Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Bremer, Fredrika

BREMER, FREDRIKA, a Swedish novelist, was born at Tuorla, Finland, Aug. 17, 1801; was brought up at Arsta, about 20 miles from Stockholm. In 1828 appeared the first volume of her “Sketches of Everyday Life,” but the second volume, “The H. Family” (1833; English translation, 1844), first revealed her power. From this time she devoted herself to writing stories and varied her literary labor by long journeys in Italy, England, the United States, Greece, Palestine, which supplied the materials for her “Homes of the New World” (1853), and “Life in the Old World” (1862). On her return to Sweden she gave herself up to philanthropy, but more particularly to the education and emancipation of women, and the consequent propagandist character of her later novels, “Bertha,” and “Father and Daughter” (1859), was detrimental in no small degree to their literary value. She has been called the Jane Austen of Sweden. Of her stories perhaps the most perfect is “The Neighbors” (1837). “The Diary,” “The President's Daughters,” “Brothers and Sisters,” and “Strife and Peace,” are only less popular. She died in Arsta, Dec. 31, 1865.