Wilhelmina Stålberg

Wilhelmina Stålberg (around 1870)

Carolina Wilhelmina Stålberg (born November 26, 1803 in Stockholm , † July 23, 1872 in Mariefred ) was a Swedish writer , poet , translator and songwriter . She often published in Sweden under the pseudonym Wilhelmina . In Denmark and Germany , some of her writings were mistakenly offered as works by Emilie Flygare-Carlén or Carl Anton Wetterbergh (Uncle Adam).

Life

Stålberg's actual parents are unknown. After a short time in the children's home, she was taken in by the family of the Landschreiber (Fältkamare) Stålberg. At first, the foster parents were suspicious of her poetic inclination, and believed that it would distract from training as a maid. Independently of this, she probably received extensive foreign language lessons from her father, which explains her later work as a translator. After her father's death, her poems, which were published in the morning newspaper Stockholms-Tidningen from 1819 , were a welcome extra income for the family. It was not until 1826 that Stålberg's collected works appeared anonymously in book form. This was followed by various short stories until her first longer novel was published in 1839 , Emmas hjerta ( Emma's Heart ).

Her novel Eva Widebeck, eller Det går aldrig an (1840) was a reaction to Carl Jonas Love Almqvist's famous novel Det går an.

In later years Stålberg published a number of historical novels , among other things about Swedish queens and princesses. Her repertoire included children's books, collections of puzzles, song books, a mythological lexicon, charades , treatises on crochet and works in the style of ancient Greek legends . Together with the publisher Per Gustaf Berg , she published the biographical encyclopedia Anteckningar om svenska quinnor ( notes / notes on Swedish women ), which is important for women's history from 1864 to 1866 . Stålberg translated works by Hans Christian Andersen , Charles Dickens , Eugène Sue , James Fenimore Cooper , Grace Aguilar , Luise Mühlbach and Bernardin de Saint-Pierre into Swedish. She moved to Mariefred a few years before her death, where she died after several months of illness. Though Stålberg earned significantly less as a woman than her male colleagues, she was known for making generous donations to those in need. After an original burial in Mariefred, her bones were later transferred to the cemetery of St. John's Church in Stockholm.

Works (selection)

• Min Lyras Första Toner (1826)
• Min ungdoms ideal (1826)
• Emmas hjerta (1839)
• Eva Widebeck, eller Det går aldrig an (1840)
• Diodes och Lydia (1841)
• Försök till ett nordiskt mythologiskt lexicon (1844)
• Major Müller's döttrar (1845)
• Catharina Månsdotter (1848)
• Om svenska prinsessor (1858)
• Christina, drottning af Sverige (1861)
• Bröderna Stålkrona (1863)

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b c d e} Stefan Johansson: Carolina Wilhelmina Stålberg . In: Svenskt biografiskt lexikon . tape 34 , 2000, pp. 152 (Swedish, Carolina Wilhelmina Stålberg ).
2. ^ V. Leche: Stålberg, Karolina Vilhelmina . In: Theodor Westrin, Ruben Gustafsson Berg, Eugen Fahlstedt (eds.): Nordisk familjebok konversationslexikon och realencyklopedi . 2nd Edition. tape 27 : Stockholm-Nynäs järnväg – Syrsor . Nordisk familjeboks förlag, Stockholm 1918, Sp. 558 (Swedish, runeberg.org ).
3. ↑ ^{a b} Krook, Axel: Wilhelmina Stålberg . In: Svea folkkalender . 1973, p. 221–224 (Swedish, Wilhelmina Stålberg (obituary) ).

literature

• Sigrid Leijonhufvud, Sigrid Brithelli: Stålberg, Wilhelmina . In: Kvinnan inom svenska litteraturen intill år 1893: en bibliografi . 1893, p. 163-166 (Swedish, Stålberg, Wilhelmina ).