”De gränslösa böckerna” : Allålderslitteratur i Sverige under 1960- och 1970-talen, med studier i Hans Alfredsons och Barbro Lindgrens tidiga författarskap

Sammanfattning: The increasing occurrence of literature for all ages on the Swedish book market during the 1960s and 1970s is in the present dissertation considered a manifestation of a multifaceted striving for equality in the Swedish society during the period. Defined as an artistic ideal-of- all-ages it addressed a ’broad’ audience, in terms of class or age. It also included a questioning of normative distinctions between “child” and “adult” through the means of reversing or dissolving the traditionally hierarchical relationship between the ’childish’ (low) and the ’mature’ (high). This is exemplified by experimental poetry and theatre, by the development of television as a medium for all ages, and by a study of popular music – in particular the overlapping features in the repertoires of songs for children and songs for adults. Moreover, a study of the literary debate in the press, the publishing and marketing of books, and a large quantity of literary reviews shows that the construction of books for all ages was also due to the ambition – from authors, publishing houses and critics – to close the traditionally established status gap between children’s literature and literature for adults. In two separate chapters the authorships of Hans Alfredson and Barbro Lindgren are presented and examined in regard to the prevailing literary ideal-of-all-ages at the time. Inspired by Judith Butler’s theory of performativity the construction of age categories, child and adult, is studied in close readings of a few selected works. Evident interactions between the authors and the ideal of all ages are noticed in the addressing of dual audiences and the focus on the power relation between child and adult. While Alfredson uses parody and humoristic derision to reverse the power relation, Lindgren questions the normative regulation of child and adult by creating a number of age mixed or animal mixed human characters.