GALLERY OF MIRRORS

In this collection of essays, Anders Hallengren of Stockholm University investigates the effect of Swedenborgian thought across the globe, crossing cultures, eras, and genres.

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.

Author bios

ANDERS HALLENGREN is a Swedish author and scholar, a Harvard alumnus, and a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London. He received a doctorate for a dissertation on R W Emerson’s philosophy (The Code of Concord, 1994) and is an Associate Professor and Fellow of Stockholm University. The author of many books, including Gallery of Mirrors: Reflections on Swedenborgian Thought (Swedenborg Foundation, 1998) he is also the English translator of Swedenborg’s Dream Diary and other works. He has provided the revised translation of—and an introduction to—Carl Robsahm’s Memoirs of Swedenborg (Swedenborg Society, 2011). A prolific essayist and also a poet, Hallengren was awarded a prize by the Swedish Academy in 2008. In 2009 he lectured at the Swedenborg Association of Australia, the Hurstville Society, and the Linnean Society of New South Wales. He is currently translating a series of lectures on botany delivered by Carl Linneaus in the mid-1700s, a work commissioned by The Royal Swedish Academy of Letters. Since 2010, Anders has been the coordinator for Configurations of Desire, an international network of scholars researching expressions of desire in literature from antiquity through to the seventeenth century. The result of their research, PANGS OF LOVE AND LONGING: Configurations of Desire in Premodern Literature, will be published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing in 2013. A volume of Anders’ poetry was recently published in bilingual translation, Pentagrams | Pentagramme (Éditions Sander, 2012).

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.

Additional Information

This book can be purchased from the Swedenborg Society in London, however, if you are in the USA, you can order directly from the Swedenborg Foundation.