Med blicken på Maja Lundgrens Myggor och tigrar och Lars Noréns En dramatikers dagbok
Vad gör dessa kontroversiella verk kontroversiella?
The release of Maja Lundgrens Myggor och tigrar in 2007 caused a large debate that mostly focused on whether the book should be seen as a true reproduction of reality or a work of fiction and if the author had made the right choice in writing about friends, family and famous Swedish persons in her book. About one year later Lars Norén published En dramatikers dagbok in which he also shares details about other people´s lives and, by placing the book in the genre of a diary, claims that it represents reality. The critics were easier on him, and more positive over all in their judgment of En dramatikers dagbok, and many were upset about how different the two authors and their books were received. Tofind out why controversial works are apprehended as controversial I have chosen to analyze Maja Lundgrens Myggor och Tigrar and Lars Noréns En dramatikers dagbok, independent of, as well as compared to, each other. While leaning on reception theory andtheories about different ways of reading as well as the autobiography as a genre I have asked myself the following questions:Which factors have led critics as well as the public opinion to speak about Maja Lundgrens Myggor och tigrar and Lars Noréns En dramatikers dagbok as controversial?What do the two books have in common and what separates them?How does the debate differ regarding the two books and what is the cause for that difference in reception?My essay shows that when reading an autobiography or a diary most people cannot separate the book from the author and the life that the book is a reflection of. When analyzing Myggor och Tigrar and En Dramatikers dagbok I have seen that prejudices and experience within the reader, who the author is, and other issues surrounding the text, plays an important part when it comes to these genres.