Jakten på harmoni. En studie över den romantiska receptionen av Thomas Thorild.

Sammanfattning: This paper discusses the literary and philosophic reception of the Swedish 18-th century philosopher Thomas Thorild in the romantic era. It will be shown how three Swedish authors discussed this polemic and controversial philosopher, and how their way to discuss, and their thoughts about Thorild would in a way set the frames of a memory culture. The paper will show how the writer Erik Gustaf Geijer (1783–1847) as the leader of the Swedish gothic movement Götiska förbundet, was philological inspired by Thorild. How the literary historian Per David Amadeus Atterbom (1790–1855) would ‘give voice’ to Thorild. And how the author and critic Lorenzo Hammarsköld (1785 – 1827) would interpreting Thorilds poems and prose. With inspiration taken both from Thomas S. Kuhn and Quentin Skinner I will show how the Swedish historians of literature in the early 20-th century would discuss Thorild in terms of being nervous and to have excessive emotional behaviour which is examples of a psychologized historical valuation. A historiographic analysis of Henrik Schück and Karl Warburgs work Illustrerad svensk litteraturhistoria (1897–98: 1911–13) will show how their history over Swedish 18-th century literature, at the same time as it reconnects with Geijer, Hammarsköld and especially Atterboms way of describing Thomas Thorild, it is describing the romantic era in a very paradigm-compatible way. It will be shown how literary historians just as Schück and Warburg have read Thorild and witch kind of effect their interpretations and sometimes anachronical analysis had on the remembrance of Thomas Thorild. I will also show how important it is to learn about the social connections between the involved authors and how these connections will explain important parts of the reception of Thomas Thorild. And in the end, my desire to find out how Thorild was actualized and conceptualised in the romantic era will lead us to A man who was one of the first swedes to become mesmerized.