The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Carlén, Emilia Smith Flygare

CARLÉN, kär-lān', Emilia Smith Flygare, Swedish novelist: b. Strömstad, 8 Aug. 1807; d. Stockholm, 5 Feb. 1892. In 1827 she married a physician named Flygare. In 1838 she published her first novel, ‘Waldemar Klein,’ and among the best of her subsequent works are the ‘Professor’ (1840); ‘A Year’ (1846); ‘The Brother's Bet’; and ‘The Guardian’ (1851). Several of her novels have been translated into English. After his death in 1833, she decided to devote herself to literature. In 1841 she married J. G. Carlén, a lawyer and poet. After his death in 1875, her literary activity ceased altogether, although her salon had been the centre of literary life at the capital. In 1878 she published a volume of ‘Reminiscences of Swedish Literary Life.’ She had clear insight into the conditions of human life, especially of life in the middle class, and she describes it with admirable fidelity. Characteristic are ‘Gustav Lindorm’ (1839); ‘The Rose of Tistelön’ (1842); ‘The Maiden's Tower’ (1848), all translated into English. Consult Svanberg, ‘E. F. Carlén’; ‘En studie’ (Stockholm 1912); Schoeldstroen, ‘E. F. Carlén’ (ib. 1888).