Editing Fredrika Bremer

{{short description|Swedish writer and reformer}}
{{hatnote|Not to be confused with her grandmother, the Finnish businesswoman [[Ulrika Fredrika Bremer]].}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Fredrika Bremer
| image              = A replica or study of Johan Gustaf Sandberg's portrait of Fredrika Bremer.jpg
| caption            = Copy of a portrait by [[Johan Gustaf Sandberg]]
| other_names        = 
| birth_date         = {{birth date|1801|8|17|df=yes}}
| birth_place        = [[Turku]], [[Sweden]]
| death_date         = {{death date and age|1865|12|31|1801|8|17|df=yes}}
| death_place        = [[Årsta Castle]], Sweden
| death_cause        = 
| known              = Writer, reformer
| notable_works      = ''[[Hertha (novel)|Hertha]]''
| occupation         = Writer
}}
'''Fredrika Bremer''' (17 August 1801&nbsp;– 31 December 1865) was a [[Finland|Finnish]]-born [[Sweden and Norway|Swedish]] [[Swedish literature|writer]] and [[feminism in Sweden|reformer]]. Her ''Sketches of Everyday Life'' were wildly popular in Britain and the United States during the 1840s and 1850s and she is regarded as the Swedish [[Jane Austen]], bringing the [[Literary realism|realist novel]] to prominence in [[Swedish literature]]. In her late 30s, she successfully petitioned [[Charles XIV John of Sweden|King Charles XIV]] for [[legal majority|emancipation]] from her brother's wardship; in her 50s, her novel ''[[Hertha (novel)|Hertha]]'' prompted a social movement that granted all unmarried Swedish women [[legal majority]] at the age of 25 and established [[Högre Lärarinneseminariet]], Sweden's first female [[tertiary school]]. It also inspired [[Sophie Adlersparre]] to begin publishing the ''[[Home Review]]'', Sweden's first [[women's magazine]] as well as the later magazine ''[[Hertha (magazine)|Hertha]]''. In 1884, she became the namesake of the [[Fredrika Bremer Association]], the first [[women's rights]] organization in Sweden.

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{{anchor|Biography|History}}

==Early life==
Fredrika Bremer was born into a [[Swedish-speaking Finn]]ish<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.dagen.se/kultur/2001/04/24/fredrika-bremer-en-kristen-kampe/ |title=Fredrika Bremer en kristen kämpe |date=24 April 2001 |website=[[Dagen (Swedish newspaper)|Dagen]] |language=sv |access-date=22 September 2021 |quote=Fredrika Bremer växte upp i en högborgerlig, välbeställd finlandssvensk familj}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://biografiasampo.fi/henkilo/p827 |title=Fredrika Bremer |author-link=:fi:Katri Lehto |author=Lehto, Katri |date=11 October 2000 |website=Biografiasampo |language=fi |access-date=22 September 2021 |quote=Myös Fredrika Bremerin äiti Birgitta Charlotta Hollström oli suomalaista sukua. Kirjailija itsekin tiettävästi viittasi toisinaan "suomalaiseen sitkeyteensä ja itsepäisyyteensä"}}</ref> family on 17 August 1801{{sfnp|Chisholm|1911|p=494}} at [[Tuorla, Finland|Tuorla]] Manor in [[Piikkiö]] Parish outside of [[Turku]] in present-day [[Finland]], which at the time was part of the [[Kingdom of Sweden]].{{sfnp|''SBL''|1906|p=136}} She was the second daughter of five and the second child of seven of {{ill|Carl Fredrik Bremer|sv|Carl Fredric Bremer}} (1770–1830) and Birgitta Charlotta Hollström (1777–1855).{{sfnp|''SBL''|1906|p=136}}{{refn|group=lower-alpha|Only one brother, however, survived to adulthood.{{sfnp|Forsås-Scott|1997|p=35}}}} Her grandparents [[Jacob Bremer|Jacob]] and [[Ulrika Fredrika Bremer]] had built up one of the largest business empires in Finland but, upon his mother's death in 1798, Carl liquidated their holdings. A few years later, the [[Finnish War|Finnish theater]] of the [[Napoleonic Wars]] would see Finland annexed to [[Russian Empire|Russia]] and made into the [[Grand Duchy of Finland]]. When Fredrika was three years old, the family moved to [[Stockholm]]. The next year, they purchased [[Årsta Castle]], about {{convert|20|mi|sp=us}} distant from the capital. Fredrika passed the next two decades of her life{{sfnp|Chisholm|1911|p=495}} summering there{{sfnp|Forsås-Scott|1997|p=35}} and at another nearby estate owned by her father,{{sfnp|Chisholm|1911|p=495}} spending winter in the family's Stockholm apartment.{{sfnp|Forsås-Scott|1997|p=35}}

Fredrika and her sisters were raised to marry and became socialites and hostesses within the upper class like their own French-trained mother. They were given the education then conventional for girls of their class in Sweden, with private tutors followed by a family trip through [[German Confederation|Germany]], Switzerland, [[Bourbon Restoration in France|France]], and [[United Kingdom of the Netherlands|the Netherlands]] in 1821 and 1822 before their [[debutante|social debut]]s.{{sfnp|Chisholm|1911|p=495}}{{sfnp|''ASQ''|1864|p=54}} She was a talented [[Portrait miniature|miniaturist]] and studied [[French language|French]], [[English language|English]], and [[German language|German]].{{sfnp|Forsås-Scott|1997|p=36}} She later recounted that she kept a diary for a few years as a girl—"a kind of moral account-current, in which each day was entered, with a short observation of ''good'', or ''bad'', or ''middling''"—but, as the yearly totals always showed the middling days' totals to be greatest, she tired of it and thereafter only kept them while traveling as notes for others.<ref>{{citation <!--|last=Bremer |first=Fredrika -->|contribution=To My Reader |title=Two Years in Switzerland and Italy<!--, ''Vol. I''--> |url=https://archive.org/stream/twoyearsinswitz00bremgoog#page/n5/mode/2up |pages=[https://archive.org/stream/twoyearsinswitz00bremgoog#page/n7/mode/2up v–vi] <!--|pages=v–viii |publisher=Hurst & Blackett |location=London--> |date=1861 }}</ref> Bremer found the limited and passive family life of Swedish women of her time suffocating and frustrating{{sfnp|''SBL''|1926}} and her own education was unusually strict,{{sfnp|Chisholm|1911|p=495}} with rigid timetables governing her days.{{sfnp|Forsås-Scott|1997|p=35}} She described her family as "under the oppression of a male iron hand":{{sfnp|''SBL''|1926}}{{refn|group=lower-alpha|{{langx|sv|"under förtrycket av en manlig järnhand"}}.{{sfnp|''SBL''|1926}}}} While in Stockholm, the girls were forbidden from playing outside and took their exercise by jumping up and down while holding onto the backs of chairs.{{sfnp|Forsås-Scott|1997|p=35}} She wrote [[French poetry]] as early as the age of eight, but considered her time in Paris disappointing because of her father's bad temper.{{sfnp|''SBL''|1926}} She was considered awkward and rebellious throughout her childhood;{{sfnp|''SBL''|1926}} and one of her sisters later wrote of how she enjoyed cutting off parts of her dresses and curtains and throwing things into the fire to watch them burn.{{sfnp|Forsås-Scott|1997|p=36}}

==Early adulthood==
Upon her return to Sweden, she debuted into upper-class society in Stockholm and [[Årsta district|Årsta]] but found the enforced passivity of women's life intolerable: "How quietly, like muddy water, time stands for a youth, who, during a boring and idle life, drags out her days."{{sfnp|''SBL''|1926}}{{refn|group=lower-alpha|''{{lang|sv|"Huru stilla, likt ett grumligt vatten, står tiden för en ungdom, som under ett tråkigt och overksamt liv framsläpar sina dagar}}''."{{refn|Diary entry for 1 March 1823, cited in the ''Swedish Biographical Dictionary''.{{sfnp|''SBL''|1926}}}}}} She was deeply touched by [[Schiller]]'s [[Schiller#Works|poems]] and began to long for some career through which she could do good in the world{{sfnp|Chisholm|1911|p=495}} beyond ladies' traditional employments. As she later wrote, "Embroidering an eternal and gray collar, I grew more and more numb... that is, in my living powers, my wish to live. The feeling of torment did not grow numb. It worsened day by day, like frost during a growing winter. The fire of my soul flickered anxiously with but one wish—to forever die out".{{sfnp|''SBL''|1926}}{{refn|group=lower-alpha|''{{lang|sv|"Broderande på en evig och grå halsremsa, domnade jag allt mer och mer, det vill säga i mina livligare krafter, i min håg att leva. Känslan av plåga domnade ej, den blev med varje dag skarpare, liksom frosten under en tilltagande vinter. Lågan i min själ flämtade ångestfullt och ville blott ett—för alltid slockna}}''."{{sfnp|''SBL''|1926}}}} The "non-life" she saw awaiting her prompted an outbreak of [[depression (mood)|depression]].{{sfnp|Forsås-Scott|1997|p=36}} Her resolve to find work at one of Stockholm's hospitals was undermined by a sister,{{sfnp|Chisholm|1911|p=495}} but she found great satisfaction in charity work around the family's estate in Årsta during the winters of 1826–7 and 1827–8.{{sfnp|''SBL''|1926}}

Her social work was the beginning of her literary career, as she began writing and seeking publishers in 1828{{sfnp|Chisholm|1911|p=495}} with the initial purpose of using her education in art and literature to earn funds for her charity work.{{sfnp|''SBL''|1926}} (She had written an outraged retort against the male "tyranny" espoused in [[Johan Olof Wallin]]'s [[Swedish Lutheranism|Lutheran]] sermon "On the Quiet Calling of Women" the year before but it was only published posthumously.){{sfnp|Forsås-Scott|1997|p=36}} Her 4-volume ''Sketches of Everyday Life'' was published as an anonymous serial from 1828 to 1831 and became an immediate success, particularly the comic ''Family {{nowrap|H—}}''{{refn|group=lower-alpha|Also translated under the title ''The Colonel's Family''.}} which appeared in the second and third volumes. She described the process as a revelation, as, once she had begun to write, she felt the words coming "as [[champagne]] bubbles out of a bottle".{{sfnp|''SBL''|1926}}{{refn|group=lower-alpha|''{{lang|sv|"...som champagnebläddror ur en butelj}}''."{{sfnp|''SBL''|1926}}}} The [[Swedish Academy]] awarded her their lesser gold medal on 1 January 1831; she continued to write for the remainder of her life.{{sfnp|Chisholm|1911|p=495}}

Her success and desire to keep writing drove her to study [[western literature|literature]] and [[western philosophy|philosophy]] in greater depth. An English friend [[Frances Lewin]] introduced her to [[Jeremy Bentham|Bentham]]'s [[Utilitarianism]], which [[liberalism|liberalized]] her political views.{{sfnp|''SBL''|1926}} Bentham's idea of providing "the greatest happiness to the greatest number" also encouraged her to continue devoting her time to her writing instead of nursing.{{sfnp|Forsås-Scott|1997|p=36}} In the autumn 1831, she began taking private lessons from [[Per Johan Böklin]] (1796-1867), a reform educator and the principal of a school in [[Kristianstad]]. He challenged her support of [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] and [[Weimar Classicism|Classicist]] figures such as [[Johann Herder|Herder]] and [[Schiller]] with a conception of [[Romanticism]] grounded in [[Plato]]. The lessons continued until the summer of 1833, by which time they were very close. {{reduced pull quote|right|I would like to become an author to whose works everyone who is sad, depressed, and troubled (and especially everyone of my own sex who is suffering) could go, assured of finding in them a word of redress, of comfort, or encouragement.|''Letter to Per Böklin''{{sfnp|Forsås-Scott|1997|p=38}}}} She wrote during the time "I want to kiss a man, breastfeed a baby, manage a household, to be happy, and think of nothing except for them and the praise of [[Christian God|God]]."{{refn|group=lower-alpha|''{{lang|sv|"Jag vill kyssa en man, amma ett barn, sköta ett hushåll, göra lyckliga och ej tänka utom för dem och för att prisa Gud}}''."{{sfnp|''SBL''|1926}}}} She hesitated, however, in accepting Böklin's proposal of marriage and, after he hastily married another woman in 1835, she retired from Stockholm's society life and never married. The two remained close correspondents for the rest of their lives. ''The President's Daughters'' (1834) is considered to represent Bremer's increased maturity, using a well-observed portrayal of childhood for its humor while soberly illustrating a reserved young woman's blossoming into a more open and friendly way of life. ''Nina'', its 1835 sequel, attempted to wed her realistic style with more of the speculative philosophy she discussed with Böklin, an artistic failure that was harshly reviewed,{{sfnp|''SBL''|1926}} not least by Böklin and Bremer themselves.{{sfnp|Forsås-Scott|1997|pp=42–3}}

==Writing career==
For the next five years, Bremer settled as the guest of her friend Countess Stina Sommerheilm at Tomb<!--sic--> Manor in Norway. She initially planned to work as a nurse at one of the local hospitals but again demurred, instead devoting her time to literature. During this period, the countess's stories of an elderly relative inspired Bremer's 1837 masterpiece {{nowrap|''The Neighbors''}}. Her close study of the works of [[Goethe]] and [[Erik Gustaf Geijer|Geijer]]—whom she met during a visit to Stockholm in 1837–8—informed several aspects of her next novel, ''The Home'' (1839).{{sfnp|''SBL''|1926}} Her male contemporaries' [[Gothicism]] prompted her 1840 play ''The Thrall'', dealing with women's lot during the [[Viking Age]].{{sfnp|Forsås-Scott|1997|p=45}} After the countess's death, Bremer returned to Stockholm in 1840.{{sfnp|Chisholm|1911|p=495}}

Since her father's death in 1830, Fredrika had grown closer to her mother.{{sfnp|''SBL''|1926}} However, under the terms of Sweden's [[1734 Civil Code]], all unmarried women were minors under the guardianship of their closest male relative until they married, at which time they were placed under the guardianship of their husbands. Only widowed and divorced women were automatically of legal majority. Under this law, she and her unmarried sister Agathe were, since the death of their father, both wards of their elder brother who legally had complete control over their finances, an arrangement which displeased them, as their brother had irresponsibly squandered the family fortune over the last decade. The only remedy for the situation was a direct appeal to [[Charles XIV John of Sweden|the King]]; such petitions, which were common for businesswomen, were customarily given a favorable reply, and their petition was approved and they were formally granted [[legal majority]] in 1840.{{sfnp|Burman|2001|pp=181–2}} She spent the winter of 1841–42 alone in Årsta Castle, spending her time completing the tract ''Morning Watches'' (1842), in which she stated her personal religious belief as a matter of sense first and of mystic revelation second. This aroused some opposition but she was supported by [[Erik Gustaf Geijer|Geijer]], [[Tegnér]], and Böklin. More importantly, the work was the first which she signed by her own full name, instantly making her a literary celebrity. In 1844, the [[Swedish Academy]] awarded her their greater gold medal.{{sfnp|''SBL''|1926}}

In 1842, Bremer ended the self-imposed isolation in which she had lived since Böklin's marriage and returned to Swedish social circles, which she portrayed in her ''Diary'' the next year.{{sfnp|''SBL''|1926}} The work also served as her contribution to the discussion engendered by [[Carl Jonas Love Almqvist|Almqvist]]'s controversial ''[[Sara Videbeck]]''.{{sfnp|Forsås-Scott|1997|pp=42–3}} Despite being "dreadfully plain",<ref name=afbs/> her many friends knew her as humble but loyal, energetic, and strong-willed. She proclaimed that cared little for material possessions: when asked by [[Carl Gustaf von Brinkman]] why she could never be an art collector, she replied that "It is certain that nothing worth money would ever be happy with me—even a Swedish Academy medal. Offer me 50 [[riksdaler|dalers]] for anything except a warm overcoat and I will let it go."{{refn|''{{lang|sv|"Visst är, det aldrig något, som har penningvärde, kommer att trivas länge hos mig—icke ens en medalj av Svenska akademien. Bjud mig 50 rdr för vad som helst, utom för ett varmt överplagg, och jag släpper det strax."}}''{{sfnp|''SBL''|1926}}}} Regarding her unselfishness, [[Erik Gustaf Geijer|Geijer]] once remarked that, "my dear Fredrika, if you truly could push us all into heaven, you wouldn't mind staying outside yourself."{{sfnp|''SBL''|1926}}{{refn|group=lower-alpha|''{{lang|sv|"Ja, min söta Fredrika, om du blott kunde skjuta oss alla in i himmelriket, skulle du gärna själv stanna utanför."}}''{{sfnp|''SBL''|1926}}}}

She began traveling first around Sweden{{sfnp|''SBL''|1926}} and then abroad.{{sfnp|Chisholm|1911|p=495}} [[F.A. Brockhaus AG|Brockhaus]] inaugurated its 1841 series ''Select Library of Foreign Classics'' ({{langx|de|Ausgewählte Bibliotek der Classiker des Auslandes}}) with a translation of ''Neighbors'' and its success led them to publish seven other volumes of Bremer's works by the end of the next year.{{refn|group=lower-alpha|As the German public grew more curious about the author, one edition of ''Nina'' included a unofficial "portrait" of Bremer so inaccurate she considered it to be a hoax (''{{lang|sv|galenskap}}'').<ref>{{citation <!--|last=Bremer |first=Fredrika --> |date=1844 |contribution=Preface |page=[https://archive.org/stream/hfamilytrlinnan00bremgoog#page/n14/mode/2up v] <!--|pages=v–vi --> |title=The H— Family<!--: Trälinnan; Axel and Anna; and Other Tales, ''Vol. I''--> |url=https://archive.org/stream/hfamilytrlinnan00bremgoog#page/n12/mode/2up <!--|location=London |publisher=Longman, Brown, Green, & Longmans --> }}</ref>}} By then, [[Mary Howitt]] had begun publishing English translations in London and New York;<ref name=monroe&co>{{citation <!--|last=Bremer |first=Fredrika --> |contribution-url=https://archive.org/stream/presidentsdaugh00bremgoog#page/n8/mode/2up |contribution=Prefatory Notice |url=https://archive.org/stream/presidentsdaugh00bremgoog#page/n6/mode/2up |title=President's Daughters: A Narrative of a Governess |date=1843 |publisher=James Monroe & Co. <!--|location=Boston --> }}</ref> these proved even more popular in [[England]] and United States than the original works had been in Sweden, ensuring her warm welcomes while overseas.{{sfnp|Chisholm|1911|p=495}}{{refn|group=lower-alpha|In addition to Mary Howitt's sanctioned work, numerous [[piracy (media)|bootleg English translations]] were also made in London, New York, and Boston. These were almost invariably from Brockhaus's German editions—which Bremer mostly disliked<ref>{{citation <!--|last=Bremer |first=Fredrika --> |contribution=Preface by the Translator |url=https://archive.org/stream/newsketchesever00bremgoog#page/n10/mode/2up <!--|pages=v–xvii |publisher=Longman, Brown, Green, & Longmans |location=London--> |date=1844 |title=<!--New Sketches of Every-day Life: -->A Diary<!--. Together with Strife and Peace, ''Vol. I''--> |p=[https://archive.org/stream/newsketchesever00bremgoog#page/n12/mode/2up vii] }}</ref>—and usually with still further abridgments, prompting still more complaints from the author.<ref>{{citation <!--|last=Bremer |first=Fredrika --> |contribution=Preface by the Translator |url=https://archive.org/stream/newsketchesever00bremgoog#page/n10/mode/2up <!--|pages=v–xvii |publisher=Longman, Brown, Green, & Longmans |location=London--> |date=1844 |title=<!--New Sketches of Every-day Life: -->A Diary<!--. Together with Strife and Peace, ''Vol. I''--> |page=[https://archive.org/stream/newsketchesever00bremgoog#page/n14/mode/2up ix] }}</ref>}} After each journey, Bremer published successful volumes of descriptions or diary entries of the locations she visited. Her 1846 visit to the [[Rhineland]] prompted her 1848 volumes ''A Few Leaves from the Banks of the Rhine'', ''Midsummer Journey'', and ''Sibling Life'', the last recounting her impressions of the tensions leading up to the [[1848 French Revolution|overthrow]] of [[Louis Philippe I|King Louis Philippe]] in [[Bourbon Restoration in France|France]].{{sfnp|''SBL''|1926}}

==Travel==
Inspired by the work of [[Democracy in America|De Tocqueville]] and [[Society in America|Martineau]], Bremer visited and traveled extensively through the United States. Leaving [[Copenhagen]] on 11 September 1849, she arrived in [[New York City|New York]] on 4 October. With the intent of studying the effect of democratic institutions upon society, particularly for women, she visited [[Boston]] and [[New England]],{{sfnp|''SBL''|1926}} where she met [[Ralph Waldo Emerson|Emerson]], [[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow|Longfellow]], [[James Russell Lowell|Lowell]], [[Nathaniel Hawthorne|Hawthorne]],{{sfnp|Forsås-Scott|1997|p=48}} and [[Washington Irving|Irving]]; the [[Shakers|Shaker]] and [[Quakers|Quaker communities]] of the [[Mid-Atlantic States]];<ref name=afbs/> the [[Antebellum South|South]], where she examined the conditions of its [[slavery in the United States|black slaves]]; and the [[Midwestern United States#Immigration and industrialization|Midwest]], where she toured its [[Scandinavian Americans|Scandinavian]] communities<ref name=clanders>{{citation |last=Anderson |first=Carl L. |contribution=Fredrika Bremer's 'Spirit of the New World' |page=187 |title=The New England Quarterly, ''Vol. 38, No. 2'' |date=June 1965 <!--|doi=10.2307/363589 |pages=187–201 --> }}</ref> and [[Native Americans in the United States|Indians]]. Like [[Alexis de Tocqueville|De Tocqueville]] before her, she visited [[American prison system|America's prisons]] and spoke with prisoners.<ref name=afbs/> She then visited [[Spanish Cuba]] before returning to New York, leaving for Europe on 13 September 1851.{{sfnp|''SBL''|1926}} Throughout her journey, she wrote extensive letters to her sister Agathe<ref name=afbs/> which were later edited into her 2-volume 1853 ''Homes in the New World''.{{sfnp|''SBL''|1926}} Having previously portrayed the Swedish home as a world unto itself, she now portrayed the American world as a great home through the many families who hosted her as she roamed.<ref name=afbs/> She spent six weeks in [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Britain]],{{sfnp|''SBL''|1926}} visiting [[Liverpool]], [[Manchester]], [[Birmingham]], and [[London]] and meeting [[Elizabeth Gaskell]], [[Charles Kingsley]], and [[George Eliot]]. Her series of articles about England for the ''[[Aftonbladet]]'' largely concerned her favorable impression of the [[Great Exhibition]], which she visited four times.{{sfnp|Forsås-Scott|1997|p=48}} They were later gathered for English publication as ''England in 1851''.

==Activism==
Following her return to Sweden in November, Bremer attempted to engage its middle- and upper-class ladies in social work similar to what she had found in America and England. She co-founded the Stockholm Women's Society for Children's Care (''{{lang|sv|Skyddsmödraförening}}'' or ''{{lang|sv|Stockholms Fruntimmersförening för Barnavård}}'') to assist the orphans left by the [[1853 Stockholm cholera outbreak]] {{sfnp|Hellberg|1872|p=[https://runeberg.org/hjcminnet/8/0015.html 7]}} and the [[Fruntimmersällskapet för fångars förbättring|Women's Society for the Improvement of Prisoners]] (''{{lang|sv|Fruntimmersällskapet för Fångars Förbättring}}'') to provide moral guidance and rehabilitation of female inmates in 1854.{{sfnp|Elmund|1973}} On 28 August 1854, amid the [[Crimean War]], the [[The Times|London ''Times'']] published her "Invitation to a Peace Alliance" alongside an editorial rebuke of its contents: a [[pacifism|pacifist]] appeal to [[Christianity|Christian]] women.{{sfnp|Forsås-Scott|1997|p=48}}

In 1856, she published her novel ''[[Hertha (novel)|Hertha]]'' as ''A Sketch from Real Life'' and concluded its fictionalized assault on the 2nd-class status of adult unmarried women under the [[1734 Civil Code]] with an appendix recounting recent Swedish court cases on the topic.{{sfnp|Forsås-Scott|1997|p=49}} The work prompted the ''Hertha'' Discussion (''{{lang|sv|Herthadiskussionen}}''){{sfnp|''SBL''|1926}} throughout Swedish society, reaching [[Swedish Parliament|Parliament]] in 1858. There, the old system was reformed to allow (unmarried) women to petition their nearest courthouse (rather than the royal court) at the age of 25. Five years later, the legislation was revisited and all (unmarried) women were considered to automatically reach [[legal majority]] at 25. This did not affect the status of married women, who were still under the guardianship of their husbands, or divorced women or widows, who were already of legal majority. The novel also successfully raised the question of a "women's university". [[Högre Lärarinneseminariet]], a state [[normal school|school for the education of female teachers]], was opened in 1861.{{sfnp|''SBL''|1926}}

Bremer was not present during the ''Hertha'' Discussion, since from 1856 to 1861 she participated in another great journey through Europe and the [[Levant]]. Leaving on 27 May 1856, she first visited Switzerland, [[Brussels]], and Paris over the course of a year.{{sfnp|''SBL''|1926}} She was particularly interested in Switzerland's still-nascent "[[Religion in Switzerland#Freedom of religion|free church]]".<ref name=afbs/> From September 1857, she traveled through the [[List of historic states of Italy#From the Restoration to the Unification|still-disunified Italian peninsula]],{{sfnp|''SBL''|1926}} contrasting the [[Roman Catholicism|Catholic]] practices of the [[Papal States]] with the [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] [[Church of Sweden|Swedish Church]].<ref name=afbs/> Finally, she left [[Messina]] for [[Malta]] and thence traveled to [[Ottoman Palestine|Palestine]], arriving on 30 January 1859{{sfnp|''SBL''|1926}} and, though nearly 60 years old, tracing the life of [[Jesus Christ]] by ship, train, wagon, and horseback.<ref name=afbs/> She stayed in [[Constantinople]] before touring [[Kingdom of Greece (Wittelsbach)|Greece]] from August 1859 to May 1861. She reached Stockholm on 4 July 1861. Her accounts of the trip were published as ''Life in the Old World'' in six volumes from 1860 to 1862.{{sfnp|''SBL''|1926}}

Upon her return to Sweden, she expressed her satisfaction with the reforms ''Hertha'' had prompted and took an interest in [[Högre Lärarinneseminariet]] and its students. She resumed her charitable projects and assisted with the ''[[Swedish Home Journal|Home Journal]]'', the first women's magazine in Scandinavia, which [[Sophie Adlersparre]] had founded during her absence. After a final trip to [[German Confederation|Germany]] from July to October in 1862, she remained in Sweden the rest of her life. She was reportedly pleased with the abolition of the [[Swedish Diet|Diet]] in Sweden and of [[abolition of slavery in the USA|slavery]] in the United States.{{sfnp|''SBL''|1926}} She died at [[Årsta Castle]] outside of [[Stockholm]] on 31 December 1865.{{sfnp|''SBL''|1926}}

==Legacy==
Fredrika Bremer is the namesake of [[Frederika, Iowa|Frederika]], a town in the American [[state (US)|state]] of [[Iowa]], and its surrounding [[Bremer County, Iowa|Bremer County]]. She is also the namesake of [[Fredrika Bremer Intermediate School]] in [[Minneapolis]], [[Minnesota]].

The [[American Swedish Historical Museum]] in [[Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]], includes a Fredrika Bremer Room dedicated to her accomplishments.

===Literary===
[[File:Fredrika Bremers staty - Humlan (gabbe).jpg|thumb|right|Statue depicting Fredrika Bremer in Stockholm, unveiled 2 June 1927]]
[[File:FBremerSign.jpg|thumb|right|Historical marker near [[Stillwater, Minnesota]] notes Bremer describing the [[St. Croix River (Wisconsin-Minnesota)|St. Croix river valley]] in the state of [[Minnesota]] as "just the country for a new Scandinavia"]]
Fredrika Bremer's novels were usually romantic stories of the time, typically concerning an independent woman narrating her observations of others negotiating the marriage market. She argued for a new family life less focused on its male members and providing a larger place for women's talents and personalities.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Johnston|first1=Judith|title=Victorian Women and the Economies of Travel, Translation and Culture, 1830–1870|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|location=New York|isbn=9781409448235|page=154}}</ref> Reflecting her own childhood, many of her works include a sharp urban/rural dichotomy; without exception, these present nature as a place of renewal, revelation, and self-discovery.{{sfnp|Forsås-Scott|1997|p=36}}

By the time Bremer revealed her name to the public, her works were an acknowledged part of the cultural life in Sweden.{{sfnp|''SBL''|1926}} Translations made her still more popular abroad, where she was regarded as the "Swedish [[Jane Austen|Miss Austen]]".{{sfnp|Baynes|1878|p=257}} Upon her arrival in New York, the ''[[New York Herald]]'' claimed she "probably... has more readers than any other female writer on the globe" and proclaimed her the author "of a new style of literature".<ref>18 October 1849.</ref>{{sfnp|Rooth|1955|p=25}} A literary celebrity, Bremer was never without a place to stay during her two years in America despite having known no one before her arrival.<ref name=afbs>{{citation |last=Pleijel |first=Agneta |author-link=Agneta Pleijel |contribution=About Fredrika Bremer |contribution-url=http://www.fredrikabremer.net/aboutbremer.html |url=http://www.fredrikabremer.net/ |title=Årstasällskapet för Fredrika Bremer-studier |access-date=22 January 2016 }}</ref> She was praised by [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]] and [[Walt Whitman]]{{sfnp|Stendahl|2002|p=49}} and [[Louisa May Alcott]]'s ''[[Little Women]]'' includes a scene of Mrs March reading from Bremer's works to her four daughters.

Her popularity abroad crested, however, in the 1840s and 1850s and faded by the turn of the century, although the late nineteenth century English novelist [[George Gissing]] read [[Hertha (novel)|''Hertha'']] in 1889.<ref>Coustillas, Pierre ed. London and the Life of Literature in Late Victorian England: the Diary of George Gissing, Novelist. Brighton: Harvester Press, 1978, p.159.</ref> Within Sweden, she continued to be highly respected, though little read.{{sfnp|Stendahl|2002|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=3Xv6R5qiDEQC&pg=PA48 48]}} The publication of her letters in the 1910s revived scholarly interest, but only in her personal life and travels. By 1948, the Swedish critic Algot Werin was writing that Bremer "really only lives as a name and a symbol... It does not matter if her novels are forgotten."{{sfnp|Forsås-Scott|1997|p=34}} Bremer's novels were rediscovered by [[Feminism in Sweden|Swedish feminists]] in the latter half of the 20th century{{sfnp|Stendahl|2002|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=3Xv6R5qiDEQC&pg=PA48 48]}} and are undergoing critical reëvaluation.{{sfnp|Forsås-Scott|1997|p=35}}

===Social causes===
Fredrika Bremer was interested in contemporary political life and social reform regarding gender equality and social work, and she was active both as an influential participator in the debate of women's rights as well as a philanthropist. Politically, she was a liberal, who felt sympathy for social issues and for the working class movement.{{citation needed|date=June 2016}}

In 1853, she co-founded the Stockholms fruntimmersförening för barnavård (Stockholm women's fund for child care) with [[Fredrika Limnell]].<ref>C Fredrika Limnell, urn:sbl:10390, Svenskt biografiskt lexikon (art av Sven Erik Täckmark), hämtad 2015-03-15.</ref>

In 1854, she co-founded the Women's Society for the Improvement of Prisoners (''[[Fruntimmersällskapet för fångars förbättring]]'') together with [[Mathilda Foy]], [[Maria Cederschiöld (deaconess)|Maria Cederschiöld]], [[Betty Ehrenborg]] and Emilia Elmblad. The purpose was to visit female prisoners to provide moral support and improve their character by studies of religion.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://mathilda.new-renaissance.com/ |title=''Fredrika Bremer bland lösdriverskorna'' (En berättelse om kretsen kring Fredrika Bremer) |access-date=8 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190813125527/http://mathilda.new-renaissance.com/ |archive-date=13 August 2019 }}</ref> Her novel ''[[Hertha (novel)|Hertha]]'' (1856) remains her most influential work. It is a dark novel about the lack of freedom for women, and it raised a debate in the parliament called "The Hertha debate", which contributed to the new law of [[legal majority]] for adult unmarried women in Sweden in 1858, and was somewhat of a starting point for the real feminist movement in Sweden. ''Hertha'' also raised the debate of higher formal education for women, and in 1861, the University for Women Teachers, ''[[Högre lärarinneseminariet]]'', was founded by the state after the suggested women's university in ''Hertha''. In 1859, [[Sophie Adlersparre]], founded the paper ''[[Tidskrift för hemmet]]'' inspired by the novel. This was the starting point for Adlersparre's work as the organizer of the Swedish feminist movement. The women's magazine ''[[Hertha (magazine)|Hertha]]'', named after the novel, was founded in 1914.

In 1860, she helped [[Johanna Berglind]] to fund ''[[Tysta skolan|Tysta Skolan]]'', a school for the deaf and mute in Stockholm. At the electoral reforms regarding the right to vote of 1862, she supported the idea to give women the right to vote, which was talked about as the "horrific sight" of seeing "[[crinoline]]s at the election boxes", but Bremer gave the idea her support, and the same year, women of legal majority [[women suffrage|were granted suffrage]] in municipal elections in Sweden. The first real Women's rights movement in Sweden, the Fredrika Bremer Association (''[[Fredrika-Bremer-förbundet|Fredrika Bremer Förbundet]]''), founded by [[Sophie Adlersparre]] in 1884, was named after her. Bremer was happy to mention and to recommend the work of other female professionals. She mentioned both the doctor [[Lovisa Årberg]] and the engraver [[Sofia Ahlbom]] in her work.

==Works==
[[File:Fredrika Bremer - Project Gutenberg eText 13623.jpg|frame|right]]
* ''Sketches of Everyday Life'' ({{langx|sv|Teckningar utur vardagslivet}}; 3 vols. 1828–31)
* ''New Sketches of Everyday Life'' (''{{lang|sv|Nya teckningar utur vardagslivet}}''; 10 vols. 1834–58)
* ''Thrall'' (''{{lang|sv|Trälinnan}}''; 1840)
* ''Morning Watches'' (''{{lang|sv|Morgon-väckter}}''; 1842) Translated from the Swedish. Boston: Redding and Company. 1843. Fragile blue wrappers.
* ''Life in Sweden. The President's Daughters'' Translated by Mary Howitt. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1843. Fragile tan wrappers. ''No. 22 – Library of Select Novels''
* ''The Home or Family Cares and Family Joys'' Translated by Mary Howitt. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1844. Fragile tan wrappers. ''No. 38 – Library of Select Novels''
* ''The H___ Family: Tralinnan; Axel and Anna;; and Other Tales'' Translated by Mary Howitt. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1844. Fragile tan wrappers. ''No. 20 – Library of Select Novels''
* ''Life in Dalecarlia: The Parsonage of Mora'' Translated by Mary Howitt. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1845. Fragile tan wrappers. ''No. 58 – Library of Select Novels''
* ''A Few Leaves from the Banks of the Rhine'' (''{{lang|sv|Ett par blad ifrån Rhenstranden, eller Marienberg och Kaiserswerth 1846}}''; 1848)
* ''Brothers and Sisters: A Tale of Domestic Life'' Translated from the original unpublished manuscript by Mary Howitt. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1848. Fragile tan wrappers. ''No. 115 – Library of Select Novels''
* ''The Neighbors'' Translated by Mary Howitt. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1848. Fragile tan wrappers. ''No. 20 – Library of Select Novels''
* ''Midsummer Journey: A Pilgrimage'' (''{{lang|sv|Midsommarresan: en vallfart}}''; 1848)
* ''Life in the North'' (''{{lang|sv|Lif i Norden}}''; 1849)
* ''An Easter Offering'' Translated from the original unpublished manuscript by Mary Howitt. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1850 Fragile tan wrappers.
* ''Homes in the New World'' (''{{lang|sv|Hemmen i den nya världen : en dagbok i brev, skrivna under tvenne års resor i Norra Amerika och på Cuba}}''; 2 vols. 1853–1854)
* ''The Midnight Sun: A Pilgrimage'' Translated from the original unpublished manuscript by Mary Howitt. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1855. Fragile tan wrappers. ''No. 124 – Library of Select Novels''
* "On the Novel as the Epic of Our Time" ("{{lang|sv|Om romanen såsom vår tids epos}}")
* ''Life in the Old World'' (''{{lang|sv|Livet i Gamla Världen : dagboks-anteckningar under resor i Söder- och Österland}}''; 6 vols. 1860–1862)
* ''A Little Pilgrimage in the Holy Land'' (''{{lang|sv|Liten pilgrims resa i det heliga landet : förra afdelningen : öfversigt af land och folk, Karmel, Nazareth, Cana, Genesareth, Tabor}}''; 1865)
* ''England in the Fall of 1851'' (''{{lang|sv|England om hösten år 1851}}''; 1922)

==See also==
* [[American Swedish Historical Museum]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=lower-alpha}}
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* {{citation |url=https://runeberg.org/sqvinnor/0005.html |title=Anteckningar om Sveska Qvinnor |location=Stockholm |publisher=P.G. Berg |date=1864 |editor-last=Stålberg |editor-first=Wilhelmina |contribution=Fredrika Bremer |contribution-url=https://runeberg.org/sqvinnor/0068.html |pages=54–55 |ref={{harvid|''ASQ''|1864}} }}. {{in lang|sv}}
* {{cite EB9|mode=cs2 |wstitle=Fredrika Bremer |volume=4 |pages=257–258}}
* {{cite EB1911 |mode=cs2 |wstitle=Bremer, Fredrika |volume=4 |pages=494–495}}
* {{cite book |url=https://runeberg.org/sbh/ |title=Svenskt Biografiskt Handlexikon  |trans-title=Swedish Biographical Dictionary |editor-last=Hofbert |editor-first=Herman |editor2-last=Heurlin |editor2-first=Frithiof |editor3-last=Millqvist |editor3-first=Viktor |editor4-last=Rubenson |editor4-first=Olof |date=1906 |volume=I  |contribution-url=https://runeberg.org/sbh/a0136.html |contribution=Fredrika Bremer |pages=136–137 |ref={{harvid|''SBL''|1906}} }}. {{in lang|sv}}
* {{cite book |first=Sverker |last=Ek |url=https://sok.riksarkivet.se/SBL/Start.aspx?lang=en |title=Svenskt Biografiskt Handlexikon |trans-title=Swedish Biographical Dictionary |date=1926 |volume=VI |contribution-url=https://sok.riksarkivet.se/SBL/Presentation.aspx?id=16936 |contribution=Fredrika Bremer |pages=182 ff |ref={{harvid|''SBL''|1926}} }}. {{in lang|sv}}
<!--secondary sources-->
* {{citation |last=Burman |first=Carina |title=Bremer—en biografi ''[''Bremer: A Biography'']'' |publisher=Albert Bonniers Forlag |location=Stockholm |date=2001 |isbn=91-0-057680-8 |language=sv}}
* {{cite book |last=Elmund |first=Gunnel |date=1973 |title=Den kvinnliga diakonin i Sverige 1849–1861: Uppgift och utformning |trans-title=The Female Deaconate in Sweden 1849-1861: Purpose and Design |location=Lund |publisher=C.W.K. Gleerups Förlag |series=''Bibliotheca Theologiae Practicae'', No. 29 |isbn=9789140027993 |language=sv}}
* {{citation |last=Forsås-Scott |first=Helena |title=Swedish Women's Writing: 1850–1995 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ye536hcsMwMC |series=Women in Context |publisher=Athlone Press |location=Atlantic Highlands |date=1997 |isbn=0-485-91003-9 |contribution=Fredrika Bremer (1801–1865) |contribution-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ye536hcsMwMC&pg=PA34 |pages=34–51 }}
* {{cite book |last=Hellberg |first=Johan Carl ["Posthumus"] |url=https://runeberg.org/hjcminnet/8/|title=Om mina samtida |trans-title= On My Contemporaries |volume= VIII |date=1872 |location=Stockholm |publisher=Isaac Marcus for Adolf Bonnier |language=sv}}
* {{citation |last=Rooth |first=Signe Alice |title=Seeress of the Northland: Fredrika Bremer's American Journey |location=Philadelphia |date=1955 |publisher=American Swedish Historical Foundation }}
* {{citation |last=Stendahl |first=Brita K. |contribution=Fredrika Bremer (1801–1865) |contribution-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3Xv6R5qiDEQC&pg=PA47 |pages=47–50 |title=Multicultural Writers from Antiquity to 1945: A Bio-bibliographical Sourcebook |editor-last=Amoia |editor-first=Alba della Fazia |editor2-last=Knapp |editor2-first=Bettina Liebowitz |date=2002 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3Xv6R5qiDEQC |isbn=0-313-30687-7 |publisher=Greenwood Press |location=[[Westport, Connecticut|Westport]] }}

==Further reading==
* Arping, Åsa {{SKBL}}
* Stendahl, Brita K. ''The Education of a Self-Made Woman, Fredrika Bremer, 1801–1865'' (Edwin Mellen Press. 1994)  {{ISBN|978-0-7734-9098-7}}
* Wieselgren, Greta ''Fredrika Bremer och verkligheten: Romanen Herthas tillblivelse'' (Kvinnohistoriskt arkiv. Norstedt. 1978) {{ISBN|978-91-1-783041-0}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Fredrika Bremer}}
{{Wikisource author}}
* [http://www.fredrikabremer.se/ Fredrika-Bremer-Förbundet]
* {{Gutenberg author |id=1775|name=Fredrika Bremer}}
* {{Librivox author |id=11473}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Fredrika Bremer}}
* [http://womenshistory.about.com/od/writers19th/p/fredrika_bremer.htm Women's History – Fredrika Bremer @ About.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161225063941/http://womenshistory.about.com/od/writers19th/p/fredrika_bremer.htm |date=25 December 2016 }}
* {{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/urn-nbn-se-kb-digark-5864854|title=Drawings by Fredrika Bremer|year=1830}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bremer, Fredrika}}
[[Category:1801 births]]
[[Category:1865 deaths]]
[[Category:Swedish feminist writers]]
[[Category:Swedish feminists]]
[[Category:Swedish suffragists]]
[[Category:Writers from Turku]]
[[Category:19th-century Swedish women writers]]
[[Category:19th-century Swedish writers]]
[[Category:Swedish people of German descent]]
[[Category:19th-century Swedish philanthropists]]
[[Category:Swedish people of Finnish descent]]
[[Category:Swedish-speaking Finns]]