Margareta Ulrika Abenius (14 July 1899 – 3 August 1970) was a Swedish literary critic, researcher, author, translator, and essayist. One of the leading voices of the Swedish literary canon in the 20th century, Abenius is best known for her biography of fellow Swedish poet

Karin Boye Karin Maria Boye (; 26 October 1900 – 24 April 1941) was a Swedish poet and novelist. In Sweden, she is acclaimed as a poet, but internationally, she is best known for the dystopian science fiction novel '' Kallocain'' (1940). Biography Ea ...

Life

Margit Abenius was born to a middle-class family in Orsa,

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, on 14 July 1899. Her father Wilhelm Abenius was a lecturer in chemistry, secondary-school teacher, and author, and her mother Maria Abenius came from a priest family in

Västmanland Västmanland ( or ) is a historical Swedish province, or , in middle Sweden. It borders Södermanland, Närke, Värmland, Dalarna and Uppland. Västmanland means "West Man Land" or, less literally, "The Land of the Western Men", where the "we ...

. Abenius had three younger siblings: Håkan, Sigurd, and Ingrid. She spent her early years in

Borås Borås ( , , ) is a city (officially, a locality) and the seat of Borås Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 114,556 inhabitants in 2024. It is widely known for being a textile city, home to worldwide brands and companie ...

. The family moved to

Örebro Örebro ( ; ) is the seventh-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Örebro Municipality, and capital of Örebro County. It is situated by the Närke Plain, near the lake Hjälmaren, a few kilometers inland along the small river Svartån, and ...

in 1915, where Abenius's father became the headmaster of a technical school. During her time in Örebro, Abenius attended the Risbergska skolan. Growing up in a literary faction, Abenius developed an early interest in reading, poetry, folk-lore, and story-telling. Abenius's early education included lessons from the theologian and psalm composer Emil Liedgren who inspired her. Her reading included Nordic literature: she frequently read works of Ola Hansson,

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, poet and actor. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered ...

, Jonas Lie,

Oscar Levertin Oscar Ivar Levertin (17 July 1862, Norrköping – 22 September 1906) was a Swedish poet, critic and literary historian. Levertin was a dominant voice of the Swedish cultural scene from 1897, when he started writing influential high-profile essay ...

, and Adolf Torneros. Other authors she enjoyed were Swedish romantics

Carl Jonas Love Almqvist Carl Jonas Love Ludvig Almqvist (28 November 1793 – 26 September 1866) was a Swedish author, romantic poet, romantic critic of political economy, realist, composer and social critic. Biography Carl Jonas Love Almqvist was born in Stockhol ...

and

Per Daniel Amadeus Atterbom Per Daniel Amadeus Atterbom (19 January 1790 in Åsbo, Östergötland – 21 July 1855) was a Swedish romantic poet, and a member of the Swedish Academy. Life He was the son of a country parson, born in the province of Ostergotland on 19 Janu ...

. In 1917, Abenius attended the Uppsala Enskilda Läroverk private school, where she completed her secondary education and graduated in 1919. Abenius discovered her love for stylistics during her high-school when she took Swedish and English courses. Her professor of Nordic languages, Bengt Hesselman encouraged her to research on stylistics, and she published articles on Nysvenska in the following years. She received a degree in Nordic languages, English and history of literature from the

Uppsala University Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially fou ...

in 1925, and earned the licentiate degree in Nordic languages three years later. Soon after, she began working towards a PhD, focusing her study on Swedish poet and critic

Johan Henric Kellgren Johan Henric Kellgren (1 December 1751 – 20 April 1795) was a Swedish poet and critic. Biography He was born at Floby in Västergötland (now part of Falköping Municipality, Västra Götaland County). He studied at the Royal Academy of Turku ...

. She completed her thesis in 1931. During her time at Uppsala, Abenius developed a close friendship with fellow poet

Writing career

In 1927, Abenius began writing for the Christian journal '' Vår lösen''. Between 1931 and 1964, she wrote for the ''

Bonniers Litterära Magasin Bonnier AB (), also the Bonnier Group, is a privately held Swedish media group of 175 companies operating in 15 countries. It is controlled by the Bonnier family. Background The company was founded in 1804 by Gerhard Bonnier in Copenhagen, Denm ...

'' and '' Ord och Bild'', which included literary reviews, cultural essays, and translations of works of other writers. Abenius analysed the works of both Swedish and international contemporary writers including those of

Emily Dickinson Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry. Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massac ...

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer and one of the most influential 20th-century modernist authors. She helped to pioneer the use of stream of consciousness narration as a literary device. Vir ...

Cora Sandel Sara Cecilia Görvell Fabricius (20 December 1880 – 3 April 1974), better known by her pen name Cora Sandel, was a Norwegian writer and painter who lived most of her adult life abroad. Her best-known works are the novels now known as the ''Alber ...

, and Karin Boye. During this time, she also worked as a literary critic on the radio, reviewing lyrical poetry and prose. In the 1940s, Abenius published ''Kontakter'', a collection of 20 of her previously published literary works and essays. ''Kontakter'' established her status as one of the leading voices of the Swedish literary era. In his essay published in '' Svensk yrkeskvinna'', literary scholar

Sven Stolpe Sven Stolpe (24 August 1905 – 26 August 1996) was a Swedish writer, translator, journalist, literary scholar and critic, who was active in Swedish literary and intellectual discussion for most of his life. In the early 1930s, he argued for i ...

hailed Abenius as "one of the day's best critics". In the 1950s, Abenius began introducing French philosopher

Simone Weil Simone Adolphine Weil ( ; ; 3 February 1909 – 24 August 1943) was a French philosopher, mystic and political activist. Despite her short life, her ideas concerning religion, spirituality, and politics have remained widely influential in cont ...

to Swedish readers. She translated many of Weil's works into Swedish, including ''La Pesanteur et la grâce''; she and Karin Stolpe published a collection of Weil's letters and essays ''Personen och det heliga. Essäer och brev'' in 1961. Abenius's best-known work is the biography of Karin Boye entitled ''Drabbad av renhet. En bok om Karin Boyes liv och diktning'', published in 1950. The biography was well-received upon first publication. Later, Abenius's conservative analysis of Boye's homosexuality drew criticism.

Later years

Abenius served as a member of the Swedish

literary society A literary society is a group of people interested in literature. In the modern sense, this refers to a society that wants to promote one genre of writing or a specific author. Modern literary societies typically promote research, publish newslet ...

Samfundet De Nio Samfundet De Nio (''The Nine Society'' or ''Society of the Nine'') is a Swedish literary society founded on 14 February 1913 in Stockholm by a testamentary donation from writer Lotten von Kraemer. The society has nine members who are elected for ...

. She published her autobiography ''Memoarer från det inre'' in 1963 to positive reception. In 1965, she was honoured with a Birger-Sjöberg award for her contributions. Abenius died in Uppsala, on 3 August 1970.

Life

Writing career

Later years

References

Further reading