“Yes, this path is the path of the paths” Taoist influences in the work of Vilhelm Ekelund

Mattias Aronsson, ”Ja, denna stig är stigarnas stig”. Taoistiska influenser i Vilhelm Ekelunds verk (“Yes, this path is the path of paths”. Taoist influence in the works of Vilhelm Ekelund)In this article I show how Taoist philosophy has influenced the Swedish poet, essayist and aphorist Vilhelm Ekelund. I note that the author mentions the Taoist philosophers Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu and discusses their ideas on a couple of occasions in his later works (Atticism – Humanism, 1943; Plus salis–, 1945). Examples of such explicit influence can also be found in Ekelund’s private notebooks, posthumously published in two volumes: Hemkomst och flykt (1972) and Ur en scholaris’ verkstad (1974). I argue that Taoist philosophy implicitly influenced the Swedish author as early as the second part of the 1910’s – when he started to emphasize such principles as moderation, composure, dispassion and non-desire in his writing. I also discuss other important ideals which Ekelund shared with the Taoist philosophers, such as poverty, humility, simplicity and dishonour. Finally, I see a parallel in the anti-intellectual aspects of Taoist thinking and Ekelund’s use of the term misologi (misology), a word which often has positive connotations in his works. In Ekelund’s prose, as well as in the famous Taoist text Tao Te Ching, excessive intellectualism is frequently criticized.