«Det er Liv eller Død!»
Abstract This survey explores homosexual characters in Danish and Norwegian literature in roughly the first half of last century which is the period where the first explicit literary depictions of modern homosexuality are found. I introduce the concept of heteronarrativity as a prism to describe the...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | Danish |
| Published: |
Scandinavian University Press/Universitetsforlaget
2017-01-01
|
| Series: | Norsk Litteraturvitenskapelig Tidsskrift |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.idunn.no/nlvt/2017/01/det_er_liv_eller_doed |
| Summary: | Abstract
This survey explores homosexual characters in Danish and Norwegian
literature in roughly the first half of last century which is the
period where the first explicit literary depictions of modern homosexuality
are found. I introduce the concept of heteronarrativity as a prism
to describe the tendency to let homosexual characters die in order
to restore textual harmony and secure happy ends. My material includes
canonized texts (Blixen, Bang) but for the most part the novels,
short stories, and dramas analyzed are forgotten texts by marginalized
or anonymous writers. Two of them were banned as indecent. The article
argues that although the narratives are very different, they all
display surprisingly similar models for how homosexual characters
survive or, more often, do not survive the murderous logics of heteronarrativity.
The possibilities of existence consist typically of resignation,
marriage, or death, or various combinations of the three. Starting
with Herman Bang in 1880 the survey follows a number of homosexual
characters and explores how and why they either die or survive,
in an attempt to outline a paradigm concerning literary depictions
and embodiments of homosexuality. I end on a happy note with a lesbian
survivor. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 0809-2044 1504-288X |