Say that It Is so! Exclamation Marks and Affect in Eva-Stina Byggmästar's Poetry

This study examines the exclamation mark as stylistic device in the works of the Finnish-Swedish poet Eva-Stina Byggm & auml;star in relation to aesthetic norms. The poet's use of the exclamation mark is charted in collections 2001-2022 and the affective connotations of the sign are studied through queer and affect theory. The study shows that the exclamation mark is a fundamental component of Byggm & auml;star's poetics, characterized by a provocative insistence on happiness and joy. The exclamation mark can be understood as a gimmick or a coercive reading instruction, but it also mobilizes vulnerability, and invokes a world to come.