ABSTRACT
This chapter examines The Maroon Mountain as a piece of historical fiction that, as a deliberate political gesture, puts forward a new national narrative for Sweden. National histories, or narratives of national identity, in most cases, can require some deliberate amnesia. Sweden has absorbed foreigners before with no harm done to its national identity. Although multiculturalism is clearly a pressing issue in modern Sweden, it may be employed as a substitute for the more sensitive issue of race. In 1996, two novels appeared in Sweden that featured the historical figure of Badin, a black man raised together with Gustaf III: Ola Larsmo's Maroonberget and Ylva Eggehorn's En av dessa timmar. Swedes share the same race, temperament, traditions, and history all the way back to ancient times. During the last half of the twentieth century, the face of Sweden began to change visibly as immigrants entered the country to find work or to escape intolerable political situations at home.
