How did Johan Henrik Kellgren influence literary taste during the Gustavian period?

During the Gustavian period, Johan Henrik Kellgren served as the preeminent arbiter of literary taste, significantly shaping the era's aesthetic standards. As a dominant figure of the Swedish Enlightenment, he championed a rationalist approach to literature, asserting that Swedish works—particularly comedies and tragedies—should be modeled on French Neoclassical patterns.12

Kellgren exerted his influence primarily through the influential journal Stockholmsposten, which functioned as the capital's main organ for literary opinion. He frequently utilized his polemical wit to defend these rationalist ideals against Thomas Thorild, who advocated for the concept of individual genius.12

Beyond his role as a critic, Kellgren was a foundational member of the Swedish Academy and a key collaborator with King Gustav III on theatrical works, including the patriotic opera Gustaf Vasa. While he began his career as a staunch rationalist and satirist, he later demonstrated an evolving literary sensibility by moving toward pre-Romantic ideas in his later poetry.312