Anna Maria Lenngren
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Anna Maria Lenngren
(1754–1817), Swedish poet and woman of letters. Lenngren was born Anna Maria Malmstedt in the university town of Uppsala. Her father Malmstedt, a Latin professor, gave her a classical education, a unique asset for her sex. She became fluent in Latin, eventually producing translations of Latin poetry that became generally admired.
In “Thé-conseilen” (The Tea-Conseil, 1775, revised in 1777), Mlle. Malmstedt's first important satirical poem, she sides with an earlier feminist tradition and delivers a twofold critique. First, she denounces feminine conditions that confine women to the intimate sphere and strongly claims the right of women to dedicate themselves to intellectual activities. Then, imitating women's small talk at the tea table, she ridicules their superficiality and condemns their heartless treatment of their maids. In the preface of her translation of Lucile (1776), an opéra comique by Jean-François Marmontel, she expresses hopes for the end of prejudiced views against women who take part in “learned exercises” during the “enlightened” era of Gustav III.
In 1780, Mlle. Malmstedt married Carl Petter Lenngren, a civil servant and an intimate friend of the poet Johan Henrik Kellgren, with whom he shared the responsibility of Stockholms Posten, a daily paper with literary ambitions. Madame Lenngren became a regular contributor to Stockholms Posten. She developed her satirical writing both in poems and in short prose narratives. As her contributions were all anonymous, she could sometimes adopt a male perspective in her writing. From a democratic stance, she mercilessly exposes the Stockholm bourgeoisie and the haughty nobility. Outspoken feminist claims are put aside for more general ideals of equality. In “Pojkarne” (The Boys, 1797), Mme. Lenngren praises childhood in a Rousseauist manner as a time of complete innocence, a presocial state in which class barriers are unknown. The contrast between the happy boys and the adult men who compete for civil careers is striking. Her view of childhood embodies a vision of egalitarian relations among the social classes that reveals Lenngren's democratic ideals.
In 1797, Count Gustaf Fredrik Gyllenborg, himself a poet and member of the Swedish Academy, praised Mme. Lenngren's unequalled poetic talents in a strongly laudatary poem. Mme. Lenngren, who had based her writing on anonymity, replied with Dröm (Dream) in which she contrasts her own writing with that of her dead colleague Hedvig Charlotta Nordenflycht (1718–1763), who had found no reason to hide her learning.
Mme. Lenngren's best known poem is “Några ord till min kära dotter, ifall jag hade någon” (Some Words to My Dear Daughter If I Had One, 1798), published only a few months after the revelation of her identity. Whether its advice to abandon reading and writing and return to conventional female occupations should be taken seriously is still debated. Mme. Lenngren was pragmatic about her own status as an intellectual woman. Times had changed; femininity could never be combined with any activities within the public sphere. Anonymity was a prerequisite of women's writing. When she gave advice conforming to conventional female education it was with a characteristic hidden touch of bitter irony founded on her own experience.
Nevertheless, Mme. Lenngren continued to publish new, much appreciated poems, satires, and idylls. She died in 1817, leaving a corpus of poems for publication as her collected works. They appeared in 1819 as Skalde-försök (Attempts at Poetry), edited by her husband. The modesty of the title was exaggerated because Mme. Lenngren was by then acknowledged as one of the best Swedish poets of the late eighteenth century. Her long-lasting popularity survived the Romantic era and remains considerable.
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Anna Maria Lenngren
| Anna Maria Lenngren | |
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| Born | June 18, 1754, Uppsala, Sweden |
| Died | March 8, 1817, Stockholm, Sweden (aged 62) |
| Cause of death | breast cancer |
| Residence | Stockholm, Sweden |
| Other names | Anna Maria Malmstedt |
| Occupation | writer, poet and translator |
| Known for | Swedish writer, poet, feminist and salonist |
| Spouse | Carl Peter Lenngren; one adopted child |
Anna Maria Lenngren (née Malmstedt; June 18, 1754 – March 8, 1817) was a Swedish writer, poet, feminist, translator and salonist. She is one of the best-known Swedish woman poets.
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Background
The daughter of Magnus Brynolfsson Malmstedt, a poet and professor of Latin at Uppsala University, she learned Latin and the Classics at a young age and was greatly encouraged by her father to write and explore literature. He early saw her talent, and declared that he wanted to "create of her not only an educated, but a wise and learned woman".[1]
Her father died under suspicious circumstances after having lost his position at the university by violating the religious restriction laws;[2] he was a member of the herrnhuts (Moravian Church) and had arranged private religious gattherings, which was banned.[3] Her mother died early, and her stepmother, previously her father's servant, became known for her Christian poetry[4] Lenngren wrote poems when she was a teenager, debuted as a poet in 1775 in the paper of Anna Hammar-Rosén in Gothenburg, and became a member of the academy Vetenskaps-och Vitterhets-samhället in Gothenburg.
Early career
As an adult, her first paid, professional work were reviews, epitomes, epigrams and translations, among them translation of Horace.[5]
In 1776 she was hired by Duke Charles, the King's brother, for the translation of a French Opera, Lucile; this was the first operetta translated to the Swedish language.[6] In its introduction, she defence the right of academic work for her gender.[7] After this, she was hired a regular basis as a translator of published operettas by the royal court[8] As a token of recognition and appreciation, Lenngren received several official gifts, such as a "golden clock", from the royal house, illustrating her then status as a court writer.[1]
She also translated erotic French poetry.[9]
She was elected into a number of literal societies and academys, notably the Utile dulci academy in 1779.[10] and received favorable reviews in the press.[11] She proclaimed herself a "litterata", openly criticising the rampant misconceptions and preconceptions about women's roles in society. She was known as a speaker for the free mind, especially women's right to intellectual independence.[12]
Marriage
In 1780, she married Carl Peter Lenngren, editor of the newspaper Stockholmsposten, and after that she stepped back from the public scene, instead contributing anonymously to her husband's publication. Her silence lasted for ten years, during which she instead became one of Sweden's leading salonists and a centre of the cultural and political debate;[13][14] she counted Johan Henric Kellgren, Gustaf af Leopold, Nils von Rosenstein, Frans Michael Franzén and Gudmund Jöran Adlerbeth among her guests. As a salonist after her marriage, she was described as witty and energetic but also humble and shy[15]
Later career
In 1790, she again became more active when one of her husbands most celebrated journalists died, and she made herself once again famous with her writing. She criticised the snobbism of the nobility, the humble admiration their servants gave them and the anxious bowing of the working class. A realist, "The third class" was inspired by the French Revolution.[16] Above all, she fought for the intellectual freedom of women; that also women should be allowed to have opinions.[17]
Her home on Beridarebansgatan was the center of the Royal Swedish Academy, and though she was not a formal member - probably because she had declined being elected - she was a member de facto, and the academy referred to her as their "Invisible member". Despite of her wish to remain anonymous, the academy made her public again by expressing their admiration with a complimentary poem to her honor in 20 December 1797: Ode till fru Lenngren ("Ode to Mrs Lenngren'"), read by Gustaf Fredrik Gyllenborg. She declined the admiration with Dröm ("Dream"), a poem, though she did not issue it anonymously but signed it with her own name.[18][19][20]
Feminism
Her work as a feminist is much debated; Anna Maria Lenngren is famed for her great love for irony, which have made people unsure about how to understand what it was she really meant. In the poem: "Några ord till min kära dotter, ifall jag hade någon:" (1794) ("Advice to my daughter, if I had one") she discusses the topic regarding women and politics, where she wrote that every women did best to concentrate on being a wife and mother and not on learning or politics, because; "Our household is our Republic, the lavatory is our politics".[21]
Her writings are generally in verse, sometimes very short, and often about everyday life. They frequently employ satire and irony and she is regarded as a realist. Speaking of her work, Fredrik Böök says that "there was every word needed and no more, almost no adjectives. She painted with only verbs and substantives", and Snoilsky writes in his poem En afton hos fru Lenngren ("An evening at Mrs Lenngren's"): "It's like a burdock, this witty meter"[22]
Family
She never had any biological children, though she adopted a daughter. Her adopted daughter was later placed in a mental asylum, where she died soon after she was admitted[23]
Death
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Lenngren eventually became one of the most well-known and popular Swedish writers of the 18th century. She died of breast cancer, aged 62,[24] and was interred in the Klara kyrka cemetery in Stockholm. Her collected poems where published by her widower under the name Skaldeförsök ("Attempts of Poetry") in 1819, in accordance with her instructions. After its publication, the Royal Swedish Academy had a memorial medal made with the inscription: "The less she sought fame, the more it was given to her".[25]
Sample of work
- Porträtterna (The Portraits)
- Grefvinnans besök (Visit from the Countess)
- Fröken Juliana (Miss Juliana)
- Hans nåds morgonsömn (The morning sleep of his lordship)
- Pojkarne (The Boys)
- Den glada festen (The happy party)
- Några ord till min kära dotter, ifall jag hade någon (Some words to my dear daughter, if I had one) 1794
- Andra tyger, andra seder! (Other Fabrics, Other Mores!)
See also
References
- ^ a b (Swedish) Lindqvist, Herman: Historien om Sverige. Gustavs dagar (History of Sweden. The days of Gustav)
- ^ (Swedish) Lindqvist, ibid. (The days of Gustav)
- ^ (Swedish) Lindqvist, ibid. (The days of Gustav)
- ^ (Swedish) Lindqvist, ibid. (The days of Gustav)
- ^ (Swedish) Lindqvist, ibid. (The days of Gustav)
- ^ (Swedish) Lindqvist, ibid. (The days of Gustav)
- ^ (Swedish) Lindqvist, ibid. (The days of Gustav)
- ^ (Swedish) Lindqvist, ibid. (The days of Gustav)
- ^ (Swedish) Lindqvist, ibid. (The days of Gustav)
- ^ (Swedish) Lindqvist, ibid. (The days of Gustav)
- ^ (Swedish) Lindqvist, ibid. (The days of Gustav)
- ^ (Swedish) Stig Hadenius, Torbjörn Nilsson & Gunnar Åselius: Sveriges historia. Vad varje svensk bör veta (History of Sweden: "What every Swede should know")
- ^ (Swedish) Hadenius, Nilsson & Åselius, ibid. (What every Swede should know)
- ^ (Swedish) Lindqvist, ibid. The days of Gustav)
- ^ (Swedish) Lindqvist, ibid. (The days of Gustav)
- ^ (Swedish) Hadenius, Nilsson & Åselius, ibid. (What every Swede should know)
- ^ (Swedish) Hadenius, Nilsson & Åselius, ibid. (What every Swede should know)
- ^ (Swedish) Österberg, Carin: Svenska kvinnor; Föregångare Nyskapare (Swedish women; Predecessors, pioneers) Signum, Lund (1990)
- ^ (Swedish) Anna Maria Lenngren, Svenskt biografiskt handlexikon
- ^ (Swedish) Anna Maria Lenngren, Nordisk Familjebok (2nd edition)
- ^ (Swedish) Lindqvist, ibid. (The days of Gustav)
- ^ (Swedish) Österberg, C., ibid. (Swedish women; Predecessors, pioneers) Signum, Lund (1990)
- ^ (Swedish) Lindqvist, ibid. (The days of Gustav)
- ^ (Swedish) Lindqvist, ibid. (The days of Gustav)
- ^ (Swedish) Lindqvist, ibid. (The days of Gustav)
Sources
- (Swedish) Anna Maria Lenngren - Svenskt biografiskt handlexikon
- (Swedish) Anna Maria Lenngren - Nordisk Familjebok (2nd edition)
- (Swedish) Österberg, Carin:Svenska kvinnor; Föregångare Nyskapare (Swedish women; Predecessors, pioneers) Signum, Lund (1990)
- (Swedish) Lindqvist, Herman: Historien om Sverige. Gustavs dagar (History of Sweden. The days of Gustav)
External links
- (Swedish) Samlade Skaldeförsök - A collection of Anna Maria Lenngren's works
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Oxford Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment
Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment. © 2002
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Carl (Olof) Larsson
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Swedish Literature and Language
(history 1450-1789)
1797
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1819
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