I pojklandet

En första kartläggning av pojkarnas territorium i svensk barn- och ungdomslitteratur

Abstract

In the Land of Boys: A Primary Mapping of Boys’ Territory in Swedish Children’s and Young Adult Literature

In »Boy Culture: Middle-Class Boyhood in Nineteenth-Century America« the historian E. Anthony Rotundo explores a »free nation« of boys; a distinct cultural world with its own rituals and values, set in its own boundaries and often free from adult intervention. In my article I argue that a similar, fictional boy’s nation can be found in Swedish literature for children and young adults, especially in boy’s books of an earlier date. In this first attempt to map this literary version of the boyhood territory, I concentrate on watery domains (such as the strip of shore and the lake), the forest, and the streets and backyards of the city. I also discuss the range of activities connected to the different areas of the boy land in terms of masculinity. Furthermore, I examine the alien (indoor) territories: the domestic world of women, and school—the place where the confrontation between boy culture and male authority often takes place. In the conclusion I discuss the boy land in more contemporary literature, and suggest that the landscapes has changed, that the inhabitants are getting younger, and that its borders and rituals are being challenged by a variety of girl characters— but that the concept of a boyhood territory is still a going concern.