Hoppets lyrik : Tre diktare och en ny bild av fyrtiotalismen – Ella Hillbäck, Rut Hillarp, Ann Margret Dahlquist-Ljungberg

Sammanfattning: The purpose of the dissertation is twofold: to call attention to three Swedish women poets of the 1940s and to change the image of the Swedish modernist movement of the 1940s as an era of pessimism. During the 1940s lyrical modernism had a definitive breakthrough in Sweden. Several women poets made their debuts during this period, but they have been overlooked in literary history. This marginalization raises the question of how the concept of the Swedish modernist movement of the 1940s might change if these women poets are included.The first chapter of the dissertation explores the nature of the Swedish modernist movement of the 1940s by studying literary handbooks, literary research and contemporary reception and criticism. The three following chapters, respectively, are devoted to readings of the poetry of Ella Hillbäck (1914–1979), Rut Hillarp (1914–2003), and Ann Margret Dahlquist-Ljungberg (1915–2002). Their poetry shares several characteristics with the Swedish modernist movement of the 1940s as it is described in literary handbooks, but their poems differ in one significant way: they express a hope for renewal. This hope contrasts with what is often said to be one of the distinguishing features of the movement – namely pessimism. This hope for renewal is tied to nature in Hillbäck’s poetry, to love in Hillarp’s poems and to a polyphonic structure in Dahlquist-Ljungberg’s poetry.These three chapters also include critical readings of male poets Erik Lindegren and Karl Vennberg and two other female poets, Maria Wine and Elsa Grave. Their poetry expresses hope for renewal to the same extent as Hillbäck, Hillarp and Dahlquist-Ljungberg. Therefore, the final chapter of the dissertation argues that the concept of the Swedish modernist movement of the 1940s needs to be reassessed – not only by the inclusion of women’s poetry, but also on a re-reading of poetry by male authors.