|
Hedvig Charlotta Nordenflycht |
|
From later eras, I have some other favorite women writers. One of them was Hedvig Charlotta Nordenflycht. She was a Swedish poet living in the 18 century. At an early age, she was persuaded by her father, who had been given a title by the king, to marry an older, unattractive, but very educated and civilized man. Before she was married to him, he died, but he was something of a mentor to her. She then fell in love with a young priest, and after some years, during which they had to struggle against relatives who were opposed to their union, they married. Unfortunately, her husband died only seven months later. Hedvig Charlotta went back to using her noble last name, Nordenflycht and moved back to Stockholm, where she became the center of a circle of cultured young people, mostly men. One of them, Johan Fischerstrom, she fell madly in love with, but her feelings weren't returned. He loved her young friend instead. Hedvig Charlotta was 43 years old. She felt her life was over, and she threw herself into a lake. Though she was pulled out of the water alive, she succumbed to pneumonia, and died a few days later. It was a great and tragic loss to the literary community. She had been known as the Nordic Shepherdess, which was a sort of honorary title, alluding to her poetic talents. However, she was ridiculed by some older men from the same literary community. Another Swedish poet, Henrik Kellgren, claimed she was too fat and ugly to deserve her epithet. That used to really annoy me, especially since Kellgren was from my own part of the country. However, I've learned that Henrik Kellgren died young. He was actually irritating a number of members of the Swedish cultural establishment. Who knows what he might have been like if he'd been allowed to to live to a ripe old age? After learning that, I decided not to judge him too harshly.
|
