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- Häggblom, Gunilla, 1943-
(author)
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Livsmystik och destruktiv maktsträvan - två poler i Per Olof Sundmans författarskap : en undersökning med särskilt fokus på romanerna Expeditionen och Två dagar, två nätter
- 2015
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- My thesis addresses the antagonism between the mystery of life and the destructive pursuit of power which forms a central theme in the works of Per Olof Sundman (1922–1992). The purpose is to show that Sundman uses the theme of the encounter/non-encounter and the destructive leader to examine the conditions for allowing a deeper experience of reality and the destructive exercise of power. I analyse these themes using concepts borrowed from literary studies (Atle Kittang, Paul Ricoeur, Bertil Romberg, Staffan Björck, Gérard Genette), the philosophy of religion (Martin Buber, Göran Bergstrand) and psychoanalysis (Ludvig Igra, Otto Kernberg, Erich Fromm, Julia Kristeva). My study highlights the problems associated with the destructive exercise of power, which is the overriding theme of Sundman's work. I explore the theme of the encounter by using the concept pair I-You/I-It. With the aid of this concept pair, I throw light on the aspect of depth in our existence by describing the human encounter. In my analysis on the theme of power, I point out the personal qualities inherent in the destructive leader. I also explore the link between the destructive leader's inner conflict of narcissism and repressed weakness – a conflict projected to the outside world – and the emergence of violence. In order to reveal this inner process, I unearth on a latent level the theme of the destructive leader/stranger in Sundman's work. This enables me to single out the mechanism responsible for the emergence of destructivity in the human psyche, while showing the close link between this pattern of narcissism and projected weakness and a distorted view of reality. Sundman contrasts this world of power with an integrative attitude to life. In his novel The Expedition, Sundman depicts life in the other world as being a state of human coexistence in which no one is seen to be a stranger. This idea of unity is reinforced by the choice of name for the first-person narrator of the other world. In this novel, the conditions enabling the flourishing of universalism as an attitude to life are also those that give expression in the I-You encounter to the experience of a deeper aspect to our existence.
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| 2. |
- Pålsson, Yvonne, 1949-
(author)
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I Skinnstrumpas spår : Svenska barn- och ungdomsböcker om indianer 1860-2008
- 2013
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The aim of this study is to demonstrate how the publication of books in Swedish about Native Americans for children and young people developed and changed between 1890 and 2008. Translations into Swedish of such books from 1860 onwards are commented on. The terms "Native American", "Indian" and "Indigenous" are discussed. Postcolonial theory forms the basis of an examination of the means by which the American Indian peoples were presented with regard to language, identity, and opposition to colonization.The first chapter comprises a summary of Native American history and literature. Chapter Two deals with books about Native Americans in Sweden during the period 1860‒1965, while Chapter Three continues the study of such books from 1966 to 1985. The fourth chapter is devoted entirely to the author Stig Ericson and his books for juveniles, and aims to present an in-depth analysis of Swedish books about Native Americans in the period when he was writing. Chapter Five deals with such books published in Sweden during 1986‒2008. Widespread publication of traditional books about Native Americans, with confrontation between American Indians and Whites as their major theme, continued until the mid-1960s. Subsequently, there was a shift in narrative perspective in favour of the Native American view, while the books in general became more documentary and ideological in nature. White people were presented as villains; Native Americans became the victims of progress. Post-1985 only a few books of this type were published, and readers turned to other genres.
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| 3. |
- Gjengset, Gunnar Hauk, 1946-
(author)
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Matti Aikio - verk og virke
- 2011
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Denne avhandlingen studerer de litterære verkene til den samiske forfatteren Matti Aikio, samt det nedslag hans verk hadde i samtidens Norge. Aikios romaner, artikler, skuespill og billedkunst ble skapt i tidsrommet 1904-29, en periode da Norge som ny selvstendig nasjonalstat hadde begrenset toleranse med sin samiske minoritet. En slik etnisk kultur-forståelse var i samsvar med samtidens rådende sosial-darwinisme, på overgangen fra kolonialisme til imperialisme. I slike omgivelser fremsto Matti Aikio som norsk forfatter med bøker skrevet på norsk – men med et selvvalgt samisk-lydende kunstnernavn. Det er avhandlingens mål å avdekke en mulig notsetningen mellom storsamfunnets forventning om assimilasjon og Aikios diskrete presentasjon av samiske verdier i sitt verk og virke. Det blir diskutert om nettopp valg av virkemidler førte til mistenkeliggjøring fra samtidens samiske talsmenn, men at ettertiden har vist at Aikios insistering på samarbeidslinje ville gi bedre langsiktige resultater for samisk språk og kultur. Samtidig søker analysen å underbygge at Aikio selv fikk en økt forståelse for den samiske kulturens mangfold i løpet av sin karriere – samtidig som taktikken endret seg i forfatterens langsiktige strategi om full likestilling for den samiske minoriteten. Fra å hevde at den ekte samiske kulturen bare fantes i Karasjok, endte han med en mer moderne og inkluderende forståelse av en samisk folkegruppe med et mangfold av språk og kulturuttrykk.
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| 4. |
- Nordström-Jacobsson, Monica
(author)
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Peter Pohls litterära projekt : en tematisk studie med utgångspunkt i debutromanen Janne, min vän
- 2008
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- In his literary works, the Swedish author Peter Pohl (b. 1940) persistently deals with the issue of friendship which is described as a source of joy and consolation as well as a cause for difficulties and pain. Another common theme in his writing is vulnerability, especially that of children and adolescents, as he regards them as particularly exposed to violence and injustice. Pohl features the act of telling as an important instrument in the process of personal development on many different levels. Finally, his authorship shows that his purpose is to be a spokesman for those who cannot speak for themselves. These four topics which are visible in the main part of his production represent the most important aspects of Pohl's literary project which may be described as a desire to improve the conditions of less privileged groups of society.This thesis deals with the works by Pohl written between 1985 and 2007. In the first chapter, the author is presented. The second chapter is an analysis of his first novel Janne, min vän with a special focus on the above-mentioned themes. Chapter three deals with the novel Malins kung Gurra, a story for young readers that can be looked upon as second, but simpler version of Janne, min vän. In chapter four, the five novels Regnbågen har bara åtta färger, Medan regnbågen bleknar, Vi kallar honom Anna, Vilja växa and Klara papper är ett måste are analyzed and discussed. The last chapter is an attempt at dealing with the remaining books written by Pohl. The aim is to establish whether these works are compatible with the general picture given of Pohl’s literary project.
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| 5. |
- Sahlin, Johan, 1972-
(author)
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Om kyrklundheten : Värde, kunskap och skrivande i Willy Kyrklunds Om godheten
- 2008
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The quest for certainty is a constant theme in the works of Swedish-Finnish author Willy Kyrklund. This quest is communicated both explicitly in essayistic prose articles and implicitly as a theme in his works of fiction. The late essay hybrid Om godheten (”On Goodness”, 1988) is a key text in Kyrklund’s oeuvre in this regard as it consists of a mediation between these strategies of communication, the philosophical and the literary. With Om godheten as a starting-point it is the purpose of this study to bring the problem of knowledge to the fore by acknowledging its importance for Kyrklund’s strategies of writing and for his treatment of philosophical questions regarding for example morals and identity. The purpose is also to identify Kyrklund’s use of literature as a cognitive tool with which the reader is lead to reflect on the premises for knowledge and to view the act of reading as parallel to the constructing of knowledge. Furthermore the purpose is to acknowledge the importance of analytical philosophy and natural science in this literary strategy. I consider Finnish philosopher Eino Kaila’s version of logical empiricism an important source of influence for Kyrklund. The gap between empirical (the appeal to experience) and rationalistic (the attempt to generalize) strategies in the strive for knowledge is pointed out as the root problem for logical empiricism by Kaila and this problem has also been touched upon explicitly by Kyrklund. While Kyrklund seems to subscribe to general empiricistic or logical-empiricistic virtues such as empiristic scrutiny, the appeal to science and the rejection of metaphysics, his work does not, however, offer any solutions of how to overcome this gap in any specific logical-empiricistic way. I recognize this gap, as well as the parallel gap between a subjective and an objective standpoint, as a figure of thought in Kyrklund’s literary thinking. Examined in three thematic chapters concerning value, knowledge and writing respectively, the mediation between empiristic and rationalistic tendencies can be found on different levels in Om godheten: in evolutionary approaches to morals versus the teleological approach to morals, in descriptive meta-ethical naturalism versus normative naturalistic ethics, in observations versus laws of nature, in individual expression versus common language, in instances versus generalizing examples and in explorative essayistic modes of writing versus a sovereign metafictive authoral position, to name a few. In putting together traditional text types, genres and modes of writing in new contexts of thought Kyrklund enables a certain way of seeing: combined with several intertextual relations the literary process thus stands out as a parallel to the cognitive process and the epistemological inferiority, where no fundament for certain knowledge is possible, is communicated as an existential problem.
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| 6. |
- Pettersson, Anders
(author)
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Environmentally adapted lubricants : properties and performance
- 2006
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The lubricants of the future have to be more environmentally adapted, show a higher level of performance, and give a lower total life cycle cost (LCC) than the lubricants that are used today. One way to be able to produce, choose and formulate these lubricants is to have good knowledge about the properties of the base fluids and their additive response. The base fluid properties can be divided into four different groups, i.e. physical, chemical, film formation properties and additive response. This thesis is based on the results from the Swedish HiMeC research project "Environmentally adapted lubricants for high performance components". A number of different environmentally adapted ester fluids, suitable for formulation of environmentally adapted lubricants were investigated according to properties, molecular structure and film formation capability. I t was found that both thermal conductivity and specific heat capacity are high for the esters compared to mineral fluids. There is a strong correlation between the number of carboxylate groups and the thermal conductivity. The film formation capability was investigated by the use of optical interferometry in a ball and disc apparatus. A new model for measuring the running in performance of mechanical components was developed. The tests are run un-accelerated, with the same contact pressure and speed as the real applications they represent. The method is based on a tribotest and exact measurement of the surface topography at the exact same spot before and after the test. The most interesting parameters to monitor were found to be Rdq and Rpk. It was found that even very small changes at the uppermost parts of the topography can be measured and monitored whit this method. The additive response for both traditional anti wear additives and specially designed more polar additives where studied. The test where performed at Iwate University in Japan. A modified Falex pin and vee block tribotest machine where used. It was found that the new type of additives is efficient but further research is needed to be able to formulate fluid based on this chemistry. When putting all together, it could be seen that it will be possible to tailor make base fluids with suitable properties and additivate them with the correct additives for the task they should perform. That will make it possible to achieve better results than the fluids used to day in both environmental and performance aspects.
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