A relation of Swedenborgianism and anthroposophy: The case of the Finnish author Kersti Bergroth and her novel The Living and the Dead

Abstract

My article discusses the influence of Emanuel Swedenborg on a Finnish female author, Kersti-Bergroth (1886-1975) through one of Bergroth's novels Eläviä ja kuolleita ('The Living and the Dead', 1945). Bergroth was a prolific author with an anthroposophical bent, and an admirer of German idealism. In this particular novel Bergroth refers explicitly to Swedenborg and the story discloses a number of Sweden-borgian themes: the doctrine of correspondences; a world divided into material, spiritual, and divine realms; and communication with the spirits of the dead. As Bergroth was an active member of the anthroposophical movement, I will also consider the route, spread, and place of Swedenborg's ideas within anthroposophy and theosophy in the twentieth century.