The serenity of Swedish literature was rudely shaken about 1884 by an incursion of modern realism, and an embittered con troversy raged between the older generation and the new. The leader of the older school was Viktor Rydberg (q.v.) (1828-95), a writer of many-sided activities, but chiefly remembered as the author of the five novels Fribytaren pd Ostersjon (The Freebooter on the Baltic, 1857) Den siste Athenaren (The Last Athenian, 1859), Singoalla (1865) and V apensmoden (The Armourer, 1891). He was ably supported by Carl Snoilsky (q.v.) (1841-1903), the greatest of Swedish lyric poets at the close of the 19th century.
Strindberg.—Four influences combined to release Swedish lit erature from the old hard-bound conventions. These were English thought -in the writings of Darwin, Herbert Spencer and John Stuart Mill; French realism in the doctrine and practice of Zola; Norwegian drama as represented by Ibsen and Bjornson ; and Danish criticism in the essays and monographs of Georg Brandes. Unquestionably the greatest name in recent Swedish literature is that of Johan August Strindberg (q.v.) (1849-1912). The signifi cance of his genius may be still under debate, but of one aspect of it there can be no question : he is the master of modern Swedish prose and dramatic dialogue.
Of those who worked side by side with Strindberg the most prominent was Gustaf Geijerstam (1858-1909), who began in 1884 by publishing realistic studies of peasant-life, Fattigt folk (Poor People) and a novel of Uppsala, Erik Grane (1885), which awakened wide interest. These were followed by a long series of popular novels in which psychological problems became increas ingly predominant. But before Geijerstam, two women writers had inaugurated the new novel of unidealized actuality. These were Anne Charlotte Edgren-Leffler, subsequently duchess of Cajanello (1849-92), who, from 1882 onwards, published a series of stories (Ur livet, From Life) which emphasized the demand for the equality of the sexes ; and Victoria Benedictsson ("Ernst Ahlgren," 1850-88), who committed suicide in Copenhagen after achieving marked success with her sketches of humble life in Frdn Skdre (From Skdre, 1884) and with the more ambitious nov els Pengar (Money, 1885) and Fru Marianne (1887). Of like tendency are the stories of Alfhild Agrell (1849-1923). Associated with Ahlgren was Axel Lundegard (1861-1930) whose novel, Rode prinsen (The Red Prince, 1889), marked a stage in the de velopment of Swedish fiction. He subsequently turned to the
historical novel to which two women, Sofie Elkan (1853-1921) and Matilda Malling (1864– ) have also contributed books which enjoyed a wide popularity. In the '9os descriptive realism in the novel gave place to a finer psychological realism, and a more idealistic—even romantic—tendency. The change is to be seen in Geijerstam, and in the work of Tor Hedberg (1862-1931), son of Frans Hedberg already mentioned. Of his novels, Judas (1886) and Pd Torpa gdrd (1888) may be specially mentioned. The idealistic tendency is most prominent in the novels of the repre sentative Swedish writer at the beginning of the 20th century, Verne von Heidenstam (1859– ), Endymion (1889), Hans Alienus (1892), Karolinerna (King Charles's Men, 1897-98) and Heliga Brigitta's pilgrimsfeird (St. Brigitta's Pilgrimage, 1901) ; and also in the delicate short stories of Per HallstrOm (1866– ), a writer who passed a considerable part of his youth in America.
With Hallstrom may be associated Ernst Josephson (1857-1906).
The greatest of Sweden's living novelists is Selma Lagerlof (1858– ), whose masterly Gosta Berlings Saga appeared in 1891, and was followed by Antikrists mirakler (1897 ) , Jerusalem (I 901-02) , and the delightful journey of Nils Holgersson through Sweden on the back of a wild swan (1906-07). In a long series of admirable short stories she has brought world-fame to her native province of Varmland. The poetry of the northern districts of Sweden has been finely expressed in the stories of Pelle Molin (1864-96) and Ludvig Nordstrom (1882– ), and that of the "Skargard"—the Stockholm archipelago—discovered for literature by Strindberg, in the writings of Albert Engstrom (1869– ). A place must also be found for the fine novels of Sven Lidman (1882– ), A tten Silfverstddhl (The Silfverstadhls), and the polished and essentially French talent of Hjalmar Soderberg (1869– ) whose ironic novel, Martin Bircks ungdom, appeared in 1901. Of the many contemporary novelists who make a more popular appeal Hilma Angered-Strandberg (1855-1927), Henning Berger (1872– 1925), Hjalmar Bergman (1883-1931), Gustaf Jansson (1885– 1913), Sigfrid Siwertz (1882– ) and Elin Wagner (1882 ) seem to have the most serious claim for an abiding place in Swedish literary history.