Gallery of Mirrors

Description

What is the “secret of Great Tartary”? What became of the Swedish clerk Carl Robsahm’s original manuscript of his talks with Emanuel Swedenborg? What was Strindberg’s reaction to Balzac’s novel Seraphita?

These and other provocative questions are answered by Anders Hallengren in a selection of essays. Hallengren’s research in various parts of the world brings to light records that were formerly thought to be lost. In addition, Hallengren traces routes of subtle influence that range from the experiences of Swedish soldiers captured in Russia to a chance encounter in a hotel in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, in the Virgin Islands. Hallengren argues that these influences show the profound effect of Swedenborgian thought on celebrated and ordinary people, resulting not only in profound art but in a better world.

About the Author

Anders Hallengren is an associate professor of Comparative Literature and a research fellow in the Department of History of Literature and the History of Ideas at Stockholm University. He served as consulting editor for literature at Nobelprize.org. Dr. Hallengren is a fellow of The Hemingway Society (USA) and was on the Steering Committee for the 1993 Guilin ELT/Hemingway International Conference in the People’s Republic of China. Among his works in English are The Code of Concord: Emerson’s Search for Universal Laws; Gallery of Mirrors: Reflections of Swedenborgian Thought; and What is National Literature: Lectures on Emerson, Dostoevsky, Hemingway and the Meaning of Culture.

Inge Jonsson was professor of Comparative Literature at Stockholm University from 1973 to 1994. From 1988 to 1994, he also served as rector of the university. He has written four books on various aspects of Swedenborg’s thinking, two volumes on the history of literary theory, and a number of articles on research policy and university administration problems. He also served as president of the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History, and Antiquities from 1993 to 2001 and has written a history of the institution.

Reviews

“Reading this beautiful collection of well-researched essays, one cannot but be amazed at the phenomenon of Swedenborg and his influence.”

—Prof. Wouter J. Hanegraaff, Utrecht University

“Anders Hallengren’s essays… [are] groundbreaking in…the importance of Swedenborg and Swedenborgianism outside Europe…”

—Prof. Lynn R. Wilkinson, University of Texas, Austin

About the Swedenborg Studies Series

Swedenborg Studies is a scholarly series published by the Swedenborg Foundation. The primary purpose of the series is to make materials available for understanding the life and thought of Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772) and the impact his thought has had on others. The Foundation undertakes to publish original studies and English translations and to republish primary sources that are otherwise difficult to access.

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