”Din frihet är nära kopplad till min egen”: En feministisk psykoanalytisk läsning av emancipations- och modersmotiv i Maud Reuterswärds Elisabet-trilogi

One of the most complex forms of relationship in fiction for young adults seems to be the one between mothers and daughters. The Swedish author Maud Reuterswärd (1920-1980) has written several books for young adults in which a relational crisis between a mother and her daughter is the central theme. Throughout Reuterswärd’s trilogy about Elisabet Hof, the mother plays a key role. The trilogy features an emotionally instable and mentally absent mother whose depression eventually leads to her attempting to commit suicide. Through a psychoanalytical lens, this paper highlights and discusses how the mother-daughter relationship in Reuterswärd’s trilogy is mediated through dialogue, point of view and tone. The mother’s voice and the verbal communication between mother and daughter is focused by using Luce Irigaray’s theoretical approach of the maternal function in psychoanalysis and culture. In addition the paper attempts to widen the critical perspectives and provide alternative ways of understanding the mother in Reuterswärd’s trilogy.