The Pain and the Creeping Feeling

Skewed Girlhood in Two Graphic Novels by Åsa Grennvall

in European Comic Art
Author:
Maria Margareta Österholm Stockholm University, Sweden maria.margareta.osterholm@gender.su.se

Search for other papers by Maria Margareta Österholm in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2129-8742
Restricted access

Abstract

The aim of the article is to analyse how a feminist critique is expressed in the graphic novels Det känns som hundra år [It feels like a hundred years] (1999) and Deras ryggar luktade så gott [Their backs smelled so good] (2014) by Åsa Grenvall. The theoretical framework draws from the concept of skewedness, a variation of queer theory, and theories of queer temporality. Grennvall delivers a feminist critique by exposing the norms of girlhood as unattainable and by visualising skewedness in relation to girlhood and the lifelines of the protagonists, a result of both gender norms and emotional neglect.

Contributor Notes

Maria Margareta Österholm is a lecturer in Gender Studies at Stockholm University and member of the research project Contemporary Swedish Feminist Comics as Medium for Political Activism and Critique. ORCID: 0000-0003-2129-8742. maria.margareta.osterholm@gender.su.se.

  • Collapse
  • Expand