Ola Hansson - Ideas and Works

Ideas and Works

In the period following the notorious Sensitiva Amorosa (1887) he proclaimed himself an adherent of Nietzschean ideas, a view he made public with the cycle of poems Ung Ofegs visor (1892). Here he voiced his contempt of the general crowd and belief in the Übermensch. Hansson, together with Georg Brandes was instrumental in calling attention to Nietzsche's works in Germany, and he also helped publicize Strindberg's work in German magazines at a point when the latter was not appreciated in Sweden. The two men rapidly became enemies, though, after Strindberg moved to Berlin in 1892.

While in Germany, he wrote and published works in German, Danish and Norwegian, for example Fatalistische geschichten (German, 1890) which was published the same year in Danish as Skæbnenoveller. Other German language works during this period included Im Huldrebann (1895), Meervögel (1895), Der Weg zum Leben (1896; also in Swedish, Vägen till lifvet, 1896), and Der Schutzengel (1896).

Later in the 1890s he came to loathe Germany, and a hatred of people grew to fanatical proportions, manifesting itself in anti-semitism among other things. For a short period he expressed an adherence to Catholicism. These peculiarities further alienated him from contemporary Sweden. He did however gain some recognition in Germany thanks to his German wife Laura (1854–1928; pseudonym Laura Marholm), who spread Hansson's works to a larger audience.