In the first half of the 17th century, Swedish literature remained limited in scope and quantity. A unique contribution, however, was made by Lars Wivallius (Wivallius, Lars), whose lyrics revealed a feeling for nature new to Swedish poetry. With its intervention in the Thirty Years' War, Sweden established itself as a European power; national pride and culture soon began to develop, as revealed in literature of this epoch. The period's outstanding work was the allegorical epic Hercules (published 1658) by Georg Stiernhielm (Stiernhielm, Georg), which reflected many of the social and political problems of the time. Another poem often attributed to Stiernhielm is Bröllopsbesvärs ihugkommelse (first published 1818; “Recollections of Wedding Troubles”), a masterpiece of humour and realism describing the drunken debauchery of a wedding feast and the joys and sorrows of matrimony. Stiernhielm's followers included the two brothers Columbus, one of whom, Samuel, wrote Odae sueticae (1674; “Swedish Odes”) as well as a collection of anecdotes that illumine Stiernhielm's character. A rival to Stiernhielm was the unidentified Skogekär Bärgbo (a pseudonym), whose Wenerid (1680) was the first sonnet cycle in Swedish.

Stiernhielm aimed at an integration of Sweden's cultural heritage with the accepted ideals of Continental Classicism. His Hercules is full of old Swedish words that he was eager to revive. Samuel Columbus also demanded a more vigorous, flexible language, as did Skogekär Bärgbo in Thet swenska språkets klagemål (1658; “The Lament of the Swedish Language”). National pride and religious feeling are combined in the works of the bishops Haquin Spegel and Jesper Swedberg, the latter the father of the Swedish mystic Emanuel Swedenborg (Swedenborg, Emanuel). Spegel contributed to Swedberg's new hymnbook of 1695, which became the poetry book of the Swedish people and was of lasting influence. Even the lyric poet Lucidor (pseudonym of Lars Johansson (Johansson, Lars)) was represented in it. His poetry was an intense expression of the contrasting moods of the period: in his love songs and, above all, in his drinking songs, he was as pagan and reckless as he was devout in his hymns and funeral poems.

After the death of King Charles XII (1718) and the collapse of his empire, a utilitarian attitude to life and letters gradually developed in Sweden. Olof von Dalin (Dalin, Olof von) was the outstanding popularizer of the new ideas of the Enlightenment, which he expressed perhaps most clearly in Svea rikes historia (1747–62; “History of the Swedish Realm”), a rational and readable treatment of Swedish history commissioned by the estates of the realm that long remained a standard work. Educated at Lund, he later went to Stockholm and began to publish, anonymously, Then Swänska Argus (1732–34; “The Swedish Argus”), a weekly periodical modeled on The Spectator (Spectator, The) of the Englishmen Richard Steele and Joseph Addison. One of the first serious journalistic ventures in Sweden, it marked the beginning of a new era, in which orthodoxy gave way to skepticism and the Enlightenment, the Baroque to Classicism, and German influence to English and French. At this time the middle class also began gradually to take over the function of chief consumer of literature. In Argus Dalin ridiculed the foibles of the capital, and in Sagan om hästen (1740; “The Story of the Horse”) he showed himself a master of allegorical satire.

With the second phase of the Enlightenment, marked by the influence of French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, are associated Hedvig Charlotta Nordenflycht (Nordenflycht, Hedvig Charlotta), the epicurean Gustav Philip Creutz (Creutz, Gustav Philip, Greve), and his stoic friend Gustaf Fredrik Gyllenborg (Gyllenborg, Gustaf Fredrik, Greve). In Den sörgande turturdufwan (1743; “The Sorrowing Turtledove”), Nordenflycht laments the death of her husband in highly personal lyrics. Creutz was born in Finland but left it for Sweden; his few writings, of which the pastoral Atis och Camilla (1762) is the most important, reveal a mastery of form and versification.

Prose—particularly the novel—developed slowly. The first genuine novel, Adalrik och Giöthildas äfventyr (1742–44; “The Adventures of Adalrik and Giöthilden”), by Jacob Mörk and Anders Törngren, shows the influence of the Icelandic sagas. Only two 18th-century Swedish writers achieved a wide European reputation, and both were scientists: Carl von Linné (Carolus Linnaeus (Linnaeus, Carolus)) and Emanuel Swedenborg (Swedenborg, Emanuel).

The Gustavian period takes its name from King Gustav III (reigned 1771–92), a brilliant man and a patron of art and letters. He was especially interested in drama and opera, and, thanks to his patronage, a distinctively Swedish theatrical tradition developed. Gustav himself sketched out some works, the best of which was a historical opera, Gustaf Vasa, which was finished in collaboration between Johan Henrik Kellgren (Kellgren, Johan Henrik) and the composer J.G. Naumann. Kellgren, an academic poet and arbiter of taste, ruled that Swedish literature should be modeled on Classicist French patterns. In the journal Stockholmsposten, the main organ of literary opinion in the capital, Kellgren used his polemical wit against Thomas Thorild (Thorild, Thomas), a truculent champion of individual genius. After beginning as a rationalist and satirist in the fashion of Voltaire, Kellgren reluctantly came to accept pre-Romantic ideas. After Kellgren's death the controversy was carried on by Carl Gustaf af Leopold (Leopold, Carl Gustaf af), who imposed pseudo-Classical standards on the Swedish Academy (founded 1786) and applied them in his own rhetorical odes and tragedies. Johan Gabriel Oxenstierna did his most original work while a diplomat in Vienna; his Skördarne (1796; “Harvests”) reveals pre-Romantic feeling for the beauty of nature. Bengt Lidner (Lidner, Bengt) was the chief exponent of pre-Romanticism in poetry. His most successful work is the ode Grefvinnan Spastaras död (1783; “The Death of Countess Spastara”).

The idealism at the core of Swedish Romanticism was laid by the Kantian teaching of Swedish philosopher Benjamin Höijer and the impact on Swedish literature of Friedrich Schiller, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and the German Romantics. Student societies and their periodicals, such as Polyfem (1809–12) and Phosphorus (1810–13), led the attack on the traditional school. Per Daniel Amadeus Atterbom (Atterbom, Per Daniel Amadeus), the most gifted of the Forforister, or Phosphorists, wrote the poem Prolog (1810) for Phosphorus, revealing both his talent and his commitment to Romanticism.

Meanwhile, another society, Götiska Förbundet (Gothic Society), advocated, from its start in 1811, that study of the “Gothic” past could morally improve society. One of its members, Esaias Tegnér (Tegnér, Esaias), wrote a popular verse epic, Frithiofs saga (1825), based on an Old Norse theme. Tegnér valued old Northern mythology for the patterns he discerned in it—patterns he also found in Greek mythology and Romantic metaphysics, in which religion, philosophy, and poetry appeared to be one and the same. Nevertheless, Tegnér's ideals of clarity of thought and formal perfection led him sometimes to side with traditionalists in their struggle against obscurities and formal innovations.

In prose the most complex personality among the later Romantics was a novelist, Carl Jonas Love Almqvist (Almqvist, Carl Jonas Love), who combined an extravagant imagination with realism. A master of prose style, he was at his best in the long short story, in which he foreshadowed playwright and novelist August Strindberg's method of raising problems for debate. The novel was established by Fredrika Bremer (Bremer, Fredrika), author of Grannarna (1837; The Neighbours), whose “sketches from ordinary life” appeared from 1828. Sophie von Knorring wrote chiefly about aristocratic families, and Emilie Flygare-Carlén produced stories dealing with west-coast life, including Rosen på Tistelön (1842; The Rose of Tistelön).

realism made only slow headway in spite of the example of Johan Ludvig Runeberg, a Finnish poet writing in Swedish. Literature of the 1840s and 1850s was mainly an aftereffect of Romanticism. A movement known as Pan-Scandinavianism, which called for varying forms of political and cultural Scandinavian unity, produced a good deal of verse: Carl Vilhelm August Strandberg (pseudonym Talis Qualis), the fieriest poet of this type, later made excellent translations from British Romantic poet Lord Byron. Popular reading was provided by August Blanche in Bilder ur verkligheten (1863–65; “Pictures of Real Life”), short stories depicting Stockholm life with humour and vivacity, while Frans Hedberg wrote historical plays.

Poetic Realism became an official program of the “pseudonym poets” of the 1860s, including Carl David of Wirsén, Edvard Bäckström, Pontus Wikner, and Carl Snoilsky (Snoilsky, Carl Johan Gustaf, Greve). Only Snoilsky had the temperament and poetic gift needed to carry out the program. Wirsén, on the other hand, as secretary of the Swedish Academy, launched formidable opposition against innovators. Viktor Rydberg (Rydberg, Viktor) fell between idealism and naturalism. His important early work consisted of an ideological novel, Den siste athenaren (1859; The Last Athenian), and a treatise, Bibelns lära om Kristus (1862; “The Teaching of the Bible About Christ”), which prepared the way for scientific rationalism. Toward the end of his life he published a poem, Den nya Grottesången (1891; “The New Song of Grotte”), in which he castigated the evils of materialism and capitalism.

Four influences combined to free Swedish literature from petrifying conventions: the English writings of naturalist Charles Darwin, sociologist Herbert Spencer, and philosopher John Stuart Mill; the French naturalism of novelist Émile Zola; the drama of the Norwegians Henrik Ibsen and Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson; and the criticism of the Dane Georg Brandes. The modern literature that grew from these influences was first and best represented in the work of August Strindberg (Strindberg, August), Sweden's greatest writer. Modern drama dates from his play Mäster Olof (1872), and the modern novel from Röda rummet (1879; The Red Room). Strindberg overshadowed all the writers of the 1880s, including Gustaf af Geijerstam, author of Erik Grane (1885), Anne Charlotte Edgren-Leffler, and Victoria Benedictsson (Benedictsson, Victoria); the latter two wrote about the adverse position of women in society. Benedictsson's stories, as in Från Skåne (1884; “From Skåne”), revealed the regional character of the new prose literature. Regional poetry was written by Albert Bååth and sometimes by Ola Hansson (Hansson, Ola), both of Skåne, although Hansson was also known for his more cosmopolitan literature.

In 1888 Verner von Heidenstam (Heidenstam, Verner von) began the reaction against utilitarianism and naturalism with a volume of verse, Vallfart och vandringsår (“Pilgrimage and Wander Years”). His later poetry and historical tales won him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1916. Oscar Ivar Levertin (Levertin, Oscar Ivar), stimulated by Heidenstam's example, wrote poetry full of colour and lore of the past and as a critic was influential in molding contemporary taste. Gustaf Fröding (Fröding, Gustaf) was also influenced by Heidenstam, his verse ranging from the melancholy to the humorous. Regionalism entered Neoromantic poetry with Fröding, who was from Värmland; the work of Erik Axel Karlfeldt (Karlfeldt, Erik Axel) evoked the province of Dalarna. Karlfeldt's mature poetry won him the Nobel Prize in 1931.

Meanwhile, Selma Lagerlöf (Lagerlöf, Selma), the first Swede and the first woman to win a Nobel Prize for Literature (1909), had developed the prose tale; her long series of novels and short stories, beginning with Gösta Berlings saga (1891), reached an international public through translation. Per Hallström was a more skillful writer of short stories than of novels. Albert Engström, a great humorist both as a writer and as an artist, showed himself a Romantic in his love for the skerries (rocky isles) off Sweden's coast.

The development of the novel was associated with Gustaf Hellström (Hellström, Gustaf), Sigfrid Siwertz (Siwertz, Sigfrid), Ludvig Nordström (Nordström, Ludvig Anselm), and Elin Wägner. Hellström's work as a journalist in Europe, the United States, and England greatly influenced him. Irony and careful detail emerged in his best-known novel, Snörmakare Lekholm får en idé (1927; Lacemaker Lekholm Has an Idea). Siwertz was a more elegant stylist, and a decisive influence upon him was the philosophy of Henri Bergson, as reflected in En flanör (1914; “An Idler”); but his weightiest work was a family saga, Selambs (1920; Downstream), a novel of Stockholm during World War I. Nordström, overflowing with vitality and keen but grotesque humour, accomplished some of his best work in Landsorts-bohème (1911; “Small-Town Bohemia”) and in his short stories—for example, Fiskare (1907; “Fishermen”). Wägner was an ardent pacifist and feminist; her most powerful work was a peasant novel, Åsa-Hanna (1918). The outstanding Swedish novelist of the 1920s was Hjalmar Bergman (Bergman, Hjalmar Fredrik Elgérus); with vivid imagination and restless energy, Bergman wrote a long series of stories, many set in “Wadköping” (his native Örebro) and others in Italy. In Loewenhistorier (1913) he depicted an irrational, impulsive, unsuccessful hero; in Farmor och vår Herre (1921; Thy Rod and Thy Staff) he portrayed one of the dominating female personalities that fascinated him. The satiric novel Markurells i Wadköping (1919; God's Orchid) and the play Swedenhielms (performed 1925), one of the few Swedish comedies, were his most widely known works.

The Swedish writer who was best known internationally during the 20th century was Pär Lagerkvist (Lagerkvist, Pär). In his youth a bold innovator, he later developed a prose style of distinct clarity, as in the allegorical novel Dvärgen (1944; The Dwarf). His collections of poems—such as Ångest (1916; “Anguish”)—and early plays—for instance, Himlens hemlighet (1919; “The Secret of Heaven”)—were expressionistic in style. The dominant theme throughout Lagerkvist's work is a search for vital, often outspokenly religious values. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1951.

The movement toward—and subsequently away from—politically committed literature is exemplified by the work of Sara Lidman (Lidman, Sara). During the 1950s she was one of Sweden's most creative novelists, but she then ceased producing fiction in order to take part in the political debate of the time. After the late 1970s, however, Lidman returned to creative literature with a series of novels centred on life in an isolated community in northern Sweden. Sven Lindqvist went through a similar process; after a period of committed writing, he returned in En älskares dagbok (1981; “A Lover's Diary”) to a more or less autobiographical novel of his own youth. Lars Gyllensten (Gyllensten, Lars), a skeptical intellectual and experimenter, voiced through his novels distrust in all ideologies. In a search for a more ethical way of life, he often used historical figures—such as Socrates in Sokrates död (1960; “The Death of Socrates”)—as well as legendary ones—such as Don Juan in I skuggan av Don Juan (1975; “In the Shadow of Don Juan”)—to probe different attitudes toward life, only to discard them all; what remains in his works is the importance of openness. Political writing persisted in Sweden through the end of the 20th century, but it became more imaginative and less tied to immediate events. P.C. Jersild, for example, painted a chilling picture of civilization after a devastating nuclear war in Efter floden (1982; After the Flood); he had earlier demonstrated his talent in science fiction through allegories set in a state veterinary institution and in a hospital. In his multilayered, often metafictional novels, Lars Gustafsson railed against Sweden's bureaucratic welfare society, which, he complained, stifled the unique in the name of egalitarianism. He is best known for his partially autobiographical Sprickorna i muren (1971–78; “The Cracks in the Wall”), called by some his Divine Comedy for its richness and broad scope. In it the protagonist progresses from his childhood hell to the terminal cancer patient's private paradise of pain relief.

Surveys of Swedish literature include Alrik Gustafson, A History of Swedish Literature (1961), an excellent critical history, with a bibliographic appendix; Ingemar Algulin, A History of Swedish Literature (1989); Lars G. Warme (ed.), A History of Swedish Literature (1996), a state-of-the-art history with a comprehensive bibliography; and Ann-Charlotte Gavel Adams (ed.), Twentieth-Century Swedish Writers Before World War II (2002), and Twentieth-Century Swedish Writers After World War II (2002). Critical studies of Swedish literature include Irene Scobbie (ed.), Aspects of Modern Swedish Literature, rev. and augmented ed. (1999); Sarah Death and Helena Forsås-Scott (eds.), A Century of Swedish Narrative (1994); and Helena Forsås-Scott, Swedish Women's Writing, 1850–1995 (1997).Anthologies of Swedish literature include Gunnar Harding and Anselm Hollo (eds.), Modern Swedish Poetry in Translation (1979); Per Wästberg (compiler and ed.), An Anthology of Modern Swedish Literature (1979); John Matthias and Göran Printz-Påhlson (trans.), Contemporary Swedish Poetry (1980); Lennart Bruce and Sonja Bruce (eds. and trans.), Speak to Me: Swedish-Language Women Poets (1989); Robin Fulton (trans.), Preparations for Flight, and Other Swedish Stories (1990); Gunilla M. Anderman (comp.), New Swedish Plays (1992); William Jay Smith and Leif Sjöberg (ed. and trans.), The Forest of Childhood: Poems from Sweden (1996); and Judith Moffett (ed. and trans.), The North! To the North!: Five Swedish Poets of the Nineteenth Century (2001).Staffan Bergsten Walton Glyn Jones Virpi Zuck