Milli mála - 01.06.2014, Page 102

MELODRAMATISK MODERNISME

Milli mála 6/2014

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fungerer det helt anderledes i modernismen. Her spiller det melo-
dramatiske på et bredere klaviatur, der omfatter alle dets historiske
varianter, inklusive de der har udfoldet sig i andre medier, f.eks. spil-
lefilm, hvor der optræder en række effekter, der blandt andet afsæt-
ter sig som sensibilitet, visualitet, litterær forførelse af og spørgsmål
til læseren. Det melodramatiske er således et arsenal af litterære vir-
kemidler som modernismen frit benytter også selv om det ikke fo-
regår helt åbenlyst som hos Dorrit Willumsen.

Melodramatic Modernism: A Reading of Marie.
A Novel about the Life of Madame Tussaud
by Dorrit Willumsen
The historical novel Marie gave the Danish author Dorrit Willum-
sen her breakthrough towards a broader audience. By studying the
literary strategies of the novel, this article suggests that Ma-
rie possesses a broad common appeal as well as being a challenge
for literary scholars. The interpretation of the novel demonstrates
that Dorrit Willumsen couples the historical novel with the melo-
dramatic mode by organizing the narrative in a modernistic way.
Thus the novel transgresses the limits between high and low cultu-
re. It establishes a pattern of reading which forces the well-made
story of life upon the reader by using the melodramatic attitude as a
way of orientation, at the same time as it involves him or her in the
uncertainties that go with the interpretation of a life. The novel re-
quires an unconditional surrender to the seduction of the melo-
dramatic as well as the reader’s active participation in the act of in-
terpretation.

Key words: Modernism, melodrama, historical novel, narrative, gen-
der

Melódramatískur módernismi: Túlkun á skáld-
sögunni Marie. En roman om Madame Tussauds liv
eftir Dorrit Willumsen
Með sögulegu skáldsögunni Marie (1983) tókst danska rithöfund-
inum Dorrit Willumsen að ná til breiðari lesendahóps. Í þessari