Catharina Ahlgren

Catharina Ahlgren (born 1734, dead c. 1800) was a Swedish writer, poet, translator, managing editor, and one of the first identifiable female journalists in Sweden.

Early life

Catharina Ahlgren was born the child of a governor in Östergötland in 1734. She married and had children but was divorced in 1753, and it was after her first divorce that she begun her career as a selfsupporting woman in the literary world.

Career

ocial context

During the Age of Liberty in Sweden between 1718 and 1771, several papers were published written for and by women. They were publications typical of the Age of Enlightenment and they discussed recent events and news, politics, philosophy and the position of women and gender equality, which presaged first-wave feminism in the English-speaking world. These papers sometimes pamphlets, and often written in the form of letters between two female correspondents. They were often temporary, published during one year, and quickly replaced by new ones the next, possibly by the same writers, under a new name and new signatures. These papers became common during the 1730s and were very common in the last years of the Age of Liberty.

One of these publications was, for example, the paper "De nymodiga fruntimren" "("The modern women")," which was written by the signatures "Belisinde" and "Sophie" and published during the year of 1773.

Literary women was seen as fashionable. A male editor stated during a publication of a female phoet : " As we wish for nothing higher than to encourrage the knowledge among us, it cannot be anything other than pleasant that a member of the gender so admirably support our intention". With the word gender, he actually ment women.

These writers were Sweden's first female journalists, but since they all wrote under psedonyms (mostly French names), in most cases they cannot be identified. In 1738, the paper "Samtal emellan Argus skugga och en obekant fruntimmers skugga nyligen anländ till Dödens rike" ("A talk between Argus' shadow and the unknown shadow of a woman newly arrived to the kingdom of Death") was published, written as a debate between a male (Argus' shadow) and a female journalist (the shadow of a woman). This was a radical paper where the writers were critical of religious repression and censorship, obedience to authority, and issues of war and peace, morality, and independence; the paper was censored several times by the authorities. The female writer is believed to be Margareta von Bragner-Momma,Fact|date=June 2008 and she satirizes the letters from some readers who criticize the thought of a woman discussing philosophy. In 1755-1756, Henrika Juliana von Lieven is believed to have contributed to the paper "En ärlig swensk" (An Honest Swede).Fact|date=June 2008

One of the few of these anonymous female journalists that have been clearly identified is Catharina Ahlgren.

Translator and poet

Ahlgren begun her career as a selfsupporting woman in the litterary world after her first divorce in 1753. She was first active as a translator; she translated the German poem "Die Prüfung Abrahams" by Christoph Martin Wieland in 1753 after her first divorce. She translated both phoetry and novels and presented queen Louisa Ulrika of Prussia with her own phoem.

Writer

Ahlgren participated under the signature Adelaide in the paper "Brefwäxling emellan twänne fruntimmer" ("A Correspondence between two women")" which were published in sixty eight numbers from 1772 to 1773. She was also this paper's editor. This was a feminist publication in which she argued in favour of a social conscience, democracy and gender equality, and recommended solidarity between women as a protection against male guardianship and superiority. She states that the only way to reach true love within a relationship is to be equals, adding that as men so often want to rule over women, it is much harder to retain friendship with them that with another woman. She discussed love and friendship, uppbringing, the king and the monarchy and religion. She also translated and published the French novel "La Femme Malheureuse".

In the correspondance-debate in her paper, she wrote 1772: "Even though I have just sent my letter, I still write anew until the post leaves. My only consolation Is my feather. Of all artists I praise the inventor of the art of writning the most." (By fether she ment her pen: fether-pen)

Publisher and editor

Ahlgren seems to have left Sweden in 1775. In 1782, she was listed as a resident in Åbo in Finland, were she is considered as the publisher and managing editor behind the paper "Om att rätt behaga" ("Of the Art of Pleasing")", and "Agnenäma Sjelwswåld" ("Pleasant Defyings") in 1783, which belonged to the first publications in Finland; the first one was, in fact, the first paper in Finland.

She finnished the publication "Om konsten at rätt behaga" officially because of health reasons. In her farewell she wrote: "You may see, gentlemen, how much I wished to copy you"- the year after, she published another paper.

Personal life

Ahlgren was married and divorced twice, once with stable master Bengt Edvard Eckerman, and once with a man named Bark. She had at least one child outside marriage except for her children with her husbands, and she was one of the first named women in Sweden to support herself and her children as a journalist, hundred years before Vendela Hebbe.

Four of her children is known. One of her children was the well-known singer Charlotte Eckerman (1756-90), another Julie Eckerman, (1765-1801), who became the mistress of count Carl Sparre and then the wife of Nils Björckegren, mayor of Linköping.

See also

* Sophia Elisabet Brenner
* Hedvig Charlotta Nordenflycht
* Maria Cederschiöld
* Louise Flodin

References

* Signums Svenska kulturhistoria, "Gustavianska tiden".
* Stig Hadenius, "Vad varje svensk bör veta".
* http://runeberg.org/sqvinnor/0266.html
* Nils Bohman, "Svenska män och kvinnor, nr 2".
* http://www.databasewomenwriters.nl/author.asp?authorID=519
* http://www.helsinki.fi/uh/3-2006/juttu1.shtml
* http://www.svenskhistoria.se/bocker/844.html
* http://www.ep.liu.se/ecp/015/021/ecp015021.pdf
* http://kvinnorsbrev.litt.lu.se/document_php__id_29.html

External links

* http://www.hum.uit.no/dok/ntbf/nr15.htm