# Maria Sandel > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Maria_Sandel > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Maria_Sandel.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Sandel > Source revision: 1309158335 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Swedish textile worker, writer, feminist, social critic}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}} thumb|Maria Sandel '''Maria Gustafva Albertina Sandel''' (1870–1927) was a Swedish textile worker, writer, [feminist](/source/feminist), and social critic. Born in [Stockholm](/source/Stockholm), she was forced to leave school at the age of 12, and began to work to contribute to her family income. Despite her lack of formal education, she wrote articles for several journals, and later published her own novels. Often regarded as the [Fredrika Bremer](/source/Fredrika_Bremer) of the [proletariat](/source/proletariat), her works are [social commentary](/source/social_commentary), especially on the conditions of [working-class](/source/working-class) women. ==Life== Maria Sandel was born on 30 April 1870 in [Stockholm](/source/Stockholm), [Sweden](/source/Sweden) to a unmarried mother. Her mother, Maria Charlotta Killander, was a [seamtress](/source/dressmaker), and her father, Carl Gustaf Sandell, a domestic worker. Born into poverty, she grew up in [Kungsholmen](/source/Kungsholmen) and was compelled to quit school at the age of 12. Aged 17, she traveled to the US to work as a housemaid, to overcome her family's financial stress. During her four-year stay in the US, she learnt English, [German](/source/German_language), and [French](/source/French_language), enabling her to read literary works written in these languages. At the age of 25, Sandel had become deaf like her mother, and together they ran a [dairy shop](/source/dairy_shop) which was later forced to shut down. From 1908, she began to live on her own at a small residence in Mariebergsgata.{{cite web |last1=Borgström |first1=Eva |title=Maria Gustafva Albertina Sandel |url=https://www.skbl.se/sv/artikel/MariaSandel |website=[Svenskt kvinnobiografiskt lexikon](/source/Svenskt_kvinnobiografiskt_lexikon) |access-date=14 June 2021 |language=Swedish|date=8 March 2018 }}{{cite web |last1=Maria Forselius |first1=Tilda |title=Maria G A Sandel |url=https://sok.riksarkivet.se/sbl/Presentation.aspx?id=6336 |website=[Svenskt biografiskt lexikon](/source/Svenskt_biografiskt_lexikon) |access-date=14 June 2021 |language=Swedish }}{{cite web |last1=Maria Forselius |first1=Tilda |title=The Hot Blood of Moralism |url=https://nordicwomensliterature.net/se/2011/01/04/moralismens-heta-blod/ |website=[The History of Nordic Women's Literature](/source/The_History_of_Nordic_Women's_Literature) |access-date=14 June 2021 |language=Swedish |date=4 January 2011 }}{{cite web |title=Maria Sandel (1870–1927) |url=https://litteraturbanken.se/f%C3%B6rfattare/SandelM |publisher=[Swedish Literature Bank](/source/Swedish_Literature_Bank) |access-date=14 June 2021 |language=Swedish }} Sandel began her writing career by publishing articles in the journal ''Nordstjernan'' (The North Star). Soon she also began contributing to other newspapers such as, ''[Social-Demokraten](/source/Social-Demokraten)''. In 1904 she became the founding editor of ''[Morgonbris](/source/Morgonbris)'' together with [Anna Sterky](/source/Anna_Sterky).{{cite journal |author=Katarina Leppänen|title=The Swedish journal Morgonbris on political violence in Finland 1917–1918 |journal=Scandinavian Journal of History|date=2019|volume=44|issue=2|page=194|doi=10.1080/03468755.2018.1466986 |doi-access=free}} She joined [Stockholms Allmänna Kvinnoklubb](/source/Stockholms_Allm%C3%A4nna_Kvinnoklubb) (Public Women's Club) as a member, and began writing short stories and poems on [workers' movement](/source/labour_movement). In 1908, she released first book ''Vid svältgränsen'', an anthology of short stories that had been previously published in several journals. She followed it up with her second novel ''Familjen Vinge. En bok om verkstadsgossar och fabriksflickor'' the following year. It was published through Fackföreningarnas tryckeriaktiebolag. [Bonnier AB](/source/Bonnier_Group) publishing house released a new edition of the book a few years later, making Sandel one of the first working-class authors to get published by a major publishing house. Sandel's novels were mostly works of [social commentary](/source/social_commentary). She was a fierce critic of poverty, women's struggles, and [social stratification](/source/social_stratification). In her works, she highlighted the impoverished areas of Stockholm, as well as the lives of women who were disadvantaged, suffering, and poor within the society. Indignation stemming from her own life-style and the conditions under which the [working-class](/source/working-class) people lived became subject matters of her works. Recurring themes included [suffrage](/source/suffrage), exploitation and oppression of women, poor working conditions that they faced, illegal abortions, prostitution, alcoholism, and unmarried mothers, among others. An example is her 1924 novel, ''{{Interlanguage link|Droppar i folkhavet|sv}}'' (English: Drops in the sea of people). Some of her works were also drawn from the premises of female solidarity, pride, and fellowship. Maria Sandel died in Stockholm in 1927. ==References== {{Reflist}} == Further reading == * {{SKBL}} {{authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Sandel, Maria}} Category:1870 births Category:1927 deaths Category:Writers from Stockholm Category:20th-century Swedish women journalists Category:Swedish-language writers Category:Swedish suffragists Category:Swedish feminists Category:20th-century Swedish journalists --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Maria Sandel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Sandel) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Sandel?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.