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

Abstract This study examines the exclamation mark as stylistic device in the works of the Finnish-Swedish poet Eva-Stina Byggmästar 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 Byggmästar’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.