En surrealistisk soppa? En komparativ studie av Stefan Hammaréns sopptrilogi och surrealismens litterära kriterier

Abstract

The purpose of this essay is to establish whether the so called “soup trilogy”, med en burk soppa (2001), konservöppnare bok (2003) and på burklös mark (2005), written by Swedish-speaking Finn Stefan Hammarén is to be considered as surrealism or not.

The methods used to determinate this is close reading, a technique used for finding a text’s distinguishable traits, and comparative analysis. First of all, the criteria of surrealist literature found in André Breton’s (1896-1966) Surrealist Manifesto, and other sources, as well as the criteria for the surrealist literary technique cut-up are presented and evaluated accordingly. Secondly, close reading is applied on one page from each volume in Hammarén’s trilogy and the results are presented together with an attempt to interpret the meaning of the analyzed texts, as well as a short introduction to each book.

The results from the close readings are then compared with the evaluated criteria of surrealist literature in an attempt to understand whether Hammarén’s “soup trilogy” is to be considered as surrealism. Reading Hammarén’s trilogy can surely feel as a surreal experience and it is understandable why some people would assume that it therefore is surrealism. However, since the presented criteria of surrealist literature is more focused on the source of creativity, the process of blending the conscious self and the unconscious self with the intent of removing any kind of self censorship, it is nearly impossible to make any assumptions on whether Hammarén’s trilogy is to be considered as surrealism simply by studying the end result of his writing.

Even though the results suggest that any surrealist techniques are highly unlikely to have been used in the creation of Hammarén’s trilogy one would need to either interview Hammarén himself, or study his creative process in detail, to answer the essay’s question more thoroughly.