Familjen som pesthärd: Sjukdom och förbrytelse i Vigdis Hjorths <i>Arv og miljø</i>

This article conducts a close reading of Vigdis Hjorth’s novel Arv og miljø (2016). I argue that the novel is informed by an imagery of contagion and disease which is used to express a theme of dysfunctional familial relationships. A related imagery of boundaries and cleanliness is used to relay the narrator’s experience of having been sexually assaulted by her father. In closing, I maintain that the novel should be regarded as a literary text influenced by popular representations of psychoanalytical theory and practice.