Swedish Studies 901

LITERATURE By Birgitta Thompson, Lecturer in Swedish at University of Wales Lampeter

1. General A˚ . Bertenstam, ‘Svensk litteraturhistorisk bibliografi 112–113 (1993–1994); med tilla¨gg och ra¨ttelser fo¨r tidigare a˚r’, Samlaren, 117.2, 1996[1997]:1–183. Eva Hættner Aurelius, Info¨r lagen. Kvinnliga svenska sja¨lvbiografier fra˚n Agneta Horn till Fredrika Bremer (Litteratur Teater Film, Nya serien, 13), Lund U.P., 1996, 448 pp., is an impressive study of Swedish women’s autobiographies from the period 1647–1856 and the Swedish history of the genre. The aim has been to portray women’s views on themselves, their world, their writings, and the female writer, using some of the material in the 1991 bibliography that lists women’s autobiographies and diaries in the years 1650–1989 (no. 6 of the same series). The main focus is on Agneta Horn, Queen Kristina, and Fredrika Bremer, and reference is made to international research into language and fiction, genre, text, and the self. Less space is devoted to female religious autobiographers; mention is made of Jesper Swedberg, Hedvig Charlotta Nordenflycht, P. D. A. Atterbom, and Malla Silfverstolpe. Christina Sjo¨blad, Min vandring dag fo¨r dag. Kvinnliga dagbo¨cker fra˚n 1700-talet (Litteratur Teater Film, Nya serien, 16), Lund U.P.–Carlssons, 384 pp., is another study within the same project; here the focus is on the diaries, or journals, of a handful of Swedish 18th-c. women in a general European context; future plans include the diary genre in the 19th c. After introductory surveys of the European diary and early diary writing in Sweden, four representative female journals are explored against the ideological background of women’s status at the time, namely those of Metta Lillie (1737–50), Christina Charlotta Hia¨rne (1744–1803), Queen Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotta (1775–1817), and ‘A˚ rstafrun’, Ma¨rta Helena Reenstierna (1793–1839). Magnus Ro¨hl, Kalliope pa˚ svenska cirka 1720–1830. Ett bidrag till va˚rka¨nnedom om detaljer och dominanter i det versepiska Sverige (Acta Universitatis Stockholmiensis. Stockholm Studies in History of Literature, 35), Stockholm U.P.– Almqvist & Wiksell International, 652 pp., is a huge work which presents a survey of epic writing in Sweden, both as literature and literary theory; it is not, however, a history of Swedish epic writing, as the author is keen to point out. According to him, it should not be read from cover to cover but used as a reference work; this aim is greatly facilitated by a detailed index. The first part deals with works on theoretical aspects of the genre, native as well as translations, such as Erik Brander, Fo¨rso¨k om epope´e, poe¨me epique eller hja¨lte-dikt, 1768,‘a 902 Swedish Studies unique contribution to Swedish literary theory’. The second part is about ‘the six great epic writers’ in translation, from Homer and Virgil to Voltaire. Finally, part three concentrates on native Swedish epic writing, its themes and reception at the time, from Brander’s Gustaviade, the only national epic in the Age of Liberty, to attempts by Per Henrik Ling and Esaias Tegne´r. A concluding essay summarizes details, explores fundamental aspects of this vast amount of material, and considers the place of the epic in a literary and ideological setting. Summaries, conclusions, and a disarmingly irreverent quotation from David Lodge’s Small World bring the work to a conclusion. Bengt Lewan, Rena¨ssansbilder. Den italienska rena¨ssansen i svensk diktning, Carlssons, 1995, 357 pp., looks at the Italian Renaissance in Swedish literature, and analyses works by King Gustav III, C. J. L. Almqvist, Verner von Heidenstam, August Strindberg, Hjalmar Bergman, and Pa¨r Lagerkvist. Fiktionens fo¨rvandlingar. En va¨nbok till Bo Bennich-Bjo¨rkman den 6 oktober 1996, ed. Dag Hedman and Johan Svedjedal (Avdel- ningen fo¨r litteratursociologi, 33), SLIUU, 1996, 263 pp., published in honour of Bennich-Bjo¨rkman’s 70th birthday, includes: L. Bennich-Bjo¨rkman, on female reality in women’s weeklies 1960–90 (9–30); M. Bjo¨rkman, on translating novels into Swedish in the late 18th c. and the impact on national literature (31–71); U. Boe¨thius, on modern research into children’s and young people’s literature (72–88); R. E. Du Rietz, on publishing and variant editions (89–107); L. Furuland, on proletarian literature (108–23); S. Hansson, on the study of social conditions and their significance for orality and literacy, especially before Romanticism (142–50); D. Hedman, on Harry Martinson’s Aniara and science fiction (151–81); L. Lo¨nnroth, on Snorri Sturluson’s concept of genre (182–93); M.-C. Skuncke, on late-18th-c. parodies (194–217); J. Svedjedal, a chapter from his current Birger Sjo¨berg biography (218–39, see p. 923 below); A. N. Uggla, on the reception of Polish literature (240–49); L. Wendelius, on the criticism of American exceptionalism from the mid-19th c. to the early 20th (250–63). Henrik Gro¨nroos and Ann-Charlotte Nyman, Boken i Finland. Bokbesta˚ndet hos borgerskap, hantverkare och la¨gre sociala grupper i Finlands sta¨der enligt sta¨dernas bouppteckningar 1656–1809 (SSLF, 596), Helsinki, 1996, 638 pp., is an important tool for anybody interested in the history of reading among the middle and lower classes in Finland until the end of the union with Sweden. The lists and indexes are based on about 4,000 estate inventories in 19, mainly coastal, cities and towns. Svenska Akademiens Handlingar, 23, 1996 [1997], Svenska Akademien–Norstedts, 64 + 222 pp., briefly refers to the series of classics, currently being published by the Swedish Academy, and to Esaias Tegne´r; the main part is devoted to ‘Henrik Schu¨cks anteckningar till Svenska Akademiens historia 1883–1912.