”Vad tänker hon syssla med istället?” : Om röster och dialogicitet i Sheila Hetis Moderskap

Sammanfattning: This study examines heteroglossia and the dialogic nature of Sheila Heti’s novel Motherhood, published in 2018. The novel features a main character who muses on the question of whether or not to have children, the novel ending with her nearing the age of 40 and deciding not to try and become a mother. Through the use of M.M. Bakhtin’s theory of the novel as a dialogic medium, as well as Anne Herrmann’s theory on the female dialogic, the purpose of the study is to look at the way in which the main character comes to the conclusion not to have children. The novel is read through the lens of the languages and voices of different characters, determining whose language is allowed to be the dominant one, and the effect of these languages on the main character’s decision-making.