Nils Arfwidsson (7 May 1802,

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– 14 April 1880,

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) was a Swedish author, journalist, and government official.

Biography

He was born to Niklas Arfwidsson, a village counselor, and his wife, Anna Margareta née von Jacobsson, the daughter of a businessman. His family moved to

Skara Skara is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Skara Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 18,580 inhabitants in 2013. Despite its small size, it is one of the oldest cities in Sweden, and has a long educational and ecc ...

, where his father died in 1813 and they were forced into declaring bankruptcy. His mother died shortly after. Having been given a good education in French and English, he was able to go to

Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...

and pass his in 1820. However, it soon came to the attention of Count

Lars von Engeström Count Lars von EngeströmThe official English translation of the Treaty of Orebro 18 July 1812 translates his name from French as Lawrence Baron d'Engeström (''British and Foreign State Papers'', Volume 1 Part 1 (1812-1814), published by the Gr ...

that he was a regular visitor to the "Café des Indépendents", a meeting place for radicals, which effectively ended his career prospects. After failing to enter the diplomatic corps, he began writing art and literary criticism. His writings became popular so, in 1828, the

Swedish Academy The Swedish Academy ( sv, Svenska Akademien), founded in 1786 by King Gustav III of Sweden, Gustav III, is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, Royal Academies of Sweden. Its 18 members, who are elected for life, comprise the highest Swedish lang ...

offered to name him head of the editorial offices for the ''

Post- och Inrikes Tidningar ''Post- och Inrikes Tidningar'' or ''PoIT'' (Swedish for "Post and Domestic Times") is the government newspaper and gazette of Sweden, and the country's official notification medium for announcements like bankruptcy declarations or auctions. The n ...

''. He was there until 1830, when he received a warning from the government for an article he translated from the ''

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'', supporting the

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in France. After that, he became an employee of the ''

Aftonbladet ''Aftonbladet'' (, lit. "The evening paper") is a Swedish daily newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden. It is one of the largest daily newspapers in the Nordic countries. History and profile The newspaper was founded by Lars Johan H ...

'', where he edited the literature and foreign news sections. Finding himself in constant conflict with the political opinions of its owner,

Lars Johan Hierta Lars Johan Hierta (; 22 January 1801 – 20 November 1872) was a Swedish newspaper publisher, social critic, businessman and politician. He is best known as the founder of the newspaper ''Aftonbladet'' in 1830. Hierta was a leading agitator for p ...

, in 1832 he joined with his brother-in-law, the journalist , in a successful bid to buy the ', a small, but long established liberal newspaper. They planned to build it up into a major forum for liberal ideas, with Arfwidsson responsible for the coverages of cultural affairs and foreign policy. Shortly after acquiring it, however, his first wife Charlotta Lovisa Sjöborg died and, in his sadness, he left to travel abroad; sending home travelogues and articles on art and literature. Dalman would remain as editor until 1848. In 1839, he gave up his journalistic career and was appointed Secretary of Protocol for . He also served with the National Archives until 1853, and at the General Customs Board from 1847 to 1863. He worked as the "scenic curator" at the

Royal Swedish Opera Royal Swedish Opera ( sv, Kungliga Operan) is an opera and ballet company based in Stockholm, Sweden. Location and environment The building is located in the center of Sweden's capital Stockholm in the borough of Norrmalm, on the eastern side ...

for a brief period from 1844 to 1845.

Selected writings

* ''Nord och söder : strödda anteckningar under resor emellan Avasaxa och Vesuven åren 1835-1839'', Two Volumes, Bagge, 1842-1843
Online
* ''Liberté. Egalité. Fraternité'': ett ord "mellan drabbningarne"'', 1867, P.B Eklund
Online
* ''Teaterbilder från fordom'', published posthumously, Dagligt Allehanda,

Sources

*

from the ''

Svenskt biografiskt handlexikon ''Svenskt biografiskt handlexikon'' () is a compact Swedish dictionary of biography first published in 1873–1876 by the physician and antiquarian Herman Hofberg (1823–1883). The second, updated edition was published in 1906, under the editor ...

'' at

Project Runeberg Project Runeberg ( sv, Projekt Runeberg) is a digital cultural archive initiative that publishes free electronic versions of books significant to the culture and history of the Nordic countries. Patterned after Project Gutenberg, it was founded ...

Obituary
by Harald Wieselgren, in ''Ur vår samtid'' at Project Runeberg {{DEFAULTSORT:Arfwidsson, Nils 1802 births 1880 deaths Swedish journalists Swedish editors Swedish art critics Swedish literary critics Swedish theatre critics Writers from Gothenburg