”… och något omisskännligt mumindalskt …”: Det sverigesvenska förlagsargumentet, Ulla-Lena Lundbergs Marsipansoldaten och recensenternas syn på romanens språk

“The Swedish Publisher Argument”, Ulla-Lena Lundberg’s Marsipansoldaten, and the Critics’ Comments on Finland-Swedish Language Variety in the Novel Taking departure in an – ever since the late 19th century – broadly discussed question accompanying the literature in Finland written in Swedish: To what degree can a literary work contain elements of Finland-Swedish language variety (that differ from the standard Swedish used in Sweden) and still be accepted, appreciated, and understood in the Swedish market and by its readers? – this article discusses the Finland-Swedish writer Ulla-Lena Lundberg’s novel Marsipansoldaten (2001, The Marzipan Soldier) and its reception, particularly by critics in Swedish newspapers. Using some of Lundberg’s statements, that are related to the question above, as paratexts to a passage in the novel which – in a playful way – thematizes the supremacy of the Finland-Swedish language variety in relation to the standard Swedish in Sweden, I argue that this segment in the novel serves to address mainly the Swedish reader to be reminded of and to acknowledge the raison d’être of the Finland-Swedish language variety. Accordingly, I show that critics in Sweden did recognize the language variety in the novel, and commented on it in a positive way