"A Touch of the Spiritual World": An Anthroposophical Core in the Life and Work of Kersti Bergroth (1886-1975)

Abstract

<p> The influence of Theosophy and Anthroposophy in Finland is approached by Tiina Mahlamäki through the writer Kersti Bergroth’s (1886–1975) life and work. Emmanuel Swedenborg’s and in particular Rudolf Steiner’s Theosophical and Anthroposophical writings strongly emphasized creativity and thus appealed to many artists, who, from this perspective, became conveyors of hidden spiritual truths. One of these artists was Bergroth, who declared that she had expressed her whole life in her writings, “but always veiled, covered, deceptive, quite different than it was ever lived.”. Despite a career lasting over more than sixty years and with more than seventy published novels, Kersti Bergroth remains nearly unknown as an author to Finnish readers of today.</p>