German and Scandinavian Literary Relations

Brask, who eventually became a Lutheran clergyman, penned his own version of the tale, Filius prodigus (1645; Prodigal Son) and placed a strong emphasis on the frightening experience of the unwary traveler, which would have spoken to the many Nordic students abroad. Rudbeck was a professor of medicine at Uppsala University who discovered the lymphatic system; however, Atlantica was his attempt to establish Sweden as a central cultural force within Europe, at a time when the Swedish Empire was already an established military force. According to Rudbeck, Sweden is Plato's lost Atlantis, and the Goths swarmed outward and brought the world religion, culture, and writing. Danish scholar Klaus Hurlebusch has suggested, however, that perhaps Denmark might have had an impact on his view of politics and the relationship of the state to science and of science to art.