Essäisten som generalist

Författarroller och offentlig auktoritet hos tre samtida essäister

Abstract

The Essayist as Generalist. The Roles of Writers and Public Authority in Three Contemporary Essayists

This is a study of the critical reception of essayistic works by contemporary Swedish writers Nina Burton, Peter Englund and Peter Nilson, who all represent a way of writing where the essayistacts as a generalist rather than a specialist. Despite having high academic degrees, these authors emphasize the personal »light learning« perspective often used in the essay tradition. The primary aim is to investigate which roles and what type of authority that have been ascribed to these essayists depending on partly their educational background and partly on conventions regarding the essay as a genre.