ABSTRACT

This article investigates abortion in Sweden and the depiction of abortion attitudes in the bestselling crime novel Before the Frost (2002) by the internationally acclaimed Swedish writer Henning Mankell in which a man murders women who had an abortion as a major step in his plan of religious revival. It will first review the Swedish abortion law, statistics, and sociological research in order to provide additional background on the history and politics of abortion in Sweden, then show that the novel’s dialogues realistically reflects the majority of the population’s liberal view of induced abortion as a woman’s right supported by the law. I argue that the anti-abortion murders turn out to be the criminal plan’s flaw because the inspector solves the murders and prevents the main goal, suicide attacks on Swedish churches and possibly more. The line-up of the plot to the showdown in the early days of September 2001 connects the novel with global terrorism and responses to 9/11 resulting in a message about taking religious motivations seriously. In addition, I highlight the connection between the issue of terrorism and the theme of suicide which runs through the novel.

摘要

本文调查瑞典的堕胎情况，以及畅销小说《冰霜之前》中堕胎态度的描绘（2002年）由享誉国际的瑞典作家Henning Mankell撰写，其中一名男子谋杀了堕胎的妇女，这是其宗教复兴计划的重要一步。它将首先回顾瑞典的人工流产法律，统计数据和社会学研究，以便为瑞典的人工流产的历史和政治提供更多的背景知识，然后表明小说的对话现实地反映了大多数人对人工流产的自由主义观点。受法律支持的妇女权利。我认为，反堕胎谋杀案是刑事计划的缺陷，因为检查员解决了谋杀案并阻止了主要目标，自杀袭击瑞典教堂，甚至可能更多。在2001年9月的初期，该剧情与摊牌的排列将小说与全球恐怖主义和对9/11的回应联系在一起，从而产生了有关认真对待宗教动机的信息。此外，我强调了恐怖主义问题与贯穿小说的自杀主题之间的联系。