Mellan klassen och parnassen

Konstruktionen av svensk arbetarlitteratur

Abstract

Between Literature and Class. The Construction of Swedish Working-Class Literature

This article analyses the construction of Swedish working-class literature. In particular, it discusses how, at various point in time and
in different contexts, emphasis has been put either on its ties to the working class or on its literariness. Special attention is given to Ivar Lo-Johansson – often viewed as the archetypical Swedish working-class writer – whose works display an ambivalent attitude; sometimes he argues that the fundamental function of working-class literature is to give expression to workers’ experiences, at other times he stresses its literary qualities. The article argues that in Sweden, working-class literature has often been viewed as a literary, rather than a social or political, phenomenon, and that this must be taken into account in scholarly definitions of this literature.