Skamliga möten?

Ordlös skam och skamlöshet i ett erotiskt möte mellan människa och naturväsen

Abstract

How does shame or shamelessness manifest in erotic encounters between humans and nature spirits in Finland-Swedish folk legends? By analyzing one folk legend, collected in 1917, selected from a material of 116 legends collected in Swedish-speaking Finland between 1850 and 1950, I will explore what shame does with bodies. By using the method of contextual close reading, an attempt is made to place the legend into a cultural and social historical context that reveals the norms of the time. With this article, I demonstrate how shame is, surprisingly, not what drives nature spirits in their endeavours of becoming human, but rather a desire to live a good life, whatever that may entail.