A Note on Kata Dalström
🪶 Saga's Study | I'm translating her books as I believe the best way to reclaim something from misuse is to engage with it seriously and transparently rather than leave it to the loudest voices.
I am translating Nordiska Gudasagor för Barn och Ungdom, a Swedish book about the Nordic gods, written for children in 1887.
Kata Dalström, the author, is an interesting case. She was a committed socialist and labour movement activist, and that lens almost certainly influenced how she shaped these stories for young readers, which myths she emphasised, how she framed the gods, and what she smoothed over or simplified. A 19th century children’s retelling is never a neutral document.
But then there’s the broader and considerably thornier issue that you’re no doubt aware of. Norse mythology has a complicated modern history precisely because 19th and early 20th century retellings - often well-intentioned and aimed at instilling national pride - fed directly into the romantic nationalism that was later weaponised by far-right movements.
That shadow doesn’t disappear just because Dalström herself was a socialist.
Nevertheless, the argument for bringing these texts forward is strong. The myths themselves predate any ideology that was later grafted onto them, and I do believe Dalström’s instinct to make them accessible to ordinary people was genuinely democratic.
I also believe that the best way to reclaim something from misuse is to engage with it seriously and transparently rather than to leave it to the loudest voices.
Love and light,
☽🤍☾ Saga
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