Levande rum och drömlandskap : En analys av platserna i Jessica Schiefauers Bärarna utifrån Foucaults heterotopibegrepp

This essay seeks to analyse some of the places in Jessica Schiefauers novel Bärarna. The analysis takes the form of a journey by depicting the various places in prose similar to that of the novel’s own, while analysing symbolism, places’ relation to the concept of limits, and the novel’s relation to Michel Foucault’s theory of heterotopias. The main theoretic starting point for this essay is Foucault’s concept of heterotopia; that is, a certain type of place, which simultaneously mirrors and inverts society. The essay finds that a number of places in Bärarna can be defined as heterotopias, while others cannot. For example, the bathhouse is heterotopic because of its dismissal of sexual taboos, and the Bazaars have a number of heterotopic characteristics, such as their connection to time. On the other hand, Nikki’s apartment and the city of Irisburg have little heterotopic potential, but have other symbolic significance within the story. Lastly, the body is analysed from a spatial point of view. In Bärarna, bodies are often described as landscapes and rooms. This aspect is put forward alongside Foucault's “utopian body”, in which the body appears as a place with the ability to house other places inside of it – as is also sometimes the case with the heterotopia