Ulrika Knutson

The group around the magazine Tidevarvet and the all-female college Fogelstad were prominent feminists in the first decades of the 20th century. Still, with two (and maybe a half) exception, they are pretty much forgotten. Starting out as mostly liberals, and firstly gathering around the issue of women’s vote and political education to match said vote, they slid towards socialism and/or Christianity as the century progressed, focusing on health, peace and land ownership. Never a homogenous group, and full of real characters, they quarreled, loved, betrayed and struggled, and made big steps in several fields. Fogelstad seems to have been a pretty special place, where women of all classes of society could meet, learn and discuss in a way that seems unique.

Ulrika Knutsson is a prolific culture journalist, and her group biography is personal, meandering and enlightening. Her warm tone, bringing these interesting characters to life, is perhaps the best thing about the book. Knutsson is never reverent: she snarls at Elin Wägner, shakes her head in puzzlement at the cold and moody Elisabeth Tamm, and can’t help but poke around in the love triangle of Ada Nilsson, Honorine Hermelin and Hagar Olsson. I really get the feeling she’s become close friends with these historical women – both admiring them and getting annoyed by them.

But of course the missing pieces of the Swedish political puzzle in themselves are also worth the read. I knew much too little about these pioneers and their legacy, and am happy to expand my feminist knowledge a bit. This is not a book focusing on theory though, and it’s restlessness is perhaps both a strength and a weakness.… (more)