Södergran, Edith

Edith Södergran (1892–1923) was the first avant-garde poet in Nordic literature. She was born in St. Petersburg in 1892, grew up in a middle-class family and attended a highly regarded German girls’ school in the then Russian capital. She was a Finnish citizen but her first language was Swedish. She wrote her poetry in German, French, Russian and Swedish and additionally spoke Finnish, English and some Italian. Her first literary language was German (about half of her production is in German), but it is quite traditional; romantic youth poems mainly influenced by Heinrich Heine. In 1908 she suddenly started to write exclusively in her home language Swedish, a language she was never educated in. After this departure she focused her poetry more on what it is to be female and what strategies one can have as a woman in a changing world of more equal opportunities. French symbolism, German art-noveau and Russian and Italian futurism all influenced her style. Södergran was the first European female writer to publish a literary manifest, an advanced idea in 1919, and she introduced the idea of “the New Woman” in Nordic poetry. Today Södergran’s writings are seen as constituting a paradigm shift; her first collection of poetry, Poems in 1916 (Dikter 1916) represents the breakthrough of literary avant-gardism in Scandinavia. During her lifetime she published four collections of poetry and one collection of aphorisms. After her death a final collection of remaining poems “The Land that is not”, was published in 1925. In 1909 she was diagnosed with tuberculosis and spent a few years in sanatoriums in Finland and in Davos, Switzerland. She died of tuberculosis in 1923 at the age of 31.

Porthan, Henrik Gabriel

Born in Viitasaari, Tavastland, in 1739, Porthan died in Turku in 1804. He was a professor and rector at the Royal Academy of Turku. As a scholar he sometimes is entitled as The Father of Finnish History.
His father was a vicar who became mentally ill in 1744. He was raised by his uncle Gustaf Juslenius (1702-1774) who was the vicar of Kronoby in the county of Ostrobothnia. In 1754, at the age of 15, Porthan entered the Academy of Turku. He was a student of professor Daniel Juslenius (1676–1752) who later served at Bishop of the Diocese of Borgå.
Porthan was awarded his Master of Philosophy in 1760. He was a professor 1777–1804 and served as rector 1786–1787 and 1798–1799. He brought Finnish history-writing, study of mythology and folk poetry to an international level. His De Poësi Fennica (published in five parts 1776-78), a study on Finnish folk poetry, had great importance in awakening public interest in the Kalevala-poetry and Finnish mythology, and the study was also the basis of all later study of the poetry.
He was among the founders of the Aurora Society that advocated Finnish literary pursuits and was the editor of the first Finnish newspaper, Tidningar ugifne af et sällskap i Åbo, founded in 1771. He instructed Kristian Erik Lencqvist (1761–1808) whose 1782 dissertation De superstitione veterum Fennorum theoretica et practica was a seminal study of historic Finnish customs.
Porthan was also the instructor of poet Frans Michael Franzén (1772–1847) and also inspired the following generation of Finnish authors, poets and researchers, many of whom were among the founders of the Finnish Literature Society in 1831.

Jangfeldt, Bengt

Bengt Jangfeldt, born in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1948. Studied Russian literature in Stockholm and Moscow. PhD in 1976 on a dissertation about Vladimir Majakovsky. Lives in Stockholm. The author of biographies of Axel Munthe (2003), Vladimir Mayakovsky (2007), Joseph Brodsky (2010), and Raoul Wallenberg (2012). His books have been translated into several languages. He also works as a translator and has translated the poetry of Mayakovsky (with Gunnar Harding), as well as the poetry and prose of Osip Mandelstam and Joseph Brodsky.
 
Bengt Jangfeldt has received several prizes for his books, including the August Prize (twice) and the Swedish Academy’s Biography Prize.

Molin, Gösta Gideon

Born in Liden, Småland, in 1887, Molin died in Uppsala in 1955.

Norberg, Jakob

 Andrew W. Mellon Assistant Professor of German at Duke University, USA. His articles on modern German literature and political thought have appeared in Arcadia, Cultural Critique, PMLA, Telos, Textual Practice and other journals.

 

 

Linné, Carl von

In 1707, Carl Linnaeus was born to the priest’s family in the parish of Råshult in the Swedish province of Småland. Much later, ennobled in the year 1762, he changed his name to Carl von Linné. His father Nils was interested in horticulture and his son inherited an interest in nature. The parents’ plans for Carl to become a priest were put aside. At this time, the academic study of nature was categorised under medicine, so Carl began to study for a medical degree, first in Lund, then in Uppsala where he lived from 1728. While still a student, he was commissioned by the Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala to undertake his first two scientific expeditions: to Lapland in 1732 and to Dalarna in 1734.
In Dalarna, Carl met Sara Lisa Moraea from Falun. Marriage was planned, but the father of the bride insisted that his daughter’s betrothed should first acquire his doctoral degree in medicine and be able to provide for a family. It was at the time not yet possible to become a doctor of medicine in Sweden, so Linnaeus went to Leyden in Holland. In 1735 he defended with acclaim his doctoral thesis on the subject of gluttony. He had written papers which were then successively published, establishing his reputation. The first work to be published was Systema Naturae (1735).
In 1738 he returned to Sweden, set up a practice in Stockholm and where he became one of the founders of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. In 1739, he married Sara Lisa and they eventually had seven children, two of whom died in childhood. In 1741, Linnaeus was awarded a professorship in theoretical medicine at Uppsala University. He was diligent as a professor and bore a heavy workload. He was particularly popular as a teacher and his scientific excursions – his "Herbationes Upsalienses" – were much discussed and attended by students, to the annoyance of his less popular colleagues.
Carl Linnaeus’ lifetime achievements include more than 70 books and 300 scientific papers; he corresponded with scientists all over the world; carried out scientific expeditions in Sweden; developed the botanical garden in Uppsala; taught and inspired his students and, like many other scientists of his day, turned his attention to other scientific disciplines. In addition, he was skilled at marketing his ideas and spreading his enthusiasm. Linnaeus died in 1778.