin grund i författarens socialistiska världsbild, enligt vilken arbetarrörelsen utgör en garant för att det moderna samhällets utvecklas i progressiv riktning. Skildringen av modernisering och modernitet skildras i dialog med andra utsagor – litterära såväl som icke-litterära – om samma verklighet. Denna dialog undersöks historiskt med hjälp av Michail Bachtins dialogbegrepp och Antonio Gramscis hegemonibegrepp (sådant det tolkats av Raymond Williams och andra marxistiska teoretiker). Först undersöks Lo-Johanssons förhållande till andra litterära uttolkningar av modernisering och modernitet – framför allt primitivismen och den socialistiska realismen. Därefter relateras statarromanerna till icke-litterära modernistiska diskurser som välfärdsstatens sociala ingenjörskonst, funktionalismen och idéerna om en ny kvinna och en ny ungdom. Statarromanernas relation till modernismen beskrivs med hjälp av termen socialmodernism. Denna term har myntats av Michael Denning och betecknar en strävan att vitalisera modernismen genom ett återupprättande av avantgardets idé om politikens och konstens enhet och ett avståndstagande från den konstnärliga autonomin som ideal, genom ett närmade till sociala rörelser som syftar till en radikal samhällsomvandling. Avantgardistiska och socialmodernistiska idéer företräddes i Sverige under mellankrigstiden främst av socialistiska kritiker, som Ture Nerman och Arnold Ljungdal. Att Lo-Johansson ansluter till deras ideal visas i en analys av tre grundläggande komponenter i statarromanernas estetik: mångstämmigheten, sakligheten och grotesken. Dessa stilistiska drag placeras i en modernistisk kontext genom jämförelser med den amerikanska mellankrigstidsdokumentarismen samt med olika former av experimentell modernism, som den amerikanska icke-fiktiva romanen och den franska nouveau roman. (Less)
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author
supervisor
opponent
  • Docent Luthersson, Peter, Malmö högskola
organization
alternative title
The modern Ivar Lo-Johansson: Modernisation, modernity and modernism in the 'statare' novels
publishing date
type
Thesis
publication status
published
subject
keywords
literature criticism, General and comparative literature, the grotesque, documentary, polyphony, Arnold Ljungdal, Ture Nerman, the new woman, D. H. Lawrence, Artur Lundkvist, Harry Martinson, primitivism, Raymond Williams, Mikhail Bakhtin, Fredric Jameson, Marxist criticism, avant-garde, social modernism, modernity, modernism, modernisation, Ivar Lo-Johansson, labour movement, socialist realism, Moa Martinson, proletarian literature, literary theory, Allmän och jämförande litteratur, litteraturkritik, litteraturteori, Scandinavian languages and literature, Nordiska språk (språk och litteratur)
pages
382 pages
publisher
Gidlunds förlag
defense location
Edens hörsal, Paradisgatan 5, Lund
defense date
2003-09-27 10:15:00
ISBN
91-7844-633-3
language
Swedish
LU publication?
yes
id
17320ba8-d2c4-42dc-8474-ad3480eb90ab (old id 20941)
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 10:19:06
date last changed
2018-11-21 20:58:03
@phdthesis{17320ba8-d2c4-42dc-8474-ad3480eb90ab,
  abstract     = {{This dissertation examines the modernity of the Swedish proletarian author Ivar Lo-Johansson (1901-1990), as manifested in the so-called 'statare' novels: Godnatt, jord (Breaking Free, 1933), Bara en mor (Only a Mother, 1939), and Traktorn (1943). The dissertation examines, on the one hand, modernisation and modernity as the topoi of these novels, and on the other, how the author relates to the literary tendency that has come to signify the aesthetic modernisation of the 20th century, i.e. modernism. The theoretical basis of the dissertation is Marxist. The primary source of inspiration has been the model for a Marxist hermeneutics presented by Fredric Jameson in The Political Unconscious, comprising three levels of textual interpretation: the text is read, first, as an historical allegory, and second, as a statement within a class-related discourse, and, finally, in relation to the transformation of the modes of production. The accounts in the novels of modernisation and modernity are first close read and then studied in a historical context. Then the aesthetics of the novels are related to modernism. The account of modernisation and modernity in the novels is found to be fundamentally embracing, even if the negative or threatening aspects of modern society are never downplayed by the author. This position is founded in Lo-Johansson’s socialist outlook, according to which the labour movement guarantees the fulfilment of modernity’s utopian promises and avoidance of its dangers. This view is expressed by Lo-Johansson in a critical dialogue with other contemporary accounts, literary and non-literary, of modernity and modernisation. This dialogue is examined historically with the aid of Mikhail Bakhtin’s concept of dialogue and Antonio Gramsci’s theory of hegemony, as interpreted by Raymond Williams and other Marxist critics. First, Lo-Johansson's relationship to other literary responses to modernity and modernisation – mainly primitivism and socialist realism – is examined. Then, the 'statare' novels are related to non-literary modernist discourses, such as the ideology of the social democratic welfare state and the ideas about the new woman and the new youth. The description of the relation between the aesthetics in the 'statare' novels and modernism is focussed on the term 'social modernism'. This term was coined by Michael Denning and it signifies an attempt to redirect modernist aesthetics away from the abandonment of political, avant-garde ideals as well as the celebration of artistic autonomy, by establishing contacts with extra-literary movements who aim for a change of society. Avant-gardist and social modernist ideas were propagated in Sweden in the interwar period by socialist critics such as Ture Nerman and Arnold Ljungdal. That Lo-Johansson embraces similar ideals is showed in an analysis of three constitutive components of the aesthetics of the 'statare' novels: polyphony, facticity, and the grotesque. These stylistic traits are placed within a modernist context through comparison to the social modernist American documentarism of the 1930s , as well as to different examples of experimental modernism, such as the American non-fiction novel and the nouveau roman.}},
  author       = {{Nilsson, Magnus}},
  isbn         = {{91-7844-633-3}},
  keywords     = {{literature criticism; General and comparative literature; the grotesque; documentary; polyphony; Arnold Ljungdal; Ture Nerman; the new woman; D. H. Lawrence; Artur Lundkvist; Harry Martinson; primitivism; Raymond Williams; Mikhail Bakhtin; Fredric Jameson; Marxist criticism; avant-garde; social modernism; modernity; modernism; modernisation; Ivar Lo-Johansson; labour movement; socialist realism; Moa Martinson; proletarian literature; literary theory; Allmän och jämförande litteratur; litteraturkritik; litteraturteori; Scandinavian languages and literature; Nordiska språk (språk och litteratur)}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  publisher    = {{Gidlunds förlag}},
  school       = {{Lund University}},
  title        = {{Den moderne Ivar Lo-Johansson: Modernisering, modernitet och modernism i statarromanerna}},
  year         = {{2003}},
}