En kropp av bokstäver och ett alfabet av kroppar
Om kroppens och språkets materialitet i Helena Erikssons poesi
Helena ErikssonLanguage poetryMaterialityFeminist theoryHelena ErikssonSpråkpoesiMaterialitetFeministisk teori
Based on the assumption that the work of contemporary Swedish poet Helena Eriksson, in various ways elaborates the inseparable relation between body and language, this study aims to investigate how this view of language comes to expression in her poetry. Stepping from a theoretical background of feminist perspectives on the body, as well as recent theories on poetic materiality, the analysis points out how the concepts of aesthetic and/or linguistic materiality, social and technological materiality, and what can be described as the ethical dimension of materiality, all as termed by Jesper Olsson and Fredrik Hertzberg, take on feminist implications in Eriksson?s poetry. Through the theory of feminist anthropologist Vicki Kirby and her account of Derrida?s general view of writing, the study makes use of a deconstructive approach to the later work of Eriksson. It is shown in the analysis how this poetry can be effectively mirrored against Kirby?s concept of corporeography, in order to make visible the elision of the breach between meaning and materiality. In this respect, Kirby?s theoretical device ?The body as the scene of writing? in particular, is vastly adapted. Arriving at its conclusion, the study suggests that by engaging the body in the writing of poetry, allowing it to re-inscribe the scripture already made upon it by culture, the poet as woman can preserve her subjectivity and her sense of corporeality.