The Pain and the Creeping Feeling

Abstract

The aim of the article is to analyse how a feminist critique is expressed in the graphic novels Det känns som hundra år [It feels like a hundred years] (1999) and Deras ryggar luktade så gott [Their backs smelled so good] (2014) by Åsa Grenvall. The theoretical framework draws from the concept of skewedness, a variation of queer theory, and theories of queer temporality. Grennvall delivers a feminist critique by exposing the norms of girlhood as unattainable and by visualising skewedness in relation to girlhood and the lifelines of the protagonists, a result of both gender norms and emotional neglect.