Performativ poesi. Ein studie av identitet og identitetskonflikt i YAHYA HASSAN og YAHYA HASSAN 2

Abstract

In this master thesis, I have examined the thematisation of identity and identity conflict in the two poetry anthologies YAHYA HASSAN and YAHYA HASSAN 2. Yahya Hassan wrote autobiographical poems, and thus his work became a way to explore his own identity in poetic form. The theoretical basis supporting my literary analysis has been Jon Helt Haarders’concept of performative biographism and sociological identity theory. Through analysing a selection of poems, I have achieved a more in-depth interpretation of how the many voices of the lyrical subject present in the anthologies reveal themselves. The many subject-voices are also in conflict with one another. Following this, I have chosento focus on two identity markers that I argue are particularly oppositional. The gangster is situated on one side and the author on the other. An additional objective has been to point out features within the anthologies and the phenomenon Yahya Hassan. Using genre theory as a methodological approach, this project aspires to contribute and further develop the theoretical perspective of performative biographism to encompass performative poetry. In this thesis, I have examined how Yahya Hassan uses autobiographical material in his poems and how YAHYA HASSAN and YAHYA HASSAN2consequently becomes performative poetry.