Mannen i mitten. Ett spiondrama i svensk kallakrigskultur
Cronqvist, Marie LU
(2004)
- Abstract
- The aim of this thesis is to contribute to a broadening of perspectives on Cold War Sweden. It is a study not primarily of the explicit political events or debates, but of the everyday cultural narratives of the era. During the long 1950s, Swedish Cold War imagination was largely characterised by a determination to maintain total security in the response to the threats that loomed on all sides, an impulse that centred on neutrality and the folkhem (literally, people's home) as narratives of collective self-understanding. In the book, I stress the dramaturgical quality of collective meaning creation around “the neutral folkhem” through a study of the images and narratives surrounding the Spy.
Narrative and drama are... (More) - The aim of this thesis is to contribute to a broadening of perspectives on Cold War Sweden. It is a study not primarily of the explicit political events or debates, but of the everyday cultural narratives of the era. During the long 1950s, Swedish Cold War imagination was largely characterised by a determination to maintain total security in the response to the threats that loomed on all sides, an impulse that centred on neutrality and the folkhem (literally, people's home) as narratives of collective self-understanding. In the book, I stress the dramaturgical quality of collective meaning creation around “the neutral folkhem” through a study of the images and narratives surrounding the Spy.
Narrative and drama are theoretical concepts central to the hermeneutic interpretation in this study and the source material ranges from civil defense, daily newspapers, and popular magazines to fictional narratives, novels, and films. Taking my lead from Paul Ricoeur, Clifford Geertz, and Victor Turner, among others, I conceptualise the dramatic narrative as the story line of collective identity, restoring order and meaning out of chaos and confusion.
The disposition follows the main elements of a drama. First, the stage directions concerning Sweden and the neutral folkhem of the long 1950s are outlined. Secondly, there is a plot with a conflict between protagonist (the Public Detective) and antagonist (the Spy or the Fifth Columnist). The main emplotment and the preferred characteristics of the protagonist are narrated particularly in the civil defense material. Thirdly, the different faces of the antagonist are shown in the crime journalism of the daily newspapers, focusing mainly on the spy revelations of the day – Hilding Andersson 1951 and Fritjof Enbom 1952. Fourthly, the scenery is laid out by means of the popular magazines of the era. Here are also the props as well as the supporting actors and principal victims of the drama, such as the Spy’s suffering mother and girlfriend, on stage. An interval follows, in this case to allow for a change of scene by means of introducing the fictional spy novels and films around 1960, and finally, there is a grand dénouement, which goes in some detail into the Sweden's most far-reaching spy saga, the Wennerström affair of 1963–64. While displaying elements of continuity in the importance of linking the image of the Public Detective and the folkhem community, the Wennerström affair also marks the disintegration of the Swedish spy drama, replacing the east-west dichotomy with that of class struggle and the neutral folkhem against Communism with that of the modern and progressive folkhem against pathetic remnants of an old upper-class world view. (Less) - Abstract (Swedish)
- Popular Abstract in Swedish
Spionen var under kalla kriget en gäckande gestalt som i egenskap av sin synliga osynlighet blev en orienteringspunkt för vardagliga fantasier. Han – för denna det kalla krigets emblematiska figur var oftast en han – blev i flera avseenden just en samtidens mittpunkt i vilken en tudelad världsbild synliggjordes. Mannen i mitten handlar om Spionen i svensk kallakrigskultur mellan 1945 och 1965, om idyllens främsta hotbild i en tid präglad av två starka identitetsberättelser med totala eller heltäckande anspråk – folkhemmet och neutraliteten. Två starka trygghetsberättelser, som kretsar kring den folkhemska avvikarproblematiken respektive det kalla krigets förrädarproblematik, strålar alltså samman... (More) - Popular Abstract in Swedish
Spionen var under kalla kriget en gäckande gestalt som i egenskap av sin synliga osynlighet blev en orienteringspunkt för vardagliga fantasier. Han – för denna det kalla krigets emblematiska figur var oftast en han – blev i flera avseenden just en samtidens mittpunkt i vilken en tudelad världsbild synliggjordes. Mannen i mitten handlar om Spionen i svensk kallakrigskultur mellan 1945 och 1965, om idyllens främsta hotbild i en tid präglad av två starka identitetsberättelser med totala eller heltäckande anspråk – folkhemmet och neutraliteten. Två starka trygghetsberättelser, som kretsar kring den folkhemska avvikarproblematiken respektive det kalla krigets förrädarproblematik, strålar alltså samman i Spionens gestalt. Genom att upprepade gånger sätta ord och ansikte på det samhälleliga onda erbjuder spionavslöjandet en möjlighet att tillrättalägga det goda ”vi”-et, att upprätthålla och säkerställa såväl det trygga folkhemmets fyra väggar som den nationella säkerheten och neutraliteten.
Medan tidigare forskning om kalla kriget har fokuserat på dess strikt politiska dimensioner – för Sveriges del säkerhets- och neutralitetspolitik – vill jag med Mannen i mitten argumentera för en hermeneutisk förståelse av kallakrigsperioden och av dess vardagliga dramatiska berättande. I boken utforskas spionavslöjandets dramaturgi i vardagens meningsskapande från civilförsvarsupplysning och kriminaljournalistik till veckopress och populärfiktion. Det finns, menar bland andra Paul Ricoeur och Clifford Geertz, ett nära samband mellan berättelse och liv. Det är i och genom berättelser vi förstår vår omvärld. Resonemanget måste med nödvändighet omfatta även historikern och därför följer också bokens disposition dramats form. Här finns i olika kapitel fokus på scenanvisningarna om det neutrala folkhemmet, protagonisten ”Detektiven Allmänheten” och bilder av antagonisten som Hilding ”marinspionen” Andersson, Fritjof Enbom och Stig Wennerström. Här finns också beskrivet den mullrande intrigen, den färgrika dekoren med rekvisita och biroller och till sist också den spännande upplösningen i det långa 1950-talets svenska spiondrama. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/21639
- author
- Cronqvist, Marie
LU
- supervisor
- opponent
-
- Ph D Warring, Anette, Roskilde Universitetscenter
- organization
- publishing date
- 2004
- type
- Thesis
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- everyday life, social drama, drama, narrative, identity, neutrality, folkhem, the spy, espionage, the long 1950s, Cold War culture, Sweden, History, Historia
- pages
- 375 pages
- publisher
- Carlsson Bokförlag
- defense location
- Room 3, Dept of History, Magle Stora Kyrkogata 12A, 220 02 Lund
- defense date
- 2004-05-15 10:15:00
- external identifiers
-
- other:ISRN: LUHFDA/HFHI-2204/1121-SE+375
- ISBN
- 91 7203 587 0
- project
- Kalla krigets berättelser
- language
- Swedish
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 358b2ed2-f0f7-4fa0-babb-e38c62e6f257 (old id 21639)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-04 10:53:02
- date last changed
- 2023-03-19 14:29:13
@phdthesis{358b2ed2-f0f7-4fa0-babb-e38c62e6f257,
abstract = {{The aim of this thesis is to contribute to a broadening of perspectives on Cold War Sweden. It is a study not primarily of the explicit political events or debates, but of the everyday cultural narratives of the era. During the long 1950s, Swedish Cold War imagination was largely characterised by a determination to maintain total security in the response to the threats that loomed on all sides, an impulse that centred on neutrality and the folkhem (literally, people's home) as narratives of collective self-understanding. In the book, I stress the dramaturgical quality of collective meaning creation around “the neutral folkhem” through a study of the images and narratives surrounding the Spy.<br/><br>
<br/><br>
Narrative and drama are theoretical concepts central to the hermeneutic interpretation in this study and the source material ranges from civil defense, daily newspapers, and popular magazines to fictional narratives, novels, and films. Taking my lead from Paul Ricoeur, Clifford Geertz, and Victor Turner, among others, I conceptualise the dramatic narrative as the story line of collective identity, restoring order and meaning out of chaos and confusion.<br/><br>
<br/><br>
The disposition follows the main elements of a drama. First, the stage directions concerning Sweden and the neutral folkhem of the long 1950s are outlined. Secondly, there is a plot with a conflict between protagonist (the Public Detective) and antagonist (the Spy or the Fifth Columnist). The main emplotment and the preferred characteristics of the protagonist are narrated particularly in the civil defense material. Thirdly, the different faces of the antagonist are shown in the crime journalism of the daily newspapers, focusing mainly on the spy revelations of the day – Hilding Andersson 1951 and Fritjof Enbom 1952. Fourthly, the scenery is laid out by means of the popular magazines of the era. Here are also the props as well as the supporting actors and principal victims of the drama, such as the Spy’s suffering mother and girlfriend, on stage. An interval follows, in this case to allow for a change of scene by means of introducing the fictional spy novels and films around 1960, and finally, there is a grand dénouement, which goes in some detail into the Sweden's most far-reaching spy saga, the Wennerström affair of 1963–64. While displaying elements of continuity in the importance of linking the image of the Public Detective and the folkhem community, the Wennerström affair also marks the disintegration of the Swedish spy drama, replacing the east-west dichotomy with that of class struggle and the neutral folkhem against Communism with that of the modern and progressive folkhem against pathetic remnants of an old upper-class world view.}},
author = {{Cronqvist, Marie}},
isbn = {{91 7203 587 0}},
keywords = {{everyday life; social drama; drama; narrative; identity; neutrality; folkhem; the spy; espionage; the long 1950s; Cold War culture; Sweden; History; Historia}},
language = {{swe}},
publisher = {{Carlsson Bokförlag}},
school = {{Lund University}},
title = {{Mannen i mitten. Ett spiondrama i svensk kallakrigskultur}},
year = {{2004}},
}