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Home , Agnes von Krusenstjerna, Agneta Pleijel, Artur Lundkvist, August Prize, Birgitta Trotzig, Blackwater (novel)

swedishPublished culture by the Swedish Institute August 2004 FS 114 c

Modern Literature A whole century of necessarily encompasses numerous literary currents: folk romanticism, fl âneur literature, expressionism, bourgeois novels, surrealistic poetry, urbane portraits, social criticism, social realism, and accounts of the disintegration of the welfare state and the fragility of the individual. Some writers belonging to this literary scene have only one role to play, but a major one. Others reappear in several guises. Different voices from different epochs speak to us, loudly or softly, from “their” particular . 2 SWEDISH CULTURE MODERN LITERATURE

TURN-OF-THE-CENTURY CURRENTS Hjalmar Bergman (1883–1931), one of Another social rebel was Ivar Lo- Two giants dominated Swedish literature the truly great storytellers of Swedish lit- Johansson (1901–1990) who became the at the turn of the 20th century: Selma La- erature, was both a novelist and a drama- dominant fi gure among Swedish proletari- gerlöf (1858–1940) and tist. One of his specialties was portraying an writers. He portrayed the cotters — poor (1849–1912), whose infl uence on narrative the evils of contemporary life in a carniva- farm laborers who were paid mainly in kind and drama has been felt ever since. Strind- lesque, entertaining way, as in his 1919 nov- — in such novels as Godnatt, jord (Break- berg’s Röda Rummet (The Red Room), 1879, el about small-town life, Markurells i Wad- ing Free), 1933, and he captured the big-city and Lagerlöf’s Gösta Berlings saga (Gösta köping (God’s Orchid). Farmor och vår herre mentality in novels like Kungsgatan (King’s Berling’s Saga), 1891, are considered the fi rst (Thy Rod and Thy Staff), 1921, and Clownen Street), 1935. The latter was a subversive modern Swedish novels. Jac (Jac the Clown), 1930, are other outstand- novel that in the midst of the book burnings Nils Holgerssons underbara resa genom ing novels. of the thirties depicted prostitution and ve- Sverige (The Wonderful Adventures of Nils), Elin Wägner (1882–1949) depicted the nereal disease. 1906–1907, by Lagerlöf, a book which sev- lives of modern working women and the vi- (1890–1964) wrote twen- eral generations of schoolchildren knew cissitudes of the Swedish women’s suffrage ty novels, focusing on the daily drudgery of by heart, is a playful introduction to Swe- movement. Her most noteworthy novels are women factory workers and farm laborers. den’s geography. Two years later came Sven- Norrtullsligan (The Norrtull Gang), 1908, The volumes in her autobiographical trilogy skarna och deras hövdingar (The Swedes and Pennskaftet (The Penholder) and Åsa-Hanna — Mor gifter sig (My Mother Gets Married), Their Chieftains), a children’s history read- (Åsa-Hanna), 1917. 1936, Kyrkbröllop (Church Wedding) and er by (1859–1940). Kungens rosor (The King’s Roses), 1939, — Because Strindberg was constantly at odds THE INTERWAR YEARS are constantly in demand at Swedish public with the Swedish establishment, early in this Pär Lagerkvist (1891–1974) was one of the libraries. century Heidenstam was the author who en- fi rst modernist poets in Sweden. His expres- Meanwhile novels about the bourgeoi- joyed the status of Sweden’s unoffi cial poet sionist poem, Ångest (Anguish), 1916, in- sie were being written by Agnes von Kru- laureate. His oeuvre was imbued with ro- troduced modernist lyricism to Sweden. senstjerna, Olle Hedberg and Fritiof Nilsson mantic and themes from Swed- Lagerkvist’s prose and poetry addressed Piraten. (1894– ish history, beginning with his debut col- the great existential questions of the exist- 1940) portrayed “the poor nobility,” a class lection of poetry, Vallfart och vandringsår ence of God and the meaning of life. He of- from which she drew characters affl icted by (Pilgrimage and Wandering-Years), 1888. ten chose the ancient world for his settings. a nervous hysteria with sexual overtones in Nya dikter (New Poems), 1915, was his last He was also a playwright. Himlens hemlighet her three Tony (Tony) books, 1922–1926, major work. (The Secret of Heaven), 1919, his best known and in her von Pahlen (von Pahlen) series, During this period, symbolism was the drama, echoes Strindberg’s Ett drömspel. 1930–1935. The candor of these works fashionable literary movement. Strindberg, Inspired by European modernism, Birg- stirred up bad blood and resulted in a furi- in addition to his realistic works, was also a er Sjöberg’s (1885–1929) poem Kriser och ous debate. trailblazing symbolist playwright. Ett dröm- kransar (Crises and Wreaths) caused an out- In 1929, , Harry Mar- spel (), 1902, contains one of cry when it appeared in 1926, both because tinson, Gustav Sandgren, Erik Asklund and his most famous lines: “Humanity is to be of its anxiety-ridden expressionistic form Josef Kjellgren published a poetry anthology pitied.” and because Sjöberg had earlier made his entitled Fem unga (Five Young Men), which The foremost symbolist poet was Vil- name as an idyllist with the popular Fridas became a premonition of things to come in helm Ekelund (1880–1949), one of the fi rst visor (Frida’s Songs), 1922. Lagerkvist’s and the thirties. Inspired by Freudian psycho- modernists in Sweden. He wrote free verse Sjöberg’s poetic rebellion would later be em- analysis, Lundkvist and Martinson viewed but later switched to essays and aphorisms. braced by the poets of the thirties and the the future with optimism. They later became Few authors capture the fi n-de-siècle forties. major fi gures in Swedish literary history. fl âneur atmosphere of disillusioned sophis- During the interwar period a number of Artur Lundkvist (1906–1991), a sur- tication as skillfully as Hjalmar Söderberg writers emerged who had their roots in the realist poet and prose writer, was a prolif- (1869–1941). His protagonists were passive working class, among them Eyvind John- ic author throughout his life and played a and listless, aimlessly roaming the streets of son, , Moa Martinson and key role in introducing international lit- , but the fact that Söderberg did Jan Fridegård. Many of them wrote auto- erature to Swedish readers. Harry Martin- not condemn their often decadent lifestyles biographical novels in the spirit of Maxim son (1904–1978), a former sailor who had was considered somewhat shocking. Den Gorky. During 1934–1937, grown up as an orphan, described his diffi - allvarsamma leken (The Serious Game), (1900–1976) produced Romanen om Olof cult childhood in Nässlorna blomma (Flow- 1912, is perhaps the most widely read of all (The Novel About Olof) in four parts, de- ering Nettle), 1935. In the thirties he became the classic Swedish romance novels, while picting a working-class boy’s path from a one of Sweden’s fi nest nature poets. But he Förvillelser (Aberrations), 1895, and Doktor simple background to self-insight. Johnson also wrote the space epic (Aniara), Glas (Doctor Glas), 1905, are remembered wrote historical novels as well and took a 1956, in which he described the arms race for their vivid portrayals of Stockholm. stand against the Nazis in his Krilon (Krilon) and galloping technical advances in a spirit trilogy, 1941–1943. of disillusionment. This poetic epic was lat- THE 1910s The widely popular Vilhelm Moberg er turned into an opera. The writers associated with the period (1898–1973) wrote about Swedish rural so- (1900–1941), whose poetry 1910–1920, inspired by Strindberg, of- ciety and its history. Several of his novels many Swedes know by heart, was among the ten turned to social issues. Among the fi rst were turned into motion pictures. Swed- cultural radicals of her age and was inspired working-class authors were Maria Sandel, ish fi lm director ’s two-part ad- by modernism and psychoanalysis. Her fu- Ludvig Nordström, Martin Koch and Dan aptation of Moberg’s four novels about 19th turistic novel, Kallocain (Kallocain), 1940, Anderson. Meanwhile such authors as Sig- century Swedish emigration to America — was a critique of . frid Siwertz, Elin Wägner and Hjalmar Berg- Utvandrarna (The Emigrants), 1949, Invan- The thirties produced such infl uential man portrayed the in a way that drarna (), 1952, Nybyggar- poets as , Hjalmar Gullberg contrasted with the passive fl âneur mental- na (), 1956, and Sista brevet hem and Nils Ferlin. In 1932, Sweden’s arguably ity. They wrote accessible descriptions of (The Last Letter Home), 1959, — made cine- greatest poet, Gunnar Ekelöf (1907–1968) Sweden’s transition from an agrarian to an matic history. Moberg was also a controver- made his debut. Sent på jorden (Late Arrival industrial society. sial social critic in the spirit of Strindberg. on Earth), 1932, was called the fi rst Swedish

Cover photo: August Strindberg in 1875. Photo: Mathias Hansen/Strindbergsmuseet collection of surrealist poetry. Ekelöf wrote of Lindegren. Vennberg was an analytical in the Swedish literature of that decade. simple, immediate poems as well as experi- skeptic who sought to re-evaluate poet- (b. 1928) tried different mental ones, often with Oriental infl uences. ic and political truths. He made his debut genres and different identities in his writ- He crushed the letters in order to fi nd a new in 1937 with Hymn och hunger (Hymn and ing, inspired early on by Ezra Pound. Vac- language which better refl ected a shattered Hunger) and continued to write poetry un- illating between simple folksiness and ad- reality. til his death. vanced metaphors, Forssell’s poetry left its One of Vennberg’s disciples was the mark on the literature of the fi fties. Together THE FORTIES modernist poet Werner Aspenström with Pär Rådström (1925–1963), who per- Nineteen forty-fi ve marked a literary di- (1918–1997), who was a successful play- sonifi ed the modern spirit of the fi fties with vide. The was a painful memory for wright as well. Although his breakthrough his portrayals of urban jargon and milieus, many writers. Pessimism ruled and themes came in 1946 with the collection Skriket och Forssell renewed Swedish political theater like anxiety and guilt recurred frequently. tystnaden (The Scream and the Silence), he as well. To this day, it is still a literary event Not until now had modernist literary trends is mostly associated with the fi fties. One of when a new Forssell book is published. found a fi rm hold; the new emerging lit- the most widely read Swedish poets, he re- One of our internationally best known erature became increasingly experimental mained active as a writer until the end. poets is Tomas Tranströmer (b. 1931), and its incomprehensibility was the topic A number of women authors appeared whose bold imagery has been highly in- of the day. during the forties, as well. The poet and fl uential, starting with his debut volume, (1915–1997), above all, came prose writer Elsa Grave (b. 1918) wrote 17 dikter (17 Poems), 1954, and running to represent the rebellion against realism. colorfully grotesque and angry poems about through to his latest collection Sorgegondo- Ahlin was more interested in depicting an everything from motherhood to the threat len (The Mourning Gondola), 1996. How- associative world, as in his novel Om (If), of nuclear war. Taking her heroines from an- ever, he fell out of favor in the sixties and 1946, and later Natt i marknadstältet (Night cient mythology, Rut Hillarp (b. 1914) creat- seventies, when a more politicized literature in the Market Tent), 1957. In the early eight- ed an erotic surrealism and became an ex- was expected. ies, after many years of silence, he resumed ample for many female writers. The works of (b. 1921), his novel writing and continued working Stina Aronson (1892–1956) received who made his debut in 1948 and wrote phil- until his death. her literary and public breakthrough with osophical novels and short stories in which One genius of the 1940s generation who the modernist novel Hitom himlen (This the Orient frequently served as inspiration, died young was Stig Dagerman (1923– Side of Heaven), 1946, in which she por- have seen a renaissance during the nineties. 1954). Guilt and anxiety were the themes trayed the taciturn women in the hardscrab- Solange (Solange), 1951, and Mästaren Ma of his symbolist and grotesque novels, such ble farming areas of northern Sweden. (The Master Ma) are two of his masterpieces. as Ormen (The Snake), 1945, De dömdas ö (1916-2000), who made Other infl uential writers during the fi f- (Island of the Doomed), 1946, Bränt barn her debut in 1940, also used female iden- ties were and , (A Burnt Child), 1948, and Bröllopsbesvär tity as a recurring motif in her works. Her along with poets Majken Johansson, Göran (Wedding Worries) 1949. In Den dödsdömde depiction of motherhood in the novel Para- Printz-Påhlson, Folke Isaksson, Bo Setter- (The Condemned), 1947, he also distin- distorg (Paradise Place), 1973, caused an up- lind, and Sandro Key-Åberg. Still active is guished himself as a playwright. roar among many feminists, who consid- (b. 1929), a major modern- and were ered her views reactionary. She also wrote ist writer who made her breakthrough with dominant fi gures among the poets of the screenplays for fi lm director Ingmar Berg- the novel De utsatta (The Exposed), 1957, forties. Mannen utan väg (The Man With- man — Jungfrukällan (), and whose works focus on existential ques- out a Way), 1942, by Erik Lindegren (1910– among others — and in 1994 she published tions of a religious nature. 1968) — with its “shattered sonnets” — was a highly publicized , (1923-2004) became an little understood by most critics. The poet’s Boken om E. (The Book About E.), based on overnight success with Tjärdalen (The Tar intention in using a fragmentary form in- her relationship with her dying husband. Pit), 1953. Written in dialect, the novel took spired by the French surrealists and the tense place among small farmers in the northern imagery of T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound, was THE FIFTIES Swedish province of Västerbotten. Lidman’s to capture the frailty of the age. Vinteroffer The literature of the fi fties continued some debut book foreshadowed the political (Winter Rites), 1954, was his last poetry col- of the themes of the forties but was some- awareness of the sixties through its commit- lection. what more playfully ironic and idyllic. Many ment to helping the destitute and the op- The poetry of Karl Vennberg (1910– authors were accused of ignoring world pressed of the world. After a prolifi c peri- 1995), with echoes of T.S. Eliot, was criti- events — the arms race, the and od which included her “railway epic” series, cal of his age in much the same way as that the crisis in Korea were practically invisible Lidman was silent for some years until 1996

From left to right: Selma Lagerlöf (photographer unknown). Karin Boye. Photo: Ateljé Jaeger/Kungl. biblioteket. Tomas Tranströmer. Photo: Ulla Montan SWEDISH CULTURE MODERN LITERATURE 4

when her critically acclaimed novel Lifsens (The Raft), Sandlådan (The Sandbox) and literary debut in 1962. He became especial- rot (The Root of Life) was published. Hemmet (The Home), created — in the spir- ly popular for his Hedeby (Hedeby) series, it of the times — through teamwork with which was set in the farming communities THE SIXTIES the actors. of Södermanland province southwest of A new socially critical literature emerged (b. 1934) wrote both Stockholm; the fi rst part, Åminne (Memo- during the sixties, in which the emphasis was documentary prose and experimental nov- ries of a Stream), appeared in 1970. on a global perspective, Western civilization els. Hess (Hess), 1966, is a fragmented Another widely popular, versatile au- was questioned, and the anti- meta-novel, and in Legionärerna (The Le- thor is Per Anders Fogelström (1917- movement was born. Interest in Marxist ide- gionnaires), 1968, he combined documen- 1998), who created a signifi cant historical ology increased and literature became more tary and fi ctional elements in his account of document with his series of novels that fol- accessible. Journalistic documentary books the extradition of Baltic war refugees from lowed a working-class family in Stockholm became a new literary wave which peaked in Sweden to the . Later Enquist from the 1860s to the present. the early seventies. wrote novels with a broader scope, for exam- Sara Lidman’s “railway epic”, which de- Jan Myrdal (b. 1927) published Rapport ple Musikanternas uttåg (The March of the picts the settling of Sweden’s northern re- från kinesisk by (Report from a Chinese Vil- Musicians), 1978, and Kapten Nemos bibli- gion, Norrland, created a new narrative lan- lage), 1963, and wrote ac- otek (Captain Nemo’s Library). In the mid- guage in Swedish literature. In the intensely counts of his travels in and seventies Enquist made his breakthrough as imaginative writings of Göran Tunström Asia. Sara Lidman wrote Samtal i Hanoi a playwright. Tribadernas natt (The Night (1937–2000), we hear echoes of Selma La- (Conversation in Hanoi), 1966, and Gru- of the Tribades), 1975, and Från regnor- gerlöf. Tunström defi ned his literary uni- va (Mine), 1968, a series of interviews with marnas liv (The Dance of the Rainsnakes), verse, Sunne in Värmland province, with miners. 1981, helped him become one of Sweden’s the novel Prästungen (The Vicar’s Kid), Per Wästberg (b. 1933), who had made internationally most acclaimed dramatists, 1976. His best known work, Juloratori- his debut in 1949 as a precocious fi fteen- alongside Lars Norén. et (The Christmas Oratorio), which was re- year-old, became involved in the struggle Lars Norén (b. 1944) made his debut as cently turned into a movie, appeared in against racial oppression in Rhodesia and a poet with hallucinatory, surrealist poems. 1983. Tunström made a much anticipated South during the sixties. His inter- Stupor (Stupor), 1968, is a collage of violent comeback as a novelist in 1996 with Skim- est in Africa resulted in documentary re- images of world events, with themes like mer (Shimmering), which is set in Iceland ports from that continent and several sur- death and guilt. during the age of the sagas. veys of African literature. Wästberg is also Jack (Jack), a bestselling novel by Ulf well known for a trilogy of Stockholm nov- THE SEVENTIES Lundell (b. 1949), became synonymous els — Vattenslott (The Water Castle), 1968, A certain reaction against the politicized with “the young seventies.” A latter-day Beat Luftburen (The Air Cage), 1969, and Jord- sixties can be detected during the seventies. generation writer, Lundell has written sev- månen (Love’s Gravity), 1972, — which por- In the spirit of German writer and activist eral novels that both portray contemporary tray love in the big city. Günter Wallraff, poet Göran Palm (b. 1931) life and are self-refl ective. He is a constant Göran Sonnevi (b.1939), whose politi- took a job as a factory worker at a large cor- source of inspiration for would-be writers, cally and socially conscious poems caused poration, LM Ericsson, and wrote Ett år på yet Swedish publishing houses continue to him to be labelled the “poet of the new left” LM (One Year at LM) and Bokslut från LM search in vain for a worthy successor. for ten years, made his breakthrough in (Balance Sheet from LM), 1974. 1965 with Ingrepp – Modeller (Interventions Per Christian Jersild (b. 1935), whose THE POST-MODERN EIGHTIES – Models), which includes his famous poem writing swings brilliantly between social re- Autisterna (The Autistics) 1979, the book Om kriget i Vietnam (On the War in Viet- alism and the fantastic, wrote a number of that marked the debut of (b. nam). Sonnevi’s 300-page collection entitled polemical novels about various Swedish in- 1955), was the leading edge of the post- Mozarts tredje hjärna (Mozart’s Third Brain) stitutions, for example Babels hus (House of modern eighties. As a poet, prose writer in 1996, followed by Klangernas bok (The Babel), 1978, which dealt with the health and playwright, Larsson became the fore- Book of Sounds) in 1998, showed that he is care system. most representative of the young literature still one of our major poets But otherwise the broad epic novel came that emerged during that decade. Socially The early sixties witnessed a brief mod- to dominate the decade. Several major writ- critical literature of epic proportions gave ernistic wave of avant-garde experiments ers produced series of novels about Sweden’s way to thin prose books of about a hundred with form. Bengt-Emil Johnson (b. 1936) industrial revolution and emerging welfare pages. Gone was the dutiful social commit- introduced concretism to Sweden with his state. (b. 1936), one of ment of the seventies. Instead the lack of 1963 poetry collection Hyllningarna (The Sweden’s most prolifi c and international- identity and fragmented shape of the char- Homages). He was followed by Åke Hodell ly acclaimed writers, made his mark dur- acters in his novels captured a social system (b. 1919), who poked fun at the military es- ing the sixties as a philosophical poet and and a welfare state in dissolution. tablishment in Igevär (To Arms), 1963, and novelist. In the seventies Sprickorna i muren As in the forties, there were debates General Bussig (General Nice Guy), 1964. (The Cracks in the Wall) appeared, a series about the incomprehensibility and amor- Sonja Åkesson (1926–1977), who made of novels that evoked the atmosphere of the al nature of the new literature. Young writ- her debut in 1957, wrote socially critical po- decade. ers were dismissed as too disengaged and ems in the style of the so-called New Sim- (b. 1933), whose im- anemically academic. Authors such as Stig plicity about the condition of women in portance as a writer has continued to grow, Larsson, Carina Rydberg, Alexander Ahn- culturally deprived everyday environments. penned a series of novels about working- doril and Magnus Dahlström wrote about Volumes like Leva livet (Live Life), 1961, class women in the central Swedish town violence and evil without adopting a moral and Husfrid (Domestic Peace), 1963, in- of Katrineholm, of which the fi rst part, stance. spired poets such as and Bod- Häxringarna (Witches’ Rings), came out The form-conscious eighties were, above il Malmsten, who became infl uential in the in 1974. Händelser vid vatten (), all, a decade of poetry. (b. eighties and nineties. 1993, which has been translated into sever- 1940) had been a signifi cant poet since the Kent Andersson (b. 1933) and Bengt al languages, is one of the most critically ac- seventies; other important names were Gun- Bratt (b. 1937) brought a sense of social claimed and popular novels of the nineties. nar D. Hansson, Arne Johnsson and Magnus commitment to the Swedish theater stage One of Sweden’s great storytellers was William-Olsson. However, women poets in the sixties with their historic plays Flotten (1931–1992) who made his such as (b. 1953), Ann 5 SWEDISH CULTURE MODERN LITERATURE

Jäderlund (b. 1955) and Birgitta Lill-pers nium did not leave the same clear fi nger- en far (Instructions for a Father), 1996, a (b. 1958) were especially instrumental in re- prints as the eighties. There was, however, prose poem depicting his adolescence. Björn vitalizing poetry during the eighties. In the a vague tendency toward a more extrovert- Ranelid (b. 1949), too, published childhood nineties, the three consolidated their posi- ed literature; here and there a sense of so- recollections in Till alla människor på jorden tion at the forefront of Swedish poetry. cial commitment re-emerged. The poetry of och i himlen (To All People on Earth and in Lars Norén took over ’s the nineties tended to portray everyday situ- Heaven), 1997. Another who returned to mantle as Sweden’s national dramatist in the ations and was less linguistically experimen- his childhood world was (b. eighties and nineties. In 1980 his trilogy Mo- tal. Göran Greider (b. 1959) set the tone with 1950), in Vallmobadet (Poppy Shore), from det att döda (The Courage to Kill) appeared, his collection När fabrikerna tystnar (When 1999. a claustrophobic middle class drama remi- the Factories Fall Silent). Poet and playwright niscent of Chekhov. In the nineties Norén Prosewriters, too, showed a renewed in- (b. 1940) who started to write novels in returned to the milieus inhabited by soci- terest in social realism and documentary the eighties, laid herself bare in En vinter i ety’s rejects, which he had portrayed as a storytelling. In Aprilhäxan (April Witch), Stockholm (A Stockholm Winter), a book poet and prose writer in the sixties. Person- (b. 1947) presented a Swed- that brought her a wide readership. But krets 3:1 (Category 3:1), the marathon fi rst ish welfare society in decline in an evocative self-exposure was taken to new heights with part of his Morire di classe trilogy, was the mixture of social reality and the fantastic. Carina Rydberg’s (b. 1962) Den Högsta Kas- most celebrated Swedish play of the decade. Autobiographies and confessional liter- ten (The Highest Caste), from 1997, a book ature have experienced an upswing. For ex- that became emblematic for this literary ap- THE NINETIES ample Peter Kihlgård (b. 1954), renowned proach in the nineties. It contained authen- The decade before the turn of the millen- as a master of fantasy, wrote Anvisningar till tic names and thereby sparked a fi erce and

Upper left: From Swedish Television’s production of Lars Norén’s play Category 3:1. Photo: Bengt Wanselius. Above right: . Photo: Lars Thunbjörk. Bottom row from left to right: PC Jersild. Photo: Ulla Montan. Majgull Axelsson. Photo: Ulla Montan. . Photo: Moona Björklund. SWEDISH CULTURE MODERN LITERATURE 6

prolonged literary debate concerning the erful Swedish tradition of proletarian writ- tists. She specialises in a type of on-the-spot freedom of the artist. ing. drama featuring a minimum of plot devel- Among a number of disparate writ- A number of younger writers with roots opment but a fi ercely energetic use of lan- ers who had made their literary debut ear- in other linguistic cultures have also ap- guage. lier and who enhanced their reputations in peared on the Swedish literary scene. Ale- Göran Tunström (see above) was fa- the nineties was (b. 1938), jandro Leiva Wenger (b. 1976) introduced mous for the exceptional luminosity of his whose mythical, grotesque novel Hummel- hip-hop into Swedish prose. A Chilean-born prose. He died in 2000, and three years later honung (Sweetness) recalled his earlier mas- sociologist, he was unanimously acclaimed an unfi nished novel about the 17th century terpiece, Ormens väg på hälleberget (The by the critics for his modernistic collection was published posthumously. The decision Way of a Serpent), from 1982. Another was of short stories, Till vår ära (In Our Hon- to put out a ‘work in progress’, necessarily Sigrid Combüchen (b. 1942), who followed our). The book placed him among our most fl awed, says much about the importance of up her breakthrough novel Byron with two form-conscious young writers in the bur- this author for Swedish literature. further spiritually inventive, sophisticated geoning short-story genre. works, Långa och korta kapitel (Long and (b. 1978) also Anneli Jordahl Short Chapters) and Parsifal, from 1998. made his debut as a novelist recently, with In the past few years, Inger Edelfeldt Ett öga rött (One Eye Red), published in (b.1956), too, has consolidated her posi- 2003. The language he uses might best be tion as an important writer. She enters the described as a consciously laboured pid- consciousness of frail individuals and shows gin Swedish. Sarcastic humour permeates how their inner desires collide with reality. the diary notes of ‘raghead revolutionary’ In 1999, she produced a wide-ranging nov- Halim. el, Det hemliga namnet (The Secret Name), Depictions of minorities and underdogs that summarised the themes of her literary were much in vogue at the turn of the new output to date. century. Populärmusik från Vittula (Pop- The end of the decade saw the return ular Music), a novel from 2000 by Mikael of the epic in Swedish literature. Authors Niemi (b. 1959) about the lives and adven- brought out thick volumes seeking to cap- tures of the Tornedal Finnish minority in ture the essence of the 20th century. These northern Sweden, became an international included Kerstin Ekman’s Guds barmhär- bestseller. The success of books in this gen- tighet (The Mercy of God), the fi rst part of re showed that local self-refl ection can also a planned trilogy entitled Vargskinnet (The be of general interest and fi nd a much wider Skin of the Wolf). Major writers published audience. The working class was given voice Editor’s note: If the English name of a new books. Göran Tunström returned to in books like by Torbjörn Flygt work is italicized, it has been published in his childhood province of Värmland with (b. 1962), about a working class family in English under this title. If it is not italicized, Berömda män som varit i Sunne (Famous Malmö in the 1970s. In 2001, Elsie Johans- the work has not appeared in English and Men Who Have Been in Sunne) and Sara son (b.1931) completed her partially auto- the name in brackets is merely a direct Lidman to her northern home of Västerbot- biographical trilogy Glasfåglarna (The Glass translation of the original Swedish title. ten with Oskuldens minut (Moment of In- Birds), Mosippan (The Pasque Flower) and nocence). And in the closing autumn of the Nancy – a sort of welfare state blues about decade, Per-Olof Enquist presented his fi rst the struggle of a strong-willed working class Anneli Jordahl is a literary critic and arts novel for eight years, Livläkarens besök (The girl to achieve her goals. journalist. She is currently on the editori- Visit of the Royal Physician). The setting was Kerstin Ekman, too, completed her tril- al staff of Swedish Radio’s cultural depart- the Danish Royal Court in 18th century Co- ogy, Vargskinnet (The Skin of the Wolf). A ment. penhagen. Political unrest, a time of transi- century of social development in north- The author alone is responsible for the tion – just like the age in which the book ap- ern Sweden portrayed through the fi lter opinions expressed in this fact sheet. peared. of women’s drudgery. Skraplotter (Scratch Translation: Victor Kayfetz/Stephen Croall Cards), as the third part is called, brought THE NEW LITERARY CENTURY her the prestigious for the best For years, literary critics had been wonder- novel of the year. Swedish Nobel Laureates in literature ing aloud why no-one seemed interested The poetry of Kristina Lugn (b. 1948) Selma Lagerlöf, 1909 in writing about the big-city suburbs and could perhaps be described as welfare state Verner von Heidenstam, 1916 the ‘New Swedes’. Early in the new century, blues for the lonely. In 2003, she made a , 1931 this began to change. Iranian-born Fateme widely-acclaimed comeback as a poet with Pär Lagerkvist, 1951 Behros (b. 1944) brought out her second Hej då, ha det så bra! (Bye Bye, Enjoy Your- Eyvind Johnson/, 1974 novel, Fångarnas kör (The Prisoners’ Cho- self!). It was her fi rst book of poetry since rus), describing the day-to-day lives of refu- Hundstunden (The Hour of the Dog) in gee women in Uppsala. One critic dubbed 1989. In the intervening years, she had www.sweden.se her “the Moa Martinson of our time” and worked with the theatre and developed into The offi cial gateway to Sweden saw her book as a new addition to the pow- one of Sweden’s most important drama-

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