In a well-known verse Swedish eighteenth century writer Anna Maria Lenngren advise her fictive daughter to avoid reding, since it might distract her from her household chores. This paper intends to examine attitudes towards women’s reading in eighteenth century Sweden, using different kinds of sources: Satirical verses, conduct books for girls and young women and genre paintings by Swedish painter Pehr Hilleström, depicting bourgeoise and aristocratic interiors. In my analysis I make use of the public-private distinction formulated by Jürgen Habermas. Habermas describes the literary public debate as a first step towards a political public debate. The private sphere, in which women a supposed to remain, is in Habermas version divided in an economic and an intimate part, centered on the family and the home. In the satirical verses reading and books aren’t a prominent topic but is mentioned as one of many vices connected to conspicuous consumption and a life “à la mode”. The verses like to contrast the vane, modern woman to the ideal of the good householder. The conduct books give a more nuanced picture of reading as a part of an aristocratic or bourgeoise woman’s life. Reading can be seen as a useful pastime, preferable to playing cards or making idle gossip. According to the conduct books the main purpose of reading should be to inform and educate the reader, not just to entertain her. The paintings confirm the impression that reading was a well-established part of domestic life for women of the leisured classes, but some of them still allows for a more critical view, like the one seen in the verses. The written sources are consistent in the conviction that women’s reading shouldn’t lead to their participation in any public debate. Reading and the fruits of reading are seen to develop and expand the readers personality, and possibly make her more attractive to a future husband, but it is meant to be kept in the private, intimate sphere of the home.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:umu-221483 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Eklöv, Anders |
| Publisher | Umeå universitet, Institutionen för idé- och samhällsstudier |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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