Edmund William Gosse

“ He followed this up by a number of contributions to the popular philosophy of religion, all inspired by the same reverent and yet searching spirit of inquiry. The modernity of his views led to his being opposed by the orthodox clergy, but by the wider public he was greatly esteemed. Nevertheless, it is said that it was his religious criticism which so long excluded him from the Swedish Academy, since he was not elected until 1877, when he had long been the first living author of Sweden. ”

“ As a student he turned to more precise labours, and devoted himself to science. He had almost determined to adopt the profession of an engineer, when he was offered in 1855 a post on the staff of one of the largest Swedish newspapers. ”

“ This caused his thoughts to return to imaginative literature, and it was in the feuilleton of this journal (the Göteborgs Handels-och sjöfartstidning) that Viktor Rydberg's romances successively appeared ”