Delar av en helhet. Tematisk interaktion mellan berättelserna i Sara Stridsbergs "Darling River"

Abstract

This essay aims to examine how the different storylines in Sara Stridsberg’s "Darling River" interact and illuminate one another. To achieve this, it uses Max Black’s theory of interactive metaphors, and focuses on three thematic clusters: the sexualised child, victims, and perpetrators; captivity, freedom, and loneliness; and motherhood and motherlessness. These themes have in common that all of them have a prominent place in either all or most of the depicted storylines. Due to the fragmented narrative style, few attempts have previously been made to understand how the different storylines function together as a cohesive unit; this reading is an attempt to change this, based on the thesis that "Darling River" is a thematically cohesive novel, wherein the different storylines can be used to interpret and understand each other.