Bremer, Fredrika

Bremer, Fredrika (frĕdrē`kə brā`mər), 1801–65, Swedish writer and feminist, b. Finland. Her novels of everyday life include The H Family (1829), The President's Daughters (1834), and The Home (1839). She recorded impressions of travel in America (1849–51) in Homes in the New World (1853); letters from this book were translated as America of the Fifties (1924). Her later novels advocate the emancipation of woman. Her major novel Hertha (1856) gave its name to the journal of Sweden's largest women's organization. In the late 19th cent. she was internationally known as a key social critic and observer of events in the United States.

Bibliography

See study by S. A. Rooth (1955).

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Bremer, Fredrika 

Born Aug. 17, 1801, at Tuorla, Finland; died Dec. 31, 1865, at Årsta, near Stockholm. Swedish writer.

Bremer made her debut in the literary world in 1828 with the anonymous publication of a collection of short stories entitled Sketches of Daily Life. Her novels about family life, Neighbors (1837) and Home (1839), give a realistic picture of middle-class life in Swedish society. In her novels Life of Brothers and Sisters (1848) and Gerta, or the Story of a Soul (1856) she defended women’s rights.

WORKS

Samlade skrifter i urval, vols. 1-6. Stockholm, 1868-72.
Fredrika Bremers brev, vols. 1-4. Stockholm, 1915-20.
In Russian translation:
Semeistvo, ili Domashnie radosti i ogorcheniia. St. Petersburg, 1842.

REFERENCES

Belinskii, V. G. Poln. sobr. soch., vol. 8, Moscow, 1955. Pages 101-05, 193-96.
Braude, L. “Shvedskaia literatura v Rossii (1820-1840) i V. G. Belinskii.” In Skandinavskii sbornik, vol. 9. Tallin, 1964.
Kjellén, A. Sociala idéer och motiv hos svenşka författare, vol. 1. Stockholm, 1937.