Eyvind Johnson

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Eyvind Johnson
Eyvind Johnson
Eyvind Johnson
BornOlof Edvin Verner Jonsson
(1900-07-29)29 July 1900
Boden, Sweden
Died25 August 1976(1976-08-25) (aged 76)
Stockholm, Sweden
Period1924–1976
Notable works
Notable awardsNobel Prize in Literature
1974 (shared with Harry Martinson)
Spouses
Children3
Website
www.eyvindjohnson.se

Eyvind Johnson (29 July 1900 – 25 August 1976) was a Swedish novelist and short story writer. Regarded as the most groundbreaking novelist in modern Swedish literature[1] he became a member of the Swedish Academy in 1957 and shared the 1974 Nobel Prize in Literature with Harry Martinson with the citation: for a narrative art, far-seeing in lands and ages, in the service of freedom.[2]

Biography

Johnson was born Olof Edvin Verner Jonsson in Svartbjörnsbyn village in Överluleå parish, near the town of Boden in Norrbotten. The small house where he was born is preserved and marked with a commemorative plaque.

Johnson left school at the age of thirteen and then held various jobs such as

capitalist society, was a critical success.[3]

Johnson's first major success as a writer was four

point of view. Romanen om Olof became a classic in Swedish literature and was later filmed as Here Is Your Life.[3]

Increasingly upset by the rising totalitarianism in the 1930s, Johnson was strongly against fascism and nazism.[3] During World War II he was editor of the magazine Håndslag and published Krilon, a trilogy of novels that in the form of an allegory deals with the events during the war. In the novels Johnson condemns Nazi oppression and criticises the controversial Swedish neutrality policy during the war.[3] Krilon is considered to be one of Johnson's best works.[4][5] In the same period he was a member of the nationalist association Samfundet Nordens Frihet and among the contributors of its magazine, Nordens Frihet.[6]

In 1946 he published one of his most famous novels,

historical novels. Among the best known are Dreams of Roses and Fire (Drömmar om rosor och eld, 1949) set in Cardinal Richelieus 17th century France, and Molnen över Metapontion ("The Clouds above Metapontion", 1957) that typically for his later novels switches back and forth between different time levels. In 1957 he was elected a member of the Swedish Academy
.

Johnson has nominated the Nobel laurate Giorgos Seferis twice for a Nobel in literature in 1962 and in 1963,[7] which Seferis won.

Johnson's most noted works internationally include Return to Ithaca and The Days of His Grace (Hans nådes tid, 1960) which have been translated to many languages. For the latter novel Johnson was awarded the Nordic Council Literature Prize in 1962.[8]

Works

Novels

  • Timans och rättfärdigheten (1925)
  • Stad i mörker (1927)
  • Stad i ljus (1928)
  • Minnas (1928)
  • Kommentar till ett stjärnfall (1929)
  • Avsked till Hamlet (1930)
  • Bobinack (1932)
  • Regn i gryningen (1933)
  • Romanen om Olof (1934-1937, published together in 1945)
    • Nu var det 1914 (1934)
    • Här har du ditt liv! (1935)
    • Se dig inte om! (1936)
    • Slutspel i ungdomen (1937)
  • Nattövning (1938)
  • Soldatens återkomst (1940)
  • Krilon (1941-1943, published together in 1948)
    • Grupp Krilon (1941)
    • Krilons resa (1942)
    • Krilon själv (1943)
  • Return to Ithaca (Swedish: Strändernas svall, 1946)
  • Dreams of Roses and Fire (Drömmar om rosor och eld, 1949)
  • Lägg undan solen (1951)
  • Romantisk berättelse (1953)
  • Tidens gång (1955)
  • Molnen över Metapontion (1957)
  • The Days of His Grace (Swedish: Hans nådes tid, 1960)
  • Livsdagen lång (1964)
  • Favel ensam (1968)
  • Några steg mot tystnaden (1973)
  • Herr Clerk vår mästare (original version of Minnas, novel, 1998)

Short story collections

  • De fyra främlingarna (1924)
  • Natten är här (1932)
  • Än en gång, kapten! (1934)
  • Den trygga världen (1940)
  • Sju liv (1944)
  • Pan mot Sparta (1946)
  • Olibrius och gestalterna (1986)

Plays

Nonfiction

  • Dagbok från Schweiz (1949)
  • Vinterresa i Norrbotten (1955)
  • Vägar över Metaponto – en resedagbok (1959)
  • Spår förbi Kolonos – en berättelse (1961)
  • Stunder, vågor – anteckningar, berättelser (1965)
  • Resa i hösten 1921 (1973)

References

  1. ^ Svenska Akademien
  2. doi:10.3390/h10010046
    .
  3. ^ a b c d Petri Liukonnen Eyvind Johnson Books and writers
  4. ISBN 91-0-047904-7
    , p. 134
  5. ISBN 91-0-039665-6
    , p. 73
  6. ^ "Antinazister och nordister under andra världskriget" (in Swedish). forskning.se. 11 September 2009. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
  7. ^ "Nomination Archive". NobelPrize.org. 1 April 2020. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
  8. ^ Nordic Council Literature Prize

External links

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Cultural offices
Preceded by Swedish Academy,
Seat No.11
1957–1976 		Succeeded by
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