Contemporary Tornedalian Fictions by Ester Cullblom and Annika Korpi

Abstract

In recent years discussions concerning ethnicity have gained increased importance in projects which question the homogeneity of modernity. This development involves a critique of the effacement of the implications of gender, class, and ethnicity in the production of discourses about the nation and the people. From this theoretical vantage point the article examines the intertwinings of diverse identity factors in contemporary fictions about the Swedish Torne Valley, a multi-ethnic and multilingual border area in northern Scandinavia. The article analyses the construction of images of the Torne Valley, through a juxtaposition of the prose writings of two contemporary Swedish women authors, Ester Cullblom (b. 1932) and Annika Korpi (b. 1972). The aesthetic framework and the poetics of the texts are examined. The literary texts are, furthermore, contextualized by being related to feminist critique, regional politics, and developments of migration and globalization. The conclusion presented is that Cullblom's prose exemplifies literary realism and that the image of the Torne Valley presented is imbued with critique of traditional gender patterns. This critique is inspired by Scandinavian and Anglo-American 1960s and 1970s feminism. Korpi's prose, on the other hand, displays elements from post-modernist aesthetics and post-structuralist theory. In her debut novel ethnicity, together with migration, globalization, and social hierarchization, have a major role in shaping an image of the Torne Valley as a land of freedom and justice.