A study of female narration; limitations and possibilities, in the short story “Riktig kärlek” by Inger Edelfeldt.

The focus of the essay is to study aspects of female narration in the short story “Riktig kärlek” in the short story collection Riktig kärlek by Inger Edelfeldt. These aspects will also be contextualized using theories of literary studies, gender studies, feminism and sociology. The specific perspective of women as members of a sociological group in society will be considered, in regard to its limitations and possibilities, as it can be a possible source of inspiration in large. The historical background in the beginning serves as a framework for the analysis in the third part of the essay. Gérard Genette’s theory of narratology in Narrativ Discourse: An Essay in Method and Narrative discourse revisited is used to analyse the narratological structure of the short story. Carin Holmberg´s and Judith Butler’s theories and studies, the first in Det kallas kärlek: en socialpsykologisk studie om kvinnors underordning och mäns överordning bland unga jämställda par and the second in Genustrubbel: feminism och identitetens subversion, are used for a perspective of gender studies. Sandra Gilbert´s and Susan Gubar’s theory of literary studies in The Mad Woman in the Attic: the Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination is used for analyzing conditions for female narration and creativity. Michel Foucault´s theory of truth and discourses in the book Diskursernas kamp is used to contextualize the narrative and Edelfeldts narratological choises