The Boy with the Cowbell & The Bull of Nybacken: A Queer Reading of Vilhelm Moberg’s The Emigrants Novels

This article presents a queer reading of Vilhelm Moberg’s The Emigrants novel series (1949–1959), in which norm-breaking aspects of the text are accentuated. The series consists of some of the most read and beloved Swedish novels of all time, and tells the story of a group of farmers emigrating to North America in the mid-nineteenth century. Up until now The Emigrants novels have not been read using a queer perspective. The focus of this reading is the close relationship between the two young farmhands Robert and Arvid. The latter is rumored to engage in bestiality, which in this article is interpreted as a transgression from normative heterosexuality. Also, neither Robert nor Arvid express desire towards women; these men are each other’s primary life partners. By emphasizing expressions of queerness around them – including the prevalence of animality and queerly connoted animals – this article shows that it is possible to read the men’s relationship as a romantic love story.