My Library #1: Rudbeck's Atlantica (1679)

One afternoon in the late nineties, I took a break from reading Olof Rudbeck’s letters at Lund University in southern Sweden, and went for a walk. Passing the cathedral and several cafes where I had spent many afternoons practicing my Swedish with patient friends, I entered an antiquarian bookstore. I browsed a bit, and then struck up a conversation with the man behind the counter. “Do you have anything on Olof Rudbeck?” I asked, hoping for something, or anything that I had not already read. “No, I don’t think so,” he said, looking down and shaking his head. But just to make sure, he went to the back to take a look. A few moments later, he returned with a first edition of Olof Rudbeck’s Atlantica.

Above (right) is the title page to the Atlantica (Swedish Atland eller Manheim). Rudbeck wrote the text in Swedish and his colleague, the classicist and professor of eloquence Anders Norcopensis translated it into Latin. The page (left) discusses a few of Rudbeck’s 102 “proofs” why Atlantis must have been in Sweden. Later volumes would offer additional support for his theory. For more on the Atlantica, see post "My Library" or read more about it in Finding Atlantis.

From Olof Rudbeck to Quentin Tarantino

Quentin Tarantino is apparently toying with the idea of setting a coming of age tale of an American bumming around in Stockholm during the 1970s. Obviously, there is a great deal of potential here. The Swedish capital is, in many ways, a writer and filmmaker’s dream. I visited Stockholm many times in the 1990s, and lived there for a spell too when researching Finding Atlantis. It is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. Go Quentin! While you’re at it, be sure to take the short trip out to “Old Uppsala” and see where the enigmatic Olof Rudbeck believed that he had found Atlantis.

A brief introduction to the life of Olof Rudbeck and his obsession with Atlantis – the subject of Finding Atlantis – can be found in my post here.