"I känslofulla sköna!" Bengt Lidner, Göttingen och den kvinnliga läsaren [The emotional beauty!]

• The Swedish poet Bengt Lidner (1757‒1793) studied in Göttingen in 1780‒1781. A spatial analysis of the poet’s global biography and his poetical geography points to Enlightenment universalism as well as to the poetical ideals expressed in Göttingen – the Göttinger Hain, Göttinger Musenalmanach, and the teachings of Professor Christian Gottlob Heyne. Even Lidner’s opera libretto Medea displays connections to Göttingen, through Heyne’s focus on Greek tragedy and Lidner’s expressed source of inspiration, Friedrich Wilhelm Gotter. However, Lidner’s transcultural poetry failed in the Swedish context, lacking a proper literary market. In an attempt to create an audience in Stockholm, Lidner turned to female readers in his forewords and other paratexts. In fact, Lidner transformed the Medea character into a representation of his female Swedish reader, the ideal mother and spouse. The spatial analysis, including space both literally and in an imaginary sense, leads to the conclusion that Lidner’s sentimental mode of writing displayed transcultural traits interacting with – and even colliding with – local conditions

Subject headings

HUMANIORA  -- Språk och litteratur -- Litteraturstudier (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Languages and Literature -- Specific Literatures (hsv//eng)

Keyword

spatiality

Bengt Lidner

Göttingen

Medea

female readers

spatialitet

Bengt Lidner

Göttingen

Medea

kvinnliga läsare

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)