Lisbeth Helena Larsson (1949–2021) was a Swedish literary historian and researcher who from 2000 was professor of literary studies at the

University of Gothenburg The University of Gothenburg ( sv, Göteborgs universitet) is a university in Sweden's second largest city, Gothenburg. Founded in 1891, the university is the third-oldest of the current Swedish universities and with 37,000 students and 6000 st ...

where she focused on

gender studies Gender studies is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to analysing gender identity and gendered representation. Gender studies originated in the field of women's studies, concerning women, feminism, gender, and politics. The field ...

. Drawing on the archive of women's history at the Arts Faculty Library, she published a book on women from Gothenburg, ''Hundrade och en Göteborgskvinnor'' (101 Gothenburg Women). It paved the way for a grant from the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation which in March 2018 led to the establishment of '' Svenskt kvinnobiografiskt lexikon'', a searchable biographical dictionary of Swedish women. Larsson is also remembered as a theatre and literature critic for the newspaper '' Expressen''.

Early life, family and education

Born in

Vara Vara or VARA may refer to: Geography *Vara (river), in Liguria, Italy * Vara Parish, former municipality in Tartu County, Estonia * Vara, Estonia, village in Peipsiääre Parish, Tartu County, Estonia * Vara Municipality, municipality in western S ...

on 11 May 1949, Lisbeth Helena Larsson was the daughter of the bicycle shop owner, Knut Wilhelm Larsson and his wife Karen Linnea. She had an elder sister, Carina Maria. In the early 1980s, she married Börge Persson, with whom she had a son, Carl Martin Viktor Perrson. She soon divorced him and went on to marry Jan Henning Pettersson with whom she spent the rest of her life. In 1968, Larsson matriculated in

Skara Skara is a 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 ecclesiastical history. O ...

. After graduating from the University of Gothenburg, she taught religion and Swedish in secondary schools. She later continued her education at

Lund University , motto = Ad utrumque , mottoeng = Prepared for both , established = , type = Public research university , budget = SEK 9 billion Lund, she promoted her feminist views with colleagues and friends. Her research soon revealed that unlike their male equivalents, women's diaries and autobiographical articles had not usually been preserved or catalogued. Collaborating with Eva Haettner Aurelius and Christina Sjöblad, in 1991 she published ''Kvinnors självbiografier och dagböcker i Sverige: Bibliografisk förteckning 1650-1989'' (Women's autobiographies and diaries in Sweden: Bibliographic listing 1650–1989). She then devoted her attention to books, becoming a driving force behind ''Nordisk kvinnolitteraturhistoria'', published in English as '' The History of Nordic Women's Literature''. Drawing on the archive of women's history at the Arts Faculty Library which had been developed since 1950, she published a book on women from Gothenburg titled ''Hundrade och en Göteborgskvinnor'' (101 Gothenburg Women). Her efforts to extend the archive and transform it into a digital, searchable database finally culminated in a grant from the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation. In March 2018, it was therefore possible to establish ''Svenskt kvinnobiografiskt lexikon'', a searchable biographical dictionary of Swedish women in both Swedish and English. In parallel with her academic interests, from 1980 Larsson became a theatre and literature critic for the newspaper ''Göteborgs-Tidningen'' and went on to contribute to ''Expressen''. From 2003, for a number of years she frequently contributed articles on literature to ''

Dagens Nyheter ''Dagens Nyheter'' (, ), abbreviated ''DN'', is a daily newspaper in Sweden. It is published in Stockholm and aspires to full national and international coverage, and is widely considered Sweden's newspaper of record. History and profile ' ...

'' and ''Götebprgs-Posten''. Her ''Promenader i Virginia Woolf's London'' (2014), published in English as ''Walking Virginia Woolf's London'' (2017), examines

Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device. Woolf was born i ...

's novels in the light of her characters' literary geography, with particular attention to gender. Lisbeth Larsson died in

Skillinge Skillinge is a locality situated in Simrishamn Municipality, in Österlen, Skåne County, Sweden with 859 inhabitants in 2010. Skillinge has become known particularly for its theatre. Climate Skillinge has a maritime climate with a moderated co ...

on 16 October 2021 and is buried in Lund.

Awards

In 2012, for her contributions to research into Nordic literature, Larsson was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Faculty of Humanities,

University of Southern Denmark The University of Southern Denmark ( da, Syddansk Universitet, lit=South Danish University, abbr. SDU) is a university in Denmark that has campuses located in Southern Denmark and on Zealand. The university offers a number of joint programmes in ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Larsson, Lisbeth 1949 births 2021 deaths People from Vara Municipality Academic staff of the University of Gothenburg Gender studies academics 20th-century Swedish writers 20th-century Swedish women writers 21st-century Swedish writers 21st-century Swedish women writers