| Summary: | Northern Sweden, or Norrland, is depicted as a periphery in many areas in Swedish society and the peripheralization is produced and reproduced in media, culture, and news as well as political rhetoric. Karin Smirnoff´s novel Jag for ner till bror is set in a small town in Northern Sweden, making it a relevant object of study for how peripheral representations are reproduced or criticized in literature, which is the aim of this essay. By using established theories concerning centre and periphery, which has been adapted for use in literary analysis by focusing on external as well as internal characterizations, in combination with a method of thematic analysis this essay hopes to answer the questions: What representations of centre and periphery can be found in the text? How does the text represent the Northern small town? And how does the text represent the “närande och tärande”, an established dichotomy in centre and periphery rhetoric? The results of this study show that the novel process these representations in a nuanced way, and critically reproduces them. The main protagonist's struggle with trauma shows an internal periphery and illustrates the depth and nuance of these concepts.
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