Sophie Elkan - i skuggan av Selma. Det historiska minnet

Abstract

This artide focuses on historical memory, in connection with the author Sophie Elkan ( 1 8 5 3 - 1 9 2 1 ) . The questions posed are: Who writes history, and how? The text also deals with the circumstances for women authors around 1900, and the difficulties they experienced in being by male authors and reviewers. Two women were seen as the famous author, Selma Lagerlöfs, closest friends namely Valborg Öländer and Sophie Elkan. Several literary histories describe Sophie Elkan as a neurotic and nervous person who was a bad influence on Selma Lagerlöf. This negative view has been routinely transmitted through the literary histories. However it is very important to be critical of the available information, and aware of the relevance of personal conflicts in the description of persons and situations. It is easy to find the source of the negative image of Sophie Elkan. It was, in fact, her rival Valborg Öländer, who survived both Lagerlöf and Elkan. She was Lagerlöf biographer, Elin Wägner's source of information and thus it was she who created the historical record of Elkan. Sophie Elkan was a well-known author - especially of historical novels - at the beginning of the 20th century. In her lifetime she belonged to the cultural elite in Sweden, and had many friends and relatives with great influence in the society. But Sophie Elkan was Jewish, a widow without children and she wrote novels in an area dominated by male authors. Moreover, women were often seen as primarily women and not authors, and even serious works might be described in the newspapers by male reviewers as ladies' novels, a description that indicated that their work was of lesser importance. These circumstances, it is argued, can also explain why her importance has been ignored by literary historians.