''Thekla'' Levinia Andrietta Knös (17 July 1815,

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 ...

– 10 March 1880,

Växjö Växjö ( ) is a city and the seat of Växjö Municipality, Kronoberg County, Sweden. It had 70,489 inhabitants (2019) out of a municipal population of 95,995 (2021). It is the administrative, cultural, and industrial centre of Kronoberg County ...

), was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

writer, poet and translator.

Life

Her parents were the wealthy professor Gustaf Knös (d. 1828) and the literary upper class socialite

Alida Maria Olbers Alida is a feminine given name, a common Dutch version of Adelaide until about 1960.Alida
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, and she was given the education and accomplishments customary for upper class girls. She and her mother were both important members of the high society life in Uppsala, where they were described as "light beauties, genies of jokes, joy and poetry". Her mother hosted a literary salon, and Knös was raised in a cultivated but extremely sheltered environment in a home "where they, surrounded by flowers and paintings, lived a life which was allowed to mix with reality only when necessary".Thekla L A Knös, urn:sbl:11676, Svenskt biografiskt lexikon (art av Gösta Lundström), hämtad 2015-11-08. Thekla Knös was described as serious and cultivated, but sheltered and ignorant of all practical necessities of life, nervous and depressive, witty and entertaining but oversensitive and mentally fragile. She had many friends among the Swedish cultural elite, notably

Fredrika Bremer Fredrika Bremer (17 August 1801 – 31 December 1865) was a Finnish-born Swedish writer and feminist reformer. Her ''Sketches of Everyday Life'' were wildly popular in Britain and the United States during the 1840s and 1850s and she is re ...

and

Pontus Wikner Carl Pontus Wikner (19 May 1837 – 16 May 1888) was a famed Swedish lecturer in philosophy and professor of aesthetics in Oslo (Christiania) from 1884. Wikner's contribution to homosexual history consists foremostly of producing the first descr ...

, and was described as a devoted friend and confidante "who diminished herself in overflowing compassion", and reportedly, she refused to wear the fashionable

crinoline A crinoline is a stiff or structured petticoat designed to hold out a woman's skirt, popular at various times since the mid-19th century. Originally, crinoline described a stiff fabric made of horsehair ("crin") and cotton or linen which was ...

because she did not wish to take so much space in the world. In 1870, she was afflicted by a mental illness and placed in a mental asylum in Växjö, where she spent her remaining life until her death ten years later.

Literary career

In 1855, her life changed by the death of her mother and her sudden need to support herself. She lived on the charity of protective friends and relatives, but started to support herself by translations and by giving language lessons. In her mother's salon, she was affected by the then fashionable German romanticism, which affected her poetic production. Her poems centred around descriptions of the Uppsala of her childhood, heroic poetry in the style of the then fashionable Gothicism, scenes from nature and everyday life and poems and songs for children in the idyllic and realistic style of the late romanticism. Her poems were successful and given good critics: in 1846, they were read aloud in 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 ...

; in 1851 they were awarded first and second prize by the academy, and as a sign of recognition, the academy gave her monetary contributions from time to time. She was also active as the writer of children's books. In ''Fotografier af det forna upsalalifvet'', the characters depicted were in fact descriptions of her acquaintances such as

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 son of a country parson, was born in the province of Ostergotland on 19 Ja ...

Erik Gustaf Geijer Erik Gustaf Geijer (12 January 1783 – 23 April 1847) was a Swedish writer, historian, poet, romantic critic of political economy, philosopher, and composer. His writings served to promote Swedish National Romanticism. He was an influential a ...

and

Hans Järta Hans Järta (originally Hans Hierta) (11 February 1774 – 6 April 1847) was a Swedish administrator, revolutionary and philosopher. He helped overthrow Gustavus IV Adolphus in the Coup of 1809 and was one of the main drafters of the 1809 cons ...

Selected works

*''Ragnar Lodbrok'' (1851), writing, winner of the grand price of the Swedish academy *''Dikter'' I (1852), poem *''Elfvornas qvällar'' (1852) *''Dikter'' II (1853), poem *''Konvaljerna'' with Daniel and Louisa Müller (1855) *''Fyrväpplingen'' with Daniel and Louisa Müller and

(1855), verse and prose *''Sång vid öfverlämnandet af ett standar till Christiania studenter från Upsala damer'' (1856), song *''Kaffebjudningen. Af förf. till Sjöjungfruns saga'' (1858), poem * ''Fotografier af det forna upsalalifvet'' (1864), prose * ''Året. Teckningar ur barndomslifvet'' (1868), prose *''Efterlemnade anteckningar'' (1881)

References

Sources

* Knös. 6. Tekla Levina Andrietta i Nordisk familjebok (andra upplagan, 1911)
Thekla L A Knös, urn:sbl:11676, Svenskt biografiskt lexikon (art av Gösta Lundström), hämtad 2015-11-08.
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