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Färgens transsubstantiation : En studie av bildkonsten i Torgny Lindgrens skönlitterära prosa / The Transubstantiation of Paint : A Study of Visual Art in the Fictional Works of Torgny Lindgren

Authors
  • Alsparr, Staffan
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2024
Source
DiVA - Academic Archive On-line
Keywords
Language
Swedish
License
Green
External links

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to analyze the function of visual art in Torgny Lindgren's novels Till sanningens lov (1991), Dorés Bibel (2005) and Klingsor (2014) and the short story collection I Brokiga Blads vatten (1999). Visual art in Lindgren's prose is approached both as an instance of description and in terms of an activity and artefact to be viewed, created and interacted with. By studying ekphrases and "iconic projections" based on intermedial theory, the verbal descriptions of art are shown to have a narrative function, whereby the characters viewing or creating the artwork are reflected. A conspicuous trait of the ekphrases and iconic projections are their focus on details.  The area of creation as an activity relates visual art to crafts, cooking and alchemy, with an emphasis on its material aspects. The creation of art investigates the dualism of genuine versus fake, as well as the relationship between art and commerce. Lindgren's stories depict the market as an arbitrary yet powerful force, alongside individual creative forms of resistance to it.  The manner in which artefacts are described evokes the notion of an enchanted object, in accordance with research on the function of art-objects in contemporary fiction. Being able to discern enchantment in Lindgren's works is based on the conversion of one's vision, which in turn is related to one's view of the world as a whole. Conversion is engendered by methods of irony, ambiguity and the elevation of the humble. 

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