Eros med och utan vingar : En komparativ studie av kärlek, sexualitet och ”det moderna projeket” i Vi och Kallocain

Sammanfattning: My aim with this essay is to analyse how the theme of sexuality and love in two dystopian novels – We  (1924),  by Yevgeny Zamyatin and Kallocain  (1940), by Karin Boye – relate to “the modern project”, a term I use to identify a cluster of important ideas that profoundly impacted society in the first decades of the 20th century. My analysis is based on a theoretical point of view claiming that dystopian novels present a critical perspective on society, and that they deal with issues, problems and values specific to the period in which they were written. Using a comparative method, where “the modern project” works asan “Ansatzpunkt”, I explore a variety of texts studying the theme of love and sexualityin We  and Kallocain  from different perspectives. I further discuss how both novels criticize societies where some of the ideas from “the modern project” are realized in unexpected ways: the “bourgeois family” is gone and the state performs some of its duties, sexuality is reduced to biological needs and reproduction, and love relationships are seen as egotistical and irrational. Even though these societies are trying hard, they can’t stop their citizens from using love and sexuality as a means to connect to one another and build a resistance. My conclusion is that both Zamyatin and Boye most likely were inspired by the writings of Sigmund Freud, who at that time was highly influential. In this light their novels can beinterpreted as presenting the human libido (We) and insights gained through psychoanalysis (Kallocain) as defences against collectivistic totalitarian states.