James Vaux was our second morning speaker at our Open Day on Aug 2, 2023. Pat Sparkes kindly took notes on his informative and well illustrated talk which was preceeded by a very amusing introduction to Scandi noir by Simon Brett, our Patron and able host for the day.
James began his fascinating insight into this subject by asking us to close our eyes and picture the first image which Sweden suggested. Was it IKEA or ABBA, Volvos or Smörgãsbord? He showed us a map and spoke of its 11 million population in a country twice the size of the UK. Social Democracy was important in Sweden in the 20th century with high taxes giving a high level of care to all. Social engineering was prominent and a certain pragmatism in the country’s policy of neutrality resulted in compromises with the Nazis. All this led to some adverse responses from America post war and, in particular, incendiary comments from Eisenhower.
Sweden, with a language that seems to lack nuance to English speakers, has no real central core of literature, and the first literary text was on the Rune stone at Rök, and the earliest manuscripts not in evidence until 1300. Tales of Viking expeditions came through an Arab source when Ahmed Ibn Fadlan, a tenth century Muslim traveller, met up with the Rus, known to us as Vikings – Rus being the origin of the name for Russia.
The Gustav Vasa Bible of 1540 was a notable work, as was the botanic classification system devised by Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) and his later translated travels in Lapland.
The first monarch to promote literature was Gustav III who encouraged the rather bawdy ballads of Carl Michael Bellman (1174-1795).
It is possibly the work of August Strindberg that brings Swedish literature to the fore (1849-1912). Hjalmar Söderburg was an early twentieth century novelist who explored the psychological state and tensions between duty, passion and action.
Between 1949 and 1959 Vilhelm Moberg wrote a series of four books, The Emigrants, which was often considered one of the best literary works from Sweden. It is estimated that a fifth of the Swedish population emigrated to The United States. Henning Mankell is the most successful writer of detective novels.
Sweden has historically been in somewhat of a geographical backwater, therefore, nature and love of travel are important. Social democracy taught Swedes to be happy with what they had – a feeling that enough is sufficient. A recurring theme in literature is embarrassment for actions in World War II and with the dismantling of the Welfare State in the 1990’s, the country has found difficulty finding a new national identity post Social Democracy.
James spoke of the stories of Selma Lagerlof, Frans Bengtsson, Fredrik Backman and Marit Kapla. There was Nordic Noir, laced with laconic humour, and stories of everyday lives. This was a whirlwind tour and James suggested that we dip into authors like dipping into a Swedish Smörgãsbord which, by the way, is very little enjoyed in Sweden except at Christmas, but became popular in America.
Pat Sparkes
