”Var sam-vettet finns”

Abstract

”Var sam-vettet finns” In this article I ask in what kind of texts the Swedish author and activist Sara Lidman’s (1923–2004) word “sam-vett” (or “con-science”, in English) is to be found. As has been pointed out by other scholars, Lidman invents the word “sam-vett” in the middle- to late 1970s as she begins her work on the novel suite Järnbanan (1975 – 1999). Previous research has predominantly focused its attention on the occurrences of this word in two texts by Lidman; the novel Järnkronan (1985) and the introduction to her book of articles called och trädet svarade (1988), entitled “Före ordet”. The present study sets out to investigate all the published texts in which the word “sam-vett” appears and offers succinct interpretations of the word’s varying but interconnected meanings. The article also asks what importance, if any, the matter of genre has for our understanding of the word’s significance as an interpretative lens for the authorship as a whole. As the investigation shows, the word is predominantly used by Lidman in her articles and essays, rather than in her novels. How should this be taken into account when we interpret Lidman’s novels in light of the concept of “sam-vett?” The present study answers this question through an analysis of Sara Lidman’s own understanding of the relation between her articles and her novels.

Keywords

• Sara Lidman
• sam-vett
• con-science
• samvete
• världssamvete