Born: 17 August 1801, Finland
Died: 31 December 1865
Country most active: Sweden, International
Also known as: NA
From Woman: Her Position, Influence and Achievement Throughout the Civilized World. Designed and Arranged by William C. King. Published in 1900 by The King-Richardson Co. Copyright 1903 The King-Richardson Co.:
Fredrika was born in Finland, but when that country was annexed to Russia, her father, a wealthy merchant, removed to Sweden with his family. The daughter’s education received careful attention. After enjoying the best advantages Sweden could afford she was sent to Paris and on her return became a teacher in an academy for girls in Stockholm. She was a person of great mental vigor and her intense nature began to express itself in writing – merely as an outlet for her pent-up feelings – before she entered her teens.
Her first novel, The Neighbors, was translated into German, French, Dutch, Russian, and English. This gives us an idea of the popularity of the work. Some of her other books are, The Home, Life in Delacarlia, The Midnight Sun, The Homes of the New World (an account of her observations in America), England in 1851 (giving views of the country and people as she saw the during a residence there). Most of her novels present pictures of home life in her own Scandinavia.
As a woman and a writer she was greatly loved in many lands.
She has brought the dim old Scandinavian world, that seemed completely hidden by the cloud of fable an curtain time from the western hemisphere, before us, with an enchanter’s wand. Her little white hand has greatly led us up among primeval mountains covered with eternal forests of pine, and along the banks of deep lakes, where the blue waters have slept since the creation. She has done more, she has led us ‘over the threshold of the Swede,’ introduced us into the sanctuary of their cheerful homes and made us friends with her friends.
After the death of her father, in 1830, she lived for some years in Norway with a friend, after whose death she resolved to gratify along-repressed desire to travel. In autumn of 1849 she set out for America, and after spending nearly two years here returned to England. The admirable translations of her works by Mary Howitt secured her for a warm and kindly reception in both America and England.
The following is excerpted from “400 Outstanding Women of the World and the Costumology of Their Time” by Minna Moscherosch Schmidt, published in 1933.
She was the pioneer of the Swedish movement for women’s rights. She was born at Abo, Finland, where her grandfather had moved from Sweden; he was the original founder of the Finnish foreign trade. His son, Fredrika Bremer’s father, went to Sweden in 1804, where he purchased the austere manor “Arsta,” in the neighborhood of Stockholm. This mansion, dating from the seventeenth century, with its heavy walls, lofty rooms and classic French gardens, formed a sharp contrast to the child’s nature; Fredrika Bremer did not fit into the frame of such formal environment: she was a stranger among her brothers and sisters. Meanwhile she was brought up under severe discipline, along the conventional lines of education for girls of her class at that period. She was never the object of parental love, and was oppressed by the rigorous methods of education and the shallowness of society life. Three winters spent alone, however, at Arsta, during the years 1826-1828, brought some relief, and in her work for charity among the poor she found some liberation from the restraint placed upon her energies. From this work she also received her inspiration to produce literature of an epochal character. In 1828 an anonymous little book called Pictures of Daily Life was released and in 1830 a new book of greater significance was presented to the public. The Royal Swedish Academy awarded its small gold medal to the unknown author.
A third production, a sequel to the others, completed the series and made it clear to the public that in this writer Sweden had a really great author. Her delicate humor and realism, as well as the soulful and natural tone of her language, had given Swedish literature a masterpiece. With her unexpected success and the death of her father she found herself more free to live her own life. An English friend, Frances Lewin, initiated her into the Bentham philosophy, and from 1831 to 1833 she applied herself to this study. Being troubled in mind, she transmitted a certain weakness into her literary productions of that period.
From 1835 some restful and happy years followed. Among her best works of this time may be mentioned The Neighbors (Grannarna) and The Home (Hemmet, 1839). In Germany she had been received with enthusiasm, but in 1842 an English translation of The Neighbors made her known all over the world.
Her books were translated into several languages and soon translations were made from the manuscripts, so that her books were presented to the foreign public before the Swedish editions were published. The pre-Marxian socialistic theories caught her deep interest as a groping attempt to establish a “Kingdom of God on earth.” After a visit in Copenhagen in 1848 she went to the United States, where she remained for two years for the purpose of studying the country. Her fame brought her admission wherever she went. The experiences of her visit were recorded in a book called The Homes of the New World (Hemmen i Nya Vdrlden, 1853-1854). Another book, England in 1851 (England om hösten år 1851) contained, in addition to a study of England, a clear and fiery declaration of the program for women’s emancipation. This program was received with skepticism. But the author’s ardent soul did not rest. Her thoughts found expression in several books, such as The Family, The Home and A Diary, Later, she directed her efforts to create for women a sphere of activity in the social life (politics were a forbidden field for women according to the general opinion of the time). An association was formed for the purpose, and Fredrika Bremer became the leader.
During the Crimean War she published, in the London Times, an appeal to all Christian women of the world to form a league to promote peace through social legislation, which was criticized as absurd and incapable of practical realization. Fredrika Bremer stands alone in attempting to establish a universal league of women with headquarters in Stockholm. The appeal and, later, a book, the Hertha (1856), were received in Sweden with sharp criticism, although this romance is the best of her works. In it she describes the tragic battle of a young woman against the state of inferiority in which law and custom have bound her. Having at first sought her own release, Fredrika Bremer was now ready to fight for the liberation of womankind. After 1856, she again traveled abroad, visiting, among other countries, Switzerland, Belgium, France, Italy, Germany and Palestine. After four busy years she settled at Arsta to rest from her labors, and there she died. Periods of her life were: 1. Early days of confinement till her father’s death. 2. Her philosophy as worked out both in solitude and under competent guidance with resulting novels. 3. Her concentrated effort to work for the liberation of other women.
The following is excerpted from A Cyclopædia of Female Biography, published 1857 by Groomsbridge and Sons and edited by Henry Gardiner Adams.
A name that has a true feminine celebrity, because it awakens pleasant thoughts and bright hopes in the hearts of all who have read her heart, as it gushes forth from her pen, like a clear, sweet fountain in the sunshine of a summer day. We love her name, as we do those who have contributed to our happiness; and she has done this by opening new sources of innocent enjoyment, and a wider field of benevolent feeling. She has brought the dim, old, Scandinavian world, that seemed completely hidden by the cloud of fable and curtain of time, before us as with an enchanter’s wand. Her little white hand has gently led us up among primeval mountains covered with eternal forests of pine, and along the banks of deep lakes, where the blue waters have slept since the creation; guiding us now to bowers of summer loveliness, where morning folds evening to her bosom with a kiss that leaves her own blushing lustre on the brow of her dusky sister; then we are set down among the snow-hills and ice-plains of the Norland winter, where the “dark night entombs the day.” She has done more: she has led us “over the threshold of the Swede,” introduced us into the sanctuary of their cheerful homes, made us friends with her friends; and awakened in our people an interest for the people of Sweden, which we have never felt for any nation on the continent of Europe. She has thus prepared the way for the success of another gifted daughter of Sweden, who comes like a new St. Cecilia, to make manifest the heavenly influence of song, when breathed from a pure and loving heart.
Frederika Bremer was born in Finland while it formed a portion of the Swedish kingdom; and about the time of its cession to Russia, in 1808, she was taken by her parents to Stockholm. Of these events, which were of much influence in giving her mind its peculiar tone, she has given a beautiful description in a letter to her friend and sister spirit, Mary Howitt.
The writings of Miss Bremer were first made known to the British and American public by the Howitts—William and Mary—who translated “The Neighbours,” her first, and, in many respects, her most remarkable work. This was published in 1842, at New York, and soon made its way, as on the wings of the wind, through the length and breadth of both lands. Everywhere it was welcomed as a messenger bird, that brought good tidings from a far country.
While the soul of the Christian yearns over the heathen, the heart will revolt from their unspeakable pollutions;—we cannot love their homes. But nations who have the Bible are naturally brought together, the moment the barrier of language is removed. “The Neighbours” were “Our Neighbours” as soon as Mary Howitt had presented them in English. The warm welcome the work received induced the translator to bring out the other works of Miss Bremer, and in quick succession, we read “Home;” “The H. Family;” “The President’s Daughters;” “Nina:” “The Strife and Peace;” “The Diary;” “Life in Delacarlia;” “The Midnight Sun;” and other shorter sketches from periodicals.
In the autumn of 1849, Miss Bremer, whose intention of visiting America had been previously announced, reached New York: she was welcomed to the hearts and homes of the American people with a warmth of affection her genius could never have inspired, had she not devoted her talents to the cause of humanity.
It is remarkable, and, in the highest degree honourable, to the delicacy of Miss Bremer’s moral nature, that when she writes from her hearty everything with which she deals becomes pure and instructive. When drawing characters she must show them in the light by which, to her, human nature has been developed in Sweden; the evils apparent are in the system of government, both of church and state, not in the mind that paints their results.
In order to do justice to Miss Bremer, one should select, chiefly, such passages as display her good heart, rather than the more striking passages where her genius in the descriptive appears, or where her peculiar talent of giving to the conversations of her ideal characters a fresh racy and original flow is so graceful and charming. From such selections, the holy aspirings of her soul are apparent, and though she has already done so much for literature, her country, and her sex, yet we hope a wider vista is opening before her, and we believe she has power to reach even a higher and a holier fame. With the Bible as her rule of faith and morality, she would be more and more able to answer the prayer of the British friend of Sweden.
From Famous Women: An Outline of Feminine Achievement Through the Ages With Life Stories of Five Hundred Noted Women. Written by Joseph Adelman, published 1926 by Ellis M Lonow Company:
Frederika Bremer (1801 -1865), a Swedish novelist. Her fatner was a wealthy merchant, and Frederika was carefully educated. She began at the age of eight years to write verses, and in 1824 published at Stockholm her first novel, “The Neighbors.” It was very successful, was soon translated into French, Dutch and Russian, and in 1842 into English by Mary Howitt, who also translated her subsequent novels.
In 1849, she visited the United States, where she cordially received. Her observations were recorded in a work entitled “The Homes of the New World,” which was published simultaneously in Sweden, England and the United States in 1853, and was exceedingly complimentary to this country and to her American friends. On her return to Europe, she travelled extensively in Switzerland, Italy, Palestine, Greece and Turkey, and wrote an interesting description of her travels.