The Reception of Anne Charlotte Leffler's Authorship in the German Review 'Deutsche Rundschau' 1884-1894. A study of the Prerequisite of a New Effective Literary History.

摘要

This essay examines the possibilities of writing a counter history about Anne Charlotte Leffler that does not have - like most of the previous studies and literary histories upon Leffler - the Swedish boundaries or the Swedish language as its model. That is to say that this essay, in opposition to most of the hitherto writings on Anne Charlotte Leffler, values the international reception as high as the Swedish reception. It does so by undertaking a case study based on the German review Deutsche Rundschau, which published six short stories by and three articles about Anne Charlotte Leffler between 1884 and 1894. The short stories and the articles in Deutsche Rundschau are compared with two other documents of reception that contribute to the understanding of the German reception of Leffler. The examination shows that the focus on the international reception can contribute to illuminate aspects of Anne Charlotte Lefflers authorship that previously have been disregarded. One of the most important results is that it seems like Anne Charlotte Leffler was first and foremost an author of short stories and novels in Germany, while her dramatic writings were standing in the background. Another result is that AnneCharlotte Leffler had specific obstacles at the German scene just because she was a woman with the emancipation of women on her agenda. At the end it is shown that it is possible and even important to write a counter history about Anne Charlotte Leffler that has her successes and failures at theinternational scene in focus.