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Hansson, Ola (1860–1925) By Hron, Irina
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Ola Hansson was among the most innovative and ground-breaking authors and critics of early Swedish modernism. With his delicate prose sketches Sensitiva amorosa he established himself as the central figure of Swedish decadence. He played a crucial role in introducing both Nietzsche and Strindberg to the German public. In 1889 he married the authoress Laura Marholm (née Mohr) (1854–1928), and in the same year they left Sweden. The couple moved several times between Germany, France, Switzerland, and Turkey. Both of them suffered from incipient mental disorder. In 1925, Ola Hansson died in Turkey and was buried in Sweden in 1926. Hansson is acknowledged as one of the major (albeit initially misjudged) innovators of modern Swedish literature. His earlier texts are highly valued for their subtle psychology as an answer to the programmatic literature of the Swedish 1890s, while his later texts display a tendency towards the political ideas of pan-Germanism.