"Dette dulde draget av mor". Det moderlege i den lyriske forfattarskapen til Tor Jonsson

Abstract

The focus of this thesis is to examine the maternal in the poetry of the Norwegian poet Tor Jonsson (1916-1951). By examining especially the motifs of earth, water and the transcendent function ‘god’, and their relation to the maternal, in addition to how these motifs develop and change through the authorship, I will find out how the maternal links to what I regard as a melancholic position in the subject person. With help from the psychoanalytic theories of Melanie Klein concerning object relations and Julia Kristeva’s theories about melancholy and the semiotic and symbolic modality, I have seen that there is reason to discuss a maternal binding for the subject person. This binding can be said to affect the main areas of the subject person’s life, such as his relation to other women, his longing for death, and so on. I have found that in this authorship – that often has been linked to a profound heaviness, due to topics such as death, loneliness and ongoing struggles relating to others – the maternal can on one hand offer a certain positive value concerning the struggles of the subject person. However, on the other hand it can contribute to maintain a melancholic position, since the maternal binding and the melancholy are closely linked together.

Denne oppgåva har som siktemål å undersøkje det moderlege i Tor Jonsson sin diktariske forfattarskap. Ved å undersøkje hovudsakleg motiva jord, vatn og gud og korleis desse utviklar seg gjennom dikta, har eg funne at det er rimeleg å snakke om ei morsbinding som er linka til ein melankolsk posisjon hos subjektpersonen. Eg har nærma meg forståinga av denne bindinga via dei psykoanalytiske teoriane til Melanie Klein og Julia Kristeva om høvesvis objektrelasjonar og den semiotiske og symbolske modalitet.