Lovisa Mathilda Nettelbladt (1814–1867), was a Swedish novelist and travel writer. She wrote under the pseudonym m-n. She lived in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
between 1850 and 1856, and she is foremost known for her travel book about her life in North America, which belongs to the earliest literature published of a Swedish emigrant as well as a Swedish female emigrant to the USA.
[Lovisa Mathilda Nettelbladt, www.skbl.se/sv/artikel/LovisaMathildaNettelbladt, Svenskt kvinnobiografiskt lexikon (artikel av Carina Lidström), hämtad 2020-07-15.]
Biography
She was born to the merchant Fredrik Nettelbladt and Carolina Elisabet Charlotta Lochner. She was never married. Her father declared bankruptcy in 1838, and she supported herself as a governess. She published a novel in 1824, which was translated to German in 1848. In 1850, her father died, and she left for North America in the company of her friend Hedvig Eleonora Hammarskjöld. She spent six years in the USA, foremost in
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
and
South Carolina
)''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = ...
. She supported herself as a governess and by giving lessons to rich women in embroidery and the manufacture of artificial flowers and decorations by wax and feathers. She returned to Sweden in 1856.
In her travel book, Nettelbladt described the often harsh terms of the emigrants. She described the great hospitality and friendliness she had herself experienced and had a good impression of the terms of women in the USA, specifically those belonging to her own category of educated middle-class women, and it was her impression that governesses, and other women of a similar category, were treated much more equally in America than in Europe. Living in North Carolina and South Carolina, she also described the slavery she witnessed in America. On one hand, she described that many enslaved people gave the impression of being content and treated well, and compared it to the treatment of the poor in Sweden; but on the other hand, she described her indignation by witnessing a white woman beating her slaves, and stated that she was categorically opposed to all forms of slavery.
Works
* ''Mathildas bekännelser eller Petreas första roman'', letternovel, 1842, translated to German in 1848
* ''Erfarenhet och hugkomst ifrån sex år i de Förenta Staterna'', travel book, 1860
See also
*
Rosalie Roos
Rosalie Ulrika Olivecrona, née Roos (December 9, 1823 – June 4, 1898), was a Swedish feminist activist and writer. She is one of the three great pioneers of the organized women's rights movement in Sweden, alongside Fredrika Bremer and ...
, another female Swedish traveller who lived in the Carolina states in the 1850s and wrote a travel book about her stay.
References
Further reading
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nettelbladt, Lovisa Mathilda
1814 births
1867 deaths
19th-century travel writers
Swedish travel writers
19th-century Swedish writers
19th-century Swedish women writers
19th century in South Carolina
Swedish emigrants to the United States
Swedish governesses