"Jag är som en barnvagn av människohud." : En närläsning av kroppsgränser, textöppningar och abjektion i Åsa Nelvins Gattet. Sånger från barnasinnet

Sammanfattning: Gattet. Sånger från barnasinnet is a cycle of poems by the author Åsa Nelvin (1951-1981). Several readers have recognized a grotesque theme in the book, while some have read an apocalyptic motif. A few have mentioned feelings of both disgust and pleasure. The attempt of this essay is to analyze a selection of the poems through a theme of horror or disgust, in content and form, by applying Julia Kristeva’s theory of abjection. L’abjection is something that one is disgusted by, threatening the borders of the self, but it is not simply something that is outside of us since the “abject” is neither subject nor object. In the first part of the analysis I will explicate how abjection is expressed in Gattet concerning the mouth and eating, but also bodily waste. In the second part it is the poetical text itself and its form that is discerned through abjection, considering typographical features such as italicization, s p a c i n g, and the phonetic script in some of the poems.