Generation of “men about town” writers and Runar Schildt

The turn of the XIX-XX centuries became a time of great changes in Finland. The issue of relationships and the status of Swedish and Finnish languages were questions of great importance. A great number of native speakers had to redefine their social position. The Swedish speaking Finns experienced a particular crisis, which was caused by the transformation of the privileged part of the society to a class of national minority. Consequently, there was a variety of literary trends reflecting the mood of its creators. Against this background, a group of “men about town”-writers demonstrated pessimism and passivity. Runar Schildt was one of the most talented and prominent representatives of this generation, but his works were one-dimensional. Nevertheless, his early works, and especially his collection of novels “The conquering Eros”, contain typical “men about town” themes.