A masculinist northern wilderness and the emancipatory potential of literary irony

Abstract

There has been an increasing body of critical research in modern literary geography claiming that forms of social oppression and injustice can become established through the institution of literature. It has also been stated that literature can equally well act as an emancipatory ‘tool’ through which subjugated histories are rewritten. This article is concerned with the colonialist history of Finnish northern literature, Lapland romanticism, the exoticism of nature and the interrelations of these with masculinism and sexist oppression. It discusses how northern nature is romanticized through literary stereotypes based on masculinist values and a multidimensional social process of sexism, and how the regional marginalization of northern Finland has been justified at the same time. The primary focus is on the emancipatory potential of untraditional northern literature, on a northern female author, Rosa Liksom, who through her unconventional literary irony has functioned as an emancipatory ‘project’ against the masculinist stereotypes of the northern wilderness. Liksom's literary irony serves as a metafictive ‘method’ working in pursuit of revealing its own discursive structure, as a strategy through which literary conventions and their wider social context become deconstructed.

Existe una creciente cantidad de investigación en geografía literaria moderna asegurando que las formas de opresión social y de injusticia pueden establecerse a través de la institución de la literatura. También se ha afirmado que la literatura puede igualmente actuar como una “herramienta” emancipadora a través de la cual las historias sojuzgadas son rescritas. Este artículo se ocupa de la historia colonialista de la literatura del norte finlandés, el romanticismo de Lapland, el exotismo de la naturaleza y las interrelaciones de éstos con el masculinismo y la opresión sexista. Trata sobre cómo la naturaleza del norte es romantizada a través de estereotipos literarios basados en valores masculinistas y un proceso social mutidimensional de sexismo, y cómo la marginación social del norte de Finlandia ha sido, al mismo tiempo, justificada. El centro principal de atención será puesto sobre el potencial emancipador de la literatura no tradicional del norte, en una autora del norte, Rosa Liksom, quien a través de su ironía literaria no convencional ha funcionado como un “proyecto” emancipador contra los estereotipos masculinos de la tierra salvaje del norte. La ironía literaria de Liksom sirve como un ‘método’ metafícticio trabajando para lograr revelar su propia estructura discursiva, como una estrategia a través de la cual las convenciones literarias y su contexto social más amplio se deconstruyen.

Keywords:

• literary geography
• irony
• northernness
• postcolonial studies

Keywords:

• geografía literaria
• ironía
• nortedad
• estudios postcoloniales

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to acknowledge the helpful comments received from the anonymous referees and Dr. Eeva-Kaisa Prokkola. The study is related to the research project ‘Geographies of Irony’, funded by the University of Oulu, Finland (project no. 593971).

Notes

1. Lappish term meaning a white reindeer.

2. Lappish term meaning a three-year-old male reindeer.

3. Lappish term meaning a partially bitten reindeer.

4. In fact, Liksom has personally admitted in an interview that she has a huge respect for the heritage of Lapland literature (Ridanpää 2008), but that does not prevent her from making this heritage an object of irony.