The Naked Truth
Conversion Narratives as Rhetorical Approach in Swedish Nudist Journals from the 1930s and 1940s”
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52610/rhs.v26i84.79Keywords:
nudism, nudist journals, Sweden, conversion narratives, rhetorical vision, 1930s, 1940sAbstract
In the summer of 1932, Dagbräckning [Daybreak], the first Swedish nudist journal, was founded with the mission of getting people to sunbathe, swim and do gymnastics naked. It was soon followed by Natur och Hälsa [Nature and Health] and Solvännen [Sun Friend], which alongside Dagbräckning sparkled interest in the emerging Swedish nudist movement. A recurring feature in these journals were conversion narratives in which men and women described how they became nudists. This article analyzes thirty-six conversion narratives from the 1930s and 1940s and demonstrates how a narrative structure drawn from a religious context helped nudists to make sense of their new identity and convince others of the possibilities of nudism. Using Ernest G. Bormann's concept of rhetorical vision and his symbolic convergence theory as an interpretive framework, the article shows that in this religiously inispired way the nudists weaved together their experiences into a more encompassing drama about the freedom that awaited those who chose to practice nudism: freedom from clothing that obstructed natural movements, freedom from prejudice that limited individual thinking and freedom from rules that restricted social contacts.
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