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Abstract

Gustav Philip Creutz and Gustaf Fredrik Gyllenborg, both born in 1731, were two major authors who developed pastoral and epic poetry in Swedish and who were also known for their literary friendship. In Swedish and Finnish national literature, they are known as representatives of a supposedly light, rococo style that fell out of fashion in the nineteenth century. By proposing a queer reading of their poetry, this article takes a new approach to their works, arguing that these can be used as valuable sources for the history of gender, genderqueer and feelings of love and friendship. While previous studies have generally analysed Creutz’s and Gyllenborg’s works separately, they are here seen as a mutual venture in the context of a shifting, gendered public space, however within a strongly classical framework, which allowed the authors to play at several intertextual levels to appeal to the sensitivities of different readers.