Literary Wars in Swedish Fiction

The fear of the Russian invasion of Sweden was caused by numerous wars with Russia . According to the Swedish NF bibliography of 1741–1983. Sam I. Lundvall Gustav Henrik Mellin published the book “The Last Battle of Sweden: A Fantastic Nightmare” ( Sveriges sista strid: Fantastiskt nattstycke ) in 1867. The paper wars collection believes that the story of Priest Mellin was published in Stockholm in 1840 ^[1] .

In 1889, an unknown author, under the pseudonym *** wrote the novel "How We Lost the Northern Provinces." According to the plot, the Swedish defense was in decline, which made it possible for the Russian imperial army to invade Sweden and seize the northern territories. The author focuses on the degradation of Swedish horse breeding, which led to the loss of the northern territories.

The feeling of weakness in Sweden was reinforced by the breakdown of Norway's union in 1905. In 1906, Ivan Aminoff wrote the novel The Norwegian-Russian War ( Kriget Norge-Ryssland ), which became a kind of warning to the Norwegians who had broken the Swedish-Norwegian union . In 1904, Aminoff published the book “When the God of War Speaks,” which is a romantic narrative of Sweden’s future war. The writer also published the book “Conquered Land” (1912) about the post-war time, reprinted in 1914 as “Conquest”.

In the period between the First World War and the Second World War, there were no examples of literary wars in Swedish fiction. An exception is Tag Thiel’s book “The Battle of Casto Island: A Tale of the Fateful Hour for Sweden” (1938). After World War II , the threat of atomic war appears in Swedish fiction. The enemy is becoming more uncertain, we are talking about a red threat. In 1950, the novel The Fatal Hour of Sweden 195X was published under the pseudonym Ergo. The book warned of a possible nuclear attack. Katharina Brendel published the novel “Atomic Twilight,” which tells the fate of the people of the fictional city of Menehat after the nuclear war. The book won the main prize (10,000 kroons) of the literary competition announced by the FIB publishing house (1953).

Hans Lundberg published in 1973 the book Monday, Three Hours, which recalls the possibility of a sudden nuclear attack. According to the plot, at three in the afternoon on Monday of the first week of each month, training tests of anti-air sirens are being conducted. The enemy chooses precisely this time for his attack. However, in the 1970s, tales of nuclear war in Swedish fiction became rare. In the mid-1970s, an unknown author, under the pseudonym Didrik Duck, wrote the short story 1999: Occupied Sweden. In the story, little Sweden is occupied by big Russia . The conquered Swedes are driven into the concentration camps by the invaders.

• Engholm Arvid. Literary war // Ural ranger . 1981. No. 3. P. 53–55.