This article examines Göran Tunström’s youth depiction Maskrosbollen (1962) in relation to questions of norm, age, and development. The article analyzes both form and content, and investigates the novel’s relation to the genre conventions of the Bildungsroman, as well as its portrayal of youth. The article concludes that Maskrosbollen is an example of a new paradigm within Western culture where the youth depiction, the perception of youth, and the norms of becoming an adult are transformed.

Children’s Television in the Wasteocene. Waste as Motif, Aesthetics, and Resistance in the Children’s TV-Show Ville, Valle och Viktor upptäcker Sverige (1970)

1970s Swedish children’s culture is filled with waste. Increased environmental awareness, combined with a changed perspective on both children’s cultural aesthetics and play, contributed to a greater focus on trash, pollution, and waste materials in children’s books, theater, film, and television.

This article argues that the children’s program Ville, Valle och Viktor upptäcker Sverige (1970) can be interpreted as a critique of life in the Wasteocene, the socio-ecological era that began with the Great Acceleration after World War II. The purpose of the article is to explore the many functions of waste in the TV-show. It examines the questioning of modern society based on issues of motif, aesthetics, and resistance. The analysis is based on Marco Armiero’s thoughts on the epoch “Wasteocene” and the concept of waste aesthetics, as a description of the formal experiments that characterized the 1970s children’s culture. Both ideas are drawn from research conducted within Waste studies, a growing field of cultural analysis that expands traditional approaches of ecocriticism by focusing on decay, built environments, and toxic sites.

The article concludes that Ville, Valle och Viktor upptäcker Sverige undermines the hegemonic narrative of the Wasteocene in several ways: by portraying waste as valuable and useful, by placing local environmental problems in a larger context, and by conveying a sense of hope for the future. 

This article examines the picturebooks Lilla spöket Laban (The Little Ghost Laban, 1965), Vad lilla Anna sparade på (What Little Anna Saved, 1965), Pojken med de många husen (The Boy with the Many Houses, 1968) and Filurstjärnan (The Filur Star, 1969) by Inger and Lasse Sandberg from a waste-oriented perspective. The theoretical framework originates from waste studies, a growing field of cultural analysis that focuses on trash, decay, and toxic sites. The article argues that the Sandbergs’ works can be read as a critique of life in the Wasteocene, an era marked by waste production, overconsumption, and environmental degradation. During the 1960s and 1970s, Inger and Lasse Sandberg develop a waste aesthetics that challenge the Wasteocene logic by foregrounding leftover pieces and imperfect objects. Firstly, the article presents an analysis of the collage technique in Sandbergs’ works, mainly in Lilla spöket Laban. Secondly, it examines the bricoleur motif in Vad lilla Anna sparade på and Pojken med de många husen. Finally, the environmental theme in Filurstjärnan is explored. The article concludes that Inger and Lasse Sandberg’s picturebooks highlight and transcend the Wasteocene logic in terms of both form and content. The waste aesthetics and environmental motifs challenge the dualistic narrative of the capitalist system by questioning the hierarchical division between commodity and trash, the beautiful and the ugly, the amateur and the professional. The picturebooks can thus be read as counter-narratives advocating an alternative view of value and beauty. 

This article argues that emotions are utilized for norm breaking, identity formation, and socialization in S.E. Hinton's YA novel The Outsiders (1967). Drawing on the history of emotions studies, it investigates how emotional expressions are utilized to negotiate and contest given emotional norms on the one hand, and Young Adult literary conventions on the other. The point of departure is intersectional and focuses on the relationship between emotion, power, and socialization. In particular, the article considers how intersections of age, gender, and class relate to depictions of feeling and establishing of new emotional norms. The article shows that the feelings that the main character Pony expresses are part of a reiterative process of negotiation of power; they work as instruments for changing emotional norms connected to his age, class, and gender.

Under efterkrigstiden sker en genomgående förändring av ungdomstiden och idag framstår 1950-talet som en brytpunkt, där såväl ungdomsskildringen, ungdomsboken som synen på ungdomen och normerna för vuxenblivandet transformeras. Föreliggande artikel diskuterar framställningen av den nya ungdomen i danska Leif Panduros banbrytande roman Rend mig i traditionerne (1958) och dess relation till utvecklingen av en modern ungdomsroman utifrån frågor om framtid, åldrande och normer. Artikeln utgår från idéer från queer- och cripteori, vilka diskuterar tid i relation till sexuella- och hälsorelaterade avvikelser. Ett centralt argument är att misslyckandet kan förstås som subversivt eftersom det möjliggör en flykt undan de disciplinerande normer som styr vuxenblivandet. Artikeln kommer fram till att Panduros roman utmanar efterkrigstidens krononormativa livslinje genom revolt, misslyckande och sjukdom. Rend mig i traditionerne presenterar således en vision om en alternativ framtid, vilken kan sägas förnya ungdomsskildringen.