The Origins of the Academy
Inauguration
The Swedish Academy was founded in 1786 by King Gustav III. On 20 March of that year, a letter was read out at a meeting of the Royal Council, in which the King announced that he had decided to establish ‘a Society of Eighteen Gentlemen and Men for the Prescription and Cultivation of the Swedish Language, as well as for the Practice of Eloquence and the Art of Swedish Poetry: This Society shall now and henceforth bear the name of the Swedish Academy’. The letter then laid out guidelines for the work of the new Academy and concluded with the names of the first thirteen members, all of which had been appointed by Gustav himself. In the presence of the King and a sizeable crowd, the inauguration of the Swedish Academy took place on 5 April at the Stock Exchange Building in Stockholm’s Old Town.
The statutes
The statutes of the Swedish Academy were, for the most part, drawn up by Gustav himself and are largely similar to those of the Académie Française.
The principal purpose of the Academy is to ‘develop the purity, vigour and majesty of the Swedish Language’, where the key words ‘purity, vigour and majesty’ are in modern terms roughly equivalent to clarity, expressiveness and authority. The statutes also required that the Academy, for instance, compile a dictionary and a book of grammar. It was moreover charged with organising annual competitions in oratory and poetry on given themes. On this basis, it was thought that the Academy would act as the supreme arbiter of taste.
The importance to King Gustav of the concept of taste was reflected, for example, in his choice of ‘Talent and Taste’ as the Academy’s motto, where ‘Taste’ was intended to indicate prudence and moderation in linguistic expression. The idea was that the inspiration and creative force flowing from talent would be prescribed and moderated by taste.
Gustav also had a patriotic purpose for the Swedish Academy, with one of its tasks being to cultivate the nation’s heritage. The King therefore decreed that every year the Academy should strike a commemorative medal and write a memoir on a prominent Swede. It would moreover hold its Annual Grand Ceremony on 20 December, the anniversary of the birth of national hero King Gustavus Adolphus.
The very first paragraph of the statutes stipulates that the Academy be composed of eighteen members. It is known that Gustav had originally intended there to be twenty, half the number of the Académie Française. Why he ultimately settled on eighteen is not entirely clear, but it is said that he chose the number because he considered it, when pronounced in formal Swedish, more sonorous than the word for twenty.
Within the Academy, there would be three membership categories: ‘literary writers’, ‘learned men’ and ‘gentlemen’. The gentlemen referred to here were men who had, by virtue of their birth and social standing, come to possess the quality of ‘taste’ that was so important to the founder. The Academy was nevertheless to be fully egalitarian: no distinction was to be made between the members on the basis of their background or social status.
With the first thirteen members having been appointed by Gustav, these would then elect the remaining five. In the event of a chair becoming vacant, the Academy would renew itself by electing a replacement. For this election to be valid, it would need to be submitted to the Academy’s patron, the King, for approval. The statutes also clearly state that nobody may apply for election to the Academy, nor may an existing member pledge their vote to a prospective candidate.
According to the statutes, membership is for life, and there are only two ways of leaving the Academy: by death or expulsion. Expulsion could apply on either of two possible grounds: disobedience of the legal or moral codes or a breach of the duty of confidentiality that applies with regard to the Academy’s internal affairs. In recent years, the life membership stipulation has been reviewed (see here), and members have, in fact, left their chairs for reasons other than those appearing in the statutes.
Three officials are to be appointed from among the Academy members: a director or chairperson, a chancellor or vice-chairperson and a secretary. The director and chancellor are to be appointed for six months, with re-elections on 1 June and 1 December, ‘whereas the Secretary shall remain permanent’. Rather than being replaced every six months, the secretary is therefore appointed for life, hence the term ‘permanent secretary’. According to the statutes, the duties of the permanent secretary include taking minutes during meetings, executing decisions and maintaining the Academy archives.
The finances
King Gustav wanted the Academy to be financially independent and therefore provided it with certain sources of income. The most important of these was the exclusive publishing rights to a newspaper, Post- och Inrikes Tidningar. In the early years, the management of the paper was contracted out by the Academy to some of its own members.