Den maskulina modern

Könsmässig ambivalens i Hagar Olssons roman Det blåser upp till storm (1930)

• Eva Kuhlefelt Helsingfors universitet

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30665/av.74843

Abstract

The Masculine Mother. Ambivalence and Gender in Hagar Olsson’s Novel Det blåser upp till storm (1930)

This article discusses the construction of female masculinity in the novel Det blåser upp till storm (”A Storm Is Brewing”, 1930) by the Finnish modernist author Hagar Olsson (1893–1978).

The masculine woman is quite a common character in Olsson’s prose but this trait has not necessarily been read as a subversive one.The novel uses ambivalence in order to reveal an alternative way of performing gender. The text places the protagonist Sara Ellman in a traditionally feminine, symbolical position but still her voice, personal philosophy and conduct can be considered more masculine than feminine.

Det blåser upp till storm can also be interpreted as a feminist novel. In Scandinavian literature, Hagar Olsson is one of the first women writers to present the idea of the personal as something utterly political. This article suggests that Hagar Olsson’s novel therefore has inspired other women writers, especially in Sweden, to explore the possibility of presenting women in a different light, and to challenge the limits of their gender through the combination of maternity and masculinity.

The textual analysis focuses on how Olsson creates “gender trouble”, especially when describing the protagonist’s relationship with her fiancé. In the text, culturally defined masculine traits are consistently linked to the protagonist, while her fiancé is placed in a position usually reserved for women. Even though the protagonist’s aim is to (re-)write the life of her dead fiancé the result presented to the reader is a story about the protagonist herself, seen through her eyes and told with an authoritative, masculine voice.

One of the functions of the novel’s ambivalence, therefore, is both to reveal the starting point: a rigorously normative age with given gender roles – and to demonstrate the possibility of change by imitating gender in an alternative way.