Svenssongalaxen: Lennart Svensson: Biography

måndag 12 juni 2017

Lennart Svensson: Biography

This is a biographical survey of Lennart Svensson, the author of Ernst Jünger -- A Portrait, Science Fiction Seen from the Right and Borderline -- A Traditionalist Outlook for Modern Man. -- This entry first has a bio, then a bibliograhy with links to Svensson's books, then some notes on "the way ahead" and, lastly, a gallery.

Bio

Lennart Svensson was born in the north of Sweden in 1965. After national service at I 21 regiment he settled for a while in Uppsala, studying the classics and working in a restaurant. He left in 2010 as a trained chef and a BA in Indology. He now lives in Härnösand on the north-eastern Swedish coast.

In Swedish Svensson published some fiction in book form before switching to writing in English. On the Australian imprint Manticore Books he published Ernst Jünger -- A Portrait in 2014 and Richard Wagner -- A Portrait in 2015. In 2015 he also published the essay Borderline -- A Traditionalist Outlook for Modern Man on Numen Books. (Numen and Manticore just got merged into Hadean Books. In this link you'll find blogposts etc. by me on the Hadean site.)

A major essay of Svensson saw light of day in 2016: Science Fiction Seen from the Right. This was a literary study portraying the genres of sf and fantasy from a radical conservative viewpoint, as such, totally unique in the history of these genres. For they are otherwise totally imbued by a left-leaning, materialist-nihilist, reductionist mindset. With his essay, Svensson attempts to bring wonder and awe, right-wing style, back into science fiction.

Indeed, Svensson has a conservative outlook in life, appreciating traditional art and culture of the Nordic and Western kind along with the Sanâtana Dharma of India. Svensson aims at giving the audience his traditionally footed worldview in popular form, in both essay and novel form. A proof of the latter is the fantasy Redeeming Lucifer (2017). This is his novel debut in English. His first-ever fiction piece in this language was the story The Middle Zone, published in Morpheus Tales: The Best Weird Fiction, Volume 3 (2013).

Before this, before his career in as a writer in English, Svensson as intimated had published novels in Swedish. And he still writes in Swedish, like publishing his history of Sweden, Ett rike utan like, in 2017.

Bibliography (Selective)

. Ernst Jünger -- A Portrait, 2014. ("A biography of the very highest calibre", Living Traditions Magazine).
. Richard Wagner -- A Portrait, 2015.
. Borderline -- A Traditionalist Outlook for Modern Man, 2015. ("Spanning from Plato to Castaneda, Svensson manages to not only capture the essential spark and esoteric meaning of conjectures regarding ontology—the nature of being—but he also manages to recast these conjectures in a new light", Juleigh Howard-Hobson in Heathen Harvest.)
. Science Fiction Seen from the Right, 2016. ("a book which not just looks at literature “from the Right” but raises questions about what, ultimately, is the Right itself", James O'Meara in Counter-Currents.)
. Redeeming Lucifer, 2017. (By the publisher the novel is described thus: "This is a classic, exciting adventure story for all ages of the battle between Light and Dark, told with unique imagination and acute historical detail." -- Amazon.co.uk review: "[A] very exciting story with acutely observed, flawed characters, brilliantly described battle scenes, and a very satisfying ending!")

The Way Ahead

Svensson is currently planning more books, both essays and novels. Inspiration-wise he's not in the doldrums right now.

Svensson sees it like this: the world of today is in a mess. There are no politicians around worthy of respect. And even if there are, the zeitgeist is in the grip of materialist nihilism, reductionism and myopic scientism. Against this, Svensson proposes a holistic worldview, a spiritualist, energetic mindfulness where the will-thought and passion of the individual is given its due.

With the saying, "I AM," an individual affirms his divine nature. This is the centerpiece of Svensson's thought. Read about it in Borderline.

Svensson might be a mystic but he also acknowledges the role of modern science. As such, he has an archeofuturist outlook in life. Modern technology will continue to shape our lives. However, the mind of man must change its focus from believing in mere science to embrace wisdom. The natural science of today has great ways of examining the material reality. But when you make this scientism into a metaphysical belief system, it goes awry. A deeper understanding of man in the universe, of the relation between micro- and macrocosm, is given by the perennial thought of ancient tradition, of pertinent parts of Christianity, Hinduism, paganism and shamanism.

Today's cultural zeitgeist is soulless, flat and tepid. Against this, Svensson attempts at bringing pizazz, wonder and glory back into the picture.

This is mirrored in all of Svensson's works. So, if you want snug, self-righteous reductionism, don't bother reading his works. But if you want to set out on a journey of discovery, of the self and the whole universe in a new, willful, energetic manner, then do check this writer up.

Gallery