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Alt-lit-rörelsen - ett metamodernt avantgarde

The Alt-lit movement - a metamodern avantgarde

På svenska

Author

  • Johan Öster

Summary, in English

Alt-Lit is a literary movement which first sprung up in The U.S in the middle of the first decade of the second millennia. Vaguely defined and led by aspiring writers belonging to the Y-Generation, also known as millennials, its presence and influence has become increasingly apparent. These are the first writers to use the internet, not only as a platform, but as an aesthetic and linguistic inspirational theme - as a culture in its own right - when creating their work and spreading it. Its origin may be traced to one of its figureheads, Tao Lin, who, by embracing internet culture, gained publicity and built a personal brand, as well as establishing his own press Muumuu house, thereby influencing other writers belonging to his generation to use the internet as a platform. Then, in the early 2010s, a new literary scene emerged which was called Alt-Lit. The movement spread fast across the globe, reaching Scandinavia, in Sweden by authors as Hanna Rajs Lara, Elis Monteverde Burrau, Anna Axfors and Ludvig Köhler, as well as publishers like Kenneth Pettersen (AFV Press) in Norway and Carl Lindsten (It-lit) in Sweden. This contemporary literary movement has to this point not been subject to proper academic research. By applying theorists such as Pascale Casanova (the world literary space) and Timotheus Vermeulen and Robin van den Akker (metamodernism) combined with a broad study of the most central figures in the movement, this study makes as its errand to establish a provisory literary history of the period 2005-2021, to get at the root of the alt-lit movement’s basic conditions and terms, as well as trying to provide an attempt to a definition of what alt-lit really is. By this work I’m also trying to point in another direction of how scientific research may be presented. Inspired by essayistic and journalistic style my aim is to prove that qualified knowledge indeed can be provided by a narrative structure and vivid prose. It is my profound wish that this work will be read and used for further research, not only within, but also outside the academy.

Department/s

  • Master's Programme: Literature - Culture - Media

Publishing year

2021

Language

Swedish

Document type

Student publication for Master's degree (two years)

Topic

  • Languages and Literatures

Keywords

  • Alt-lit
  • Contemporary literary history
  • Tao Lin
  • Steve Roggenbuck
  • Megan Boyle
  • Mira Gonzalez
  • Pascale Casanova
  • The world literary space
  • Metamodernism
  • Internet culture
  • Swedish contemporary literature
  • Hanna Rajs Lara
  • Elis Monteverde Burrau
  • Anna Axfors
  • Ludvig Köhler
  • AFV Press
  • It-lit
  • Anti förlag
  • Avantgarde
  • DIY
  • Blogospehere
  • Hipster Runoff
  • Muumuu house
  • Boost house
  • Twitter
  • Social media
  • Branding
  • Youth Culture.

Supervisor

  • Anders Mortensen