The Reception of Olive Schreiner in the Swedish Press, 1890–1920

This chapter explores the reception of Olive Schreiner and her work in the mainstream and feminist Swedish press from the publication of the Swedish translation of The Story of an African Farm in 1890 until Schreiner’s death in 1920. While Schreiner had no apparent connection to Sweden, her work was well known there around the fin de siècle and was frequently published and debated in newspapers and magazines. Woman and Labour was translated and published immediately in 1911, and serves as the focal point for early twentieth-century Swedish feminists’ interest in Schreiner. The mainstream Swedish press, from national newspapers to local and specialist ones, carried adverts for The Story of an African Farm (1883) and Dreams (1890) in Swedish translation, published translations of shorter pieces and of excerpts of longer ones, reviewed her writings, and discussed her opinions on a number of issues, not least the South African War of 1899-1902. Schreiner was portrayed as being at the vanguard of modern ideas to do with feminism, colonialism, South African affairs, and British imperial culture, holding an important place in Swedish public debate around England, South Africa, colonial relations, and women’s rights around the turn of the last century.