Porösa bländverk. En materiellt ekokritisk studie av Hanna Nordenhöks prosa
Hanna NordenhökPromenaderna i Dalby HageDet vita huset i SimpangPorosityVegetationMaterial Ecocriticism
In the Swedish author, poet and critic Hanna Nordenhöks (1977-) novels Promenaderna iDalbyhage (2011) and Det vita huset i Simpang (2013) the literary characters are often portrayed asdiffuse shapes with a subtile closeness to other organic bodies, places and times. While the novelsaddress themes such as colonialism and subjects becoming, they also explore the act of narratingthrough letters, journals, photographs and, in particular, fabrication. What emerge are two aesthetic,literary works that, on different levels, trouble our notion of borders between human and more-thanhumanbodies, an issue that?s essential for our understanding of human - environmentalrelationship.The purpose of this thesis is to show how the prose of Nordenhök can be read in the light of theterm porosity, where matter is understood as elastic and open for both creating and de-creatinginteractions. I will argue that the novels contribute to a deepened understanding of the relationshipbetween human subjects and more-than-human matter as elastic, and that they incorporate thisdynamic porosity within the narration itself. But, as the study will present, porosity is far frombalanced in regard of to who, how and why it appears and questions about power and subjecthoodmust be addressed.By applying a material ecocritical perspective to the readings of Promenaderna i Dalby Hageand Det vita huset i Simpang the study identifies three thematic areas where porosity can beexplored; Stretching Vegetation, Liquid Bodies and Linguistic Porosity. The thesis investigates theintricate relationships through theorist Jane Bennetts notion of assemblage and Nancy Tuanas andSerenella Iovinos writings on viscosity. Together with Bronwyn Davies and Catriona MortimerSandilands theories on the relationship between bodies and landscapes the analyse is able toillustrate how and why the porosity is a crucial element of Nordenhöks literary texts and that thenovels themself are elastic and open.