Project Runeberg,

A new month is here and a new version of Project Runebergs front web page, http://runeberg.org/

On Sunday June 6, Sweden celebrates its national holiday. It's not called "independence day", because there is no definite point in history when Sweden became independent (from what?), but the closest we get is when rebellion leader Gustav Vasa succeeded in 1521 to break Sweden out of union with Denmark (the Kalmar Union, 1397-1521). Two years later, on June 6, 1523, he allowed himself to be appointed king Gustav I (Gustav the first) of Sweden. Gustav later introduced Lutheranism, centralized government, bureaucracy, laid the foundation for the National Archives, and reshaped Swedish society in general. So it's not only his beard that resembles Fidel Castro.

June 6 was also the day, in 1630, that his grandson Gustavus Adolphus (Gustav II Adolf) landed on Germany's shore to join the protestant forces in the Thirty Years' War. The place he landed was Peenemünde on the island Usedom, where a memorial monument was put in 1930, less than a decade before Wernher von Braun built the Nazi V2 rocket lab in the same place. King Gustavus Adolphus died in November 1632 in the Battle of Lützen, but the war lasted til 1648. In the Peace of Westphalia, the province of Vorpommern in northern Germany became part of the Swedish kingdom, and stayed so for more than 150 years.

In envy of other countries that had an independence day to celebrate, the "day of the Swedish flag" was first celebrated on June 6, 1916. In 1983 it was officially renamed the national holiday. In 1995 Sweden joined the European Union, where Denmark had been since 1973, as if to say that 474 years of "independence" was about enough.

Of course, Sweden was also in a union with Norway from 1814 to 1905, but in this case Norway depended on Sweden. Oddly enough, Norway celebrates its independence day in memory of May 17, 1814, not 1905. Next year, in 2005, we will commemorate the events of 1905.

Of all the above, Sweden's history of "glorious wars", what does Project Runeberg celebrate on June 6, 2004? -- Nothing, really.

On this month's version of our front web page, http://runeberg.org/ we bring your attention to the 200th anniversary of the birth of Carl Anton Wetterbergh (June 6, 1804 -- January 31, 1889). He was a Swedish physician with liberal ideas, who also wrote short stories, using the pen name Onkel Adam (where onkel is Swedish for uncle). In 1862 he also started a monthly magazine for children, Linnea, which he edited (and wrote most of its contents) for ten years. Some of his books were reprinted after his death, but none after 1910. This means they are hard to find in second hand bookstores, and libraries often keep 19th century books locked away in closed stacks.

We have digitized two pamphlets, one novel, and two collections of short stories. All are in Swedish:

* The pamphlet "Arbetskompagnier och jernvägsarbeten" from 1848 suggests a way to fight unemployment and at the same time help finance railroad building ventures by instituting governmental labour companies. (The first railroad in Sweden was opened in 1856.)

* The pamphlet "Om Behandlingen af den Asiatiska Choleran" from 1853 summarizes the author's experience and recommendations from the outbreak of cholera in Sweden in 1834 and 1853.

* "Simon Sellners rikedomar" is a novel, first published in 1853, although we have digitized the 2nd edition from 1891.

* "Berättelser, skizzer och noveller" is a recompilation of the author's previously published short stories that appeared after his death in 1889.

* "Ur Onkel Adams portfölj", also from 1889, is a posthumous collection of short stories that were previously unpublished or had only appeared in magazines.

In the 1910s, when Swedish conservative national romanticism was at a peak, this liberal doctor from the mid 19th century was not in fashion. The Swedish encyclopedia "Nordisk familjebok" (1921) dismisses his output as having little literary value. He spends scores of words on describing trivial interiors without reaching any dramatic point. He doesn't describe Sweden's glorious wars and kings, but cares for the poor and unemployed, both in his political and medical pamphlets and in his novels and short stories.

A more recent account, published in 2003, is more approving of Onkel Adam's style and life. Gunnar Lindqvist is the author of the chapter "En radikal Onkel" in "Från skilda utsikter", 2003 (ISBN 9178431859), a book about eightteen writers from the province Östergötland. Perhaps this will help spark new interest in his writings.

To read up (in English) on old Swedish kings, I recommend these Wikipedia articles,

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalmar_Union * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_I_of_Sweden * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustavus_Adolphus * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_holiday_of_Sweden