Swedish Women’s Writing on Export. Tracing Transnational Reception in the Nineteenth Century

Abstract

While 19th century Sweden may have remained peripheral to world events, Swedish literature was remarkably successful – even decades before the Scandinavian Modern Breakthrough. Several of the most prominent writers in Sweden were women. Using digitized materials, various methods of visualization and theoretical tools, this study reveals a new and fascinating history of the export of Swedish literature. Five case studies illustrate the rapidly changing conditions of literary transfer during the century, and the central role played by women writers. A chapter on the Romantic poet Julia Nyberg (Euphrosyne) emphasizes the significance of poetry in both translation and reception during the early part of the century. Chapters on the novelists Fredrika Bremer and Emilie Flygare-Carlén highlight new aspects of the transcultural and transmedial dissemination of top-selling writers in the mid- to late 19th century. A chapter on Anne Charlotte Leffler, the premier female playwright of the Modern Breakthrough, explores the complex migration of socially radical dramas written in a minor language. A final chapter examines the various ways in which the neo-romantic prose writer Selma Lagerlöf was put to use in different parts of Europe around 1909 – the year she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.