Erik Gustaf Geijer

Erik Gustaf Geijer
Carl Wilhelm Nordgren (1804–1857)

Statue of Geijer at Universitetsparken in Uppsala

Erik Gustaf Geijer (12 January 1783 - 23 April 1847) was a Swedish writer, historian, poet, philosopher, and composer. His writings served to promote Swedish National Romanticism. He also was an influential advocate of Liberalism.

Biography

Geijer was born at Geijersgården, his family's estate in Ransäter, Värmland. He earned his Master's degree from Uppsala University during 1806. Geijer was a professor of history from 1817 at Uppsala University where a statue now commemorates him. He was rector of Uppsala University during the years 1822, 1830, 1836 and 1843-1844. As a representative of the university, he was a member of the Church of Sweden clergy: 1828-30 and 1840-41. He was a member of the Swedish Academy (on seat 14) from 1824. In 1835, he became a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Geijer was also a founding member of the Geatish Society (Götiska förbundet). In the first issue of its periodical, Iduna, appeared Geijer's most famous poem The Viking (Vikingen), which described the Viking as the heroic Norseman that many of us might imagine today and was a turning-point in the rehabilitation of Norse culture among the Swedish people. Geijer also collaborated with Arvid August Afzelius, in the three volume collection of Swedish folk-songs, Svenska folk-visor från forntiden (Stockholm, 1814–1816).

Although he rose to fame as a nationalist author, Geijer's views changed during his lifetime, and he began to advocate social reform and Liberalism.

Geijersgård

Geijersgården is a historic mansion centrally located in Uppsala, north of the Uppsala University library. Geijersgården is named after Erik Gustaf Geijer, who lived there from 1837 to 1846. The main building was built between 1737-38. The estate gained its present appearance around 1850.

In 1934, the estate was taken over by Uppsala University and since 1965 has housed the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation (Hammarskjöldfonden). The building was restored in the 1983 after a fire in which the building's western parts were badly damaged. The buildings are classified as historic properties under the Swedish Cultural Monuments Act (Kulturminneslagen).

Selected works

• Om falsk och sann upplysning med avseende på religionen (1811)
• Thorild: Tillika en filosofisk eller ofilosofisk bekännelse (1820)
• Svea rikes häfder (1825)
• Svenska folkets historia, I-III, 1832–36
• Minnen (1834)

Other sources

• Andræ, Carl Goran (1983) Siare och nationalmonument: Historikern Erik Gustaf Geijer, 1783-1847 (Almqvist & Wiksell) ISBN 978-9155414290
• Ehnmark, Anders (1999) Minnets hemlighet: En bok om Erik Gustaf Geijer (Norstedts) ISBN 978-9113007250
• Erdmann, Nils Axel Fredrik (2010) Erik Gustaf Geijer: En Minnesteckning (Nabu Press) ISBN 978-1141426928
• Thorsoe, Alexander (2010) Erik Gustaf Geijers Forelaesninger Over Menniskans Historia (Kessinger Publishing) ISBN 978-1160485937
• Olsson, Bernt and Ingemar Algulin (1991) Litteraturens historia i Sverige (Stockholm) ISBN 91-1-913722-2

External links

• Free scores by Erik Gustaf Geijer in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
• Geijer website
• Hammarskjöldfonden