ABSTRACT
In retrospect, the “modern breakthrough” in Scandinavia emerges as dominated by Ibsen and Strindberg. In the 1880s, however, the horizon was dotted with a number of lesser luminaries who, for a time at least, shone as brightly. Many of them were women. That they, like many other Scandinavian writers of the decade, borrowed some of their light from the major stars—Ibsen, Strindberg, and Björnson—was perhaps unavoidable. Particularly Ibsen's pervasive influence can hardly be overrated: even Strindberg—see, e.g., his satiric short story “A Doll's House”—picked up themes, ideas, and types from Ibsen. Female writers responded especially warmly to Ibsen's idealism and found their own careers as artists legitimized by his emancipatory arguments. One Swedish female writer whose dialogue with Ibsen positioned her in the thick of the 1880s’ debate was Anne Charlotte Leffler Edgren. (Born Leffler and married Edgren, she is nevertheless often referred to as Edgren Leffler rather than Leffler Edgren. Following her second marriage, her full name became Anne Charlotte Leffler, Duchess of Cajanello.)
