''Pennskaftet'' (English: "Penholder") is a 1910 novel by the Swedish writer

Elin Wägner Elin Matilda Elisabet Wägner (16 May 1882 – 7 January 1949) was a Swedish writer, journalist, feminist, teacher, ecologist and pacifist. She was a member of the Swedish Academy from 1944. Biography Elin Wägner was born in Lund, Sweden as the ...

Plot

The title character is the female reporter Barbro Magnus ("Penholder") who becomes a sympathiser with the campaign for

women's suffrage in Sweden Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

. She falls in love with the young architect Dick Block, and the couple defies contemporary social norms by living together without being married. She also becomes acquainted with the school teacher Cecilia Bech, who finds meaning in her life in the campaign for suffrage.

Context

At the time of the novel's publication, women had already made a mark in the profession of journalism in Sweden, and Elin Wägner herself was employed as a reporter from 1908. It was also a period of intense campaign for women's suffrage, the struggle having organized with the foundation of the

Landsföreningen för kvinnans politiska rösträtt The National Association for Women's Suffrage ( sv, Landsföreningen för kvinnans politiska rösträtt, LKPR) was a part of the general suffrage movement and the national society for women's suffrage in Sweden. It functioned as a parallel to the ...

in 1902, a struggle that was not to succeed until 1919. Finally, intellectual circles in Sweden participated in the ongoing

Nordic sexual morality debate The Nordic sexual morality debate (Danish: ''sædelighedsfejden'', Swedish: ''sedlighetsdebatten'', Norwegian: ''sedelighetsdebatten'') was the name for a cultural movement and public debate in Scandinavia in the 1880s, where sexuality and sexual ...

, and the debate included

free love Free love is a social movement that accepts all forms of love. The movement's initial goal was to separate the state from sexual and romantic matters such as marriage, birth control, and adultery. It stated that such issues were the concern ...

and the right to have a love relationship without a wedding ceremony, which was supported by among others

Ellen Key Ellen Karolina Sofia Key (; 11 December 1849 – 25 April 1926) was a Swedish difference feminist writer on many subjects in the fields of family life, ethics and education and was an important figure in the Modern Breakthrough movement. She was ...

Reception

The novel was a great success when it was published in Denmark 1911, Russia 1912 and Germany 1916.

described the novel as brave and alive, although she thought the love story was neglected in favor of the suffrage theme, and Gertrud Almqvist-Brogren praised it for the theme of free love: "The novel will make it clear to more than one, that it is the thruth, a woman's toward oneself and others, that will save purity" rather than a marriage certificate. Else Kleen of Gefle Dagblad praised the novel as "the first really literary and truthful novel of women's emancipation in Sweden". The novel did not only meet praise however.

Fredrik Böök Martin Fredrik Böök (May 12, 1883 in Kristianstad – December 2, 1961 in Copenhagen) was a Swedish professor of literary history at Lund University, literary critic and writer. He wrote biographies and books on Swedish literature.An extensive b ...

and

Bo Bergman Bo Hjalmar Bergman (6 October 1869 – 17 November 1967) was a Swedish writer, literary critic and member of the Swedish Academy, sitting in Seat 12 from 1925 until his death. His works form the inspiration for works by several major Swedish co ...

both agreed that the literary quality was neglected in favor of its political agenda, and the suffragist Ann Margret Holmgren was concerned that the radical and controversial free love theme would damage the campaign for women's suffrage.

Horace Engdahl Horace Oscar Axel Engdahl (born 30 December 1948) is a Swedish literary historian and critic, and has been a member of the Swedish Academy since 1997. He was the permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy from 1999 to June 2009, when he was succee ...

has described the novel as the first Swedish emancipation novel about the "

New Woman The New Woman was a feminist ideal that emerged in the late 19th century and had a profound influence well into the 20th century. In 1894, Irish writer Sarah Grand (1854–1943) used the term "new woman" in an influential article, to refer to ...

", a novel describing the emancipation of women in both political, economical and sexual context, a type of novel that had become fashionable in Britain in the 1890s and was a part of the ongoing debate of women's emancipation. Helena Forsås-Scott has referred to the novel as the "First Swedish Suffrage Novel", and that it is a truthful depiction of the Women's suffrage campaign as it looked in Sweden at the time of its publication.Wägner, Elin; Forsås-Scott Helena; Engdahl, Horace (2003). ”En roman om entusiasm och förälskelse”. Pennskaftet. Svenska klassiker / utgivna av Svenska akademien, 99-2090989-0. Stockholm: Svenska akademien i samverkan med Atlantis. Libris 9063568. ISBN 9174867547

References

External links

Penwoman
at LibraryThing.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pennskaftet Swedish novels Swedish-language novels 1910 in Sweden Women's suffrage in Sweden Feminist novels 1910s novels 1910 in literature

Plot

Context

Reception

See also

References

External links