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Sophie Elkan

1853 – 1921

Swedish writer

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About Sophie Elkan

Lived 1853 – 1921 (aged 68). Sophie Elkan was a Swedish novelist, translator and writer.

Sophie Elkan ( Salomon; 3 January 1853, Gothenburg – 5 April 1921, Gothenburg) was a Swedish writer and translator.

Life Sophie Salomon was the daughter of the merchant Alexander Salomon and Henriette Abrahamson. Her parents had migrated to Sweden from Germany. Her elder brother, Otto Salomon was an educator. She was raised in a happy home and affected strongly by her intellectual mother. In 1872 she married her cousin, the music book seller Nathan Elkan (1834-1879), with whom she had a daughter, Kerstin (1877-1879). Her marriage was happy, and the death of both her spouse and daughter in December 1879 with tuberculosis caused a crisis; The two women visited Italy in 1895, and traveled to Egypt, Palestine, Italy, France, Belgium and Holland in 1899. After her death, Lagerlöf inherited her personal possessions, which she used to convert a room in her home Mårbacka into an Elkan museum, known as Elkanrummet (Elkan Room).

In fiction The relationship between Selma Lagerlöf, Valborg Olander and Sophie Elkan was portrayed in Selma, a TV series written by Åsa Lantz in 2008, with Helena Bergström as Selma Lagerlöf, Ingela Olsson as Valborg Olander and Alexandra Rapaport as Sophie Elkan.

Works Dur och moll: skizzer och berättelser. Visby: Gotlands Allehandas tr. 1889. Med sordin : Skisser och novelletter. Visby. 1891. Rika flickor: berättelse. Stockholm: Fr. Skoglund i distr. 1893. Säfve, Kurt & C:o: nutidsberättelse. Stockholm: Skoglund (distr.). 1894. Skiftande stämningar: ett novellhäfte. Visby. 1896. John Hall: en historia från det gamla Göteborg. Stockholm: Bonnier. 1899. Drömmen om österlandet. Nordiskt familjebibliotek, 99-3140236-9; 10. Stockholm: Bonnier. 1901. Konungen: en sannsaga. Stockholm: Bonnier. 1904. Konungen i landsflykt: en sannsaga. Stockholm: Bonnier. 1906. Från östan och västan: en novellbok. Stockholm: Bonnier. 1908. Anckarström : en historia från idyllens och revolutionernas tidehvarf.. Stockholm: Bonnier. 1910 Erdmann, Nils August Bondeson; Ola Hansson; Sophie Elkan; Axel Lundegård; Daniel Fallström. Sveriges national-litteratur, 1500-1900 / utgifvet af Henrik Schück och Ruben G:son Berg, 20. Albert Bonniers, 1912.

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Important facts

People in Sophie Elkan's life

Named in this biography and alive at the same time

Contemporaries

People whose lives overlapped Sophie Elkan's

Frequently asked questions

Who was Sophie Elkan?

Swedish writer (1853–1921)

When was Sophie Elkan born?

Sophie Elkan was born on 3 January 1853 in Gothenburg.

When did Sophie Elkan die?

Sophie Elkan died on 5 April 1921 in Vasa parish.

What was Sophie Elkan's occupation?

Sophie Elkan was a novelist, translator and writer.

What nationality was Sophie Elkan?

Sophie Elkan was Swedish.

Sources & further reading

· Wikipedia: Sophie Elkan

· Wikidata: Q476144

· DBpedia: Sophie Elkan

Cite this page

APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Sophie Elkan. https://biography.guide/sophie-elkan/

MLA: "Sophie Elkan." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/sophie-elkan/.

Chicago: "Sophie Elkan." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/sophie-elkan/.

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