Carl Jonas Love (Ludvig) Almqvist (28 November 1793, Stockholm, Sweden – 26 September 1866, Bremen, Germany), was a romantic poet

Romantic poetry

Romanticism, a philosophical, literary, artistic and cultural era which began in the mid/late-1700s as a reaction against the prevailing Enlightenment ideals of the day , also influenced poetry...

, early feminist, realist

Literary realism

Literary realism most often refers to the trend, beginning with certain works of nineteenth-century French literature and extending to late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century authors in various countries, towards depictions of contemporary life and society "as they were." In the spirit of...

, composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

, social critic and traveller.

He was the son of the army paymaster Karl Gustav Almqvist (1768–1846). He studied in Uppsala

Uppsala

- Economy :Today Uppsala is well established in medical research and recognized for its leading position in biotechnology.*Abbott Medical Optics *GE Healthcare*Pfizer *Phadia, an offshoot of Pharmacia*Fresenius*Q-Med...

 and was then worked as a clerk in Stockholm. In 1823 he gave up his post, and in the autumn of the year after moved to Köla in northern Värmland

Värmland

' is a historical province or landskap in the west of middle Sweden. It borders Västergötland, Dalsland, Dalarna, Västmanland and Närke. It is also bounded by Norway in the west. Latin name versions are Vermelandia and Wermelandia. Although the province's land originally was Götaland, the...

 where he and some friends, inspired by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of 18th-century Romanticism. His political philosophy influenced the French Revolution as well as the overall development of modern political, sociological and educational thought.His novel Émile: or, On Education is a treatise...

, intended to live out a rural idyll. It was there that he married and had two children. In 1828 he became a teacher at the experimental New Elementary School, Stockholm, and he was rector at the same from 1829 to 1841. Almqvist was ordained as pastor in 1837, but could not find work, and after publishing Det går an in 1839 gave up that career altogether and supported himself by working for various newspapers (including Aftonbladet

Aftonbladet

Aftonbladet is a Swedish tabloid founded by Lars Johan Hierta in 1830 during the modernization of Sweden. It is one of the larger daily newspapers in the Nordic countries. Aftonbladet is owned by the Swedish Trade Union Confederation and Norwegian media group Schibsted, and its editorial page...

and Jönköpingsbladet). He was involved in controversy with August Blanche in the "Det-går-an battle"; Almqvist asserted that Blanche was of illegitimate birth, Blanche challenged Almqvist to a duel and when Almqvist paid no attention, August Blanche spat in his face at a meeting at the Strömparterren.

In June 1851 Almqvist fled Sweden on suspicion of fraud and poison attempts against the elderly usurer Johan Jacob von Scheven, to whom he owed 18000 riksdaler. The accusation was based on the testimony of Amanda Brandt

Amanda Von Brandt

Amanda von Brandt claimed to be Swedish countess and was the second wife of actor Ira Frederick Aldridge, whom she married on 20 April 1865. The couple had four children. Their eldest child was born during Aldridge's marriage to his first wife, Margaret Gill, and their youngest was born four...

 among others. He arrived in the United States at the end of August and travelled widely under the name Lewis Gustawi. In Philadelphia, on the third anniversary of his departure from Stockholm, he bigamously

Bigamy

In cultures that practice marital monogamy, bigamy is the act of entering into a marriage with one person while still legally married to another. Bigamy is a crime in most western countries, and when it occurs in this context often neither the first nor second spouse is aware of the other...

 married a 69-year-old guest-house proprietress, Emma Nugent. In 1865 Almqvist tried to return to Sweden, but only got as far as Bremen

Bremen

The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...

, where he died. Carl Jonas Love Almqvist's younger half-brother, the Director-General Gustavus Fridolf Almquist (1814–1886), was the grandfather of Dag Hammarskjöld

Dag Hammarskjöld

Dag Hjalmar Agne Carl Hammarskjöld was a Swedish diplomat, economist, and author. An early Secretary-General of the United Nations, he served from April 1953 until his death in a plane crash in September 1961. He is the only person to have been awarded a posthumous Nobel Peace Prize. Hammarskjöld...

.

He wrote many books and poems. Some dealt with his radical views on society and politics; in his novel Drottningens juvelsmycke, his main character, Tintomara, is neither male nor female, and arouses both men and women to fall in love, and in his novel Det går an (It is acceptable), a woman lives with a man without being married to him. These books caused the church and state to condemn him and call him a dangerous revolutionary. However, he still maintained influence with his writings, and he is counted as one of the foremost Swedish social reformers of the 19th century.

Selected works

Many of his writings are included in the long series Törnrosens bok ("Book of the Briar Rose", 1833–51). Some of his musical compositions have been recorded.

• Amorina (1822, rev. 1839), novel
• Drottningens juvelsmycke
  Drottningens juvelsmycke
  The Queen's Tiara is a classic Swedish novel by Carl Jonas Love Almquist.It is the fourth instalment in the series of novels known as Törnrosens bok and was published in 1834...
  
  (1834), novel. In English The Queen's Diadem, trans. by Yvonne Sandstroem. Camden House (1992)
• Ormus och Ariman (1839)
• Om poesi i sak (1839), essay on poetics
• Det går an (1839), novel. In English Sara Videbeck and the Chapel, trans. by Adolph Burnett Benson. American-Scandinavian Foundation (1919)
• Songes (1849), poems

Det går an

During a steamboat trip between Stockholm and Lidköping, a sergeant named Albert falls in love with the glazier's daughter Sara Videbeck.

But Sara insists that they live in an egalitarian marriage without a formal marriage ceremony and without shared property. Sara asks at the end of the book: Går allt detta an, Albert? (Is all this acceptable, Albert?) The answer is: Det går an (It is acceptable).

The novel is primarily an attack on life-long marriage as an institution and the inability of women to become financially independent. The book's social tendency aroused lively debate and "det-går-an literature" became a concept. One consequence however was that Almqvist was forced out of his post as rector at the New Elementary School, Stockholm.

External links