Gustaf af Geijerstam (1858–1909) was a Swedish novelist. He was a friend of

August Strindberg Johan August Strindberg (, ; 22 January 184914 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter.Lane (1998), 1040. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than sixty p ...

's. Many of his works were translated into German during his lifetime, and one, ''Äktenskapets komedi'' (1898), was reviewed favorable by Rainer Maria Rilke, who remarked that Geijerstam was an author "one must follow attentively from book to book."Schoolfield, George C. ''A Baedeker of Decadence: Charting a Literary Fashion, 1884-1927''. Page 288. Yale University Press, 2004. Only two of his novels were translated into English: ''Boken om Lille-bror'' (1900), as "the Book about the Little Brother" in 1921, and ''Kvinnokraft'' (1901), as "Woman Power" in 1922. Other works include ''Erik Grane'' (1895), ''Karin Brandts dröm'' (1904) and ''Medusas hufvud'' (1905).

Debate

In 1885 a Bishop had argued that God's order required that women were not emancipated. Geijerstam then argued that men could only aspire to one day have the purity of women because they were fundamentally different and this was the reason for prostitution and other immorality.

Minna Canth Minna Canth (; born Ulrika Wilhelmina Johnson; 19 March 1844 – 12 May 1897) was a Finnish writer and social activist. Canth began to write while managing her family draper's shop and living as a widow raising seven children. Her work addresse ...

objected strongly to this argument as it meant that men could defend their poor morals by reference to their implicit shortcomings, whereas any women involved in prostitution would lack the same defence.

Notes

External links

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''The Book about Little Brother'' (Boken om Lille-bror)
at Internet Archive 1858 births 1909 deaths People from Skinnskatteberg Municipality Swedish nobility Writers from Västmanland Swedish male novelists 19th-century Swedish novelists 19th-century male writers {{Sweden-writer-stub