Swedish Literature

[Stewart]

At the start of the year I made myself a pledge that I would pick an area of world literature and read a number of books from that part of the world. This year I decided that Scandinavia would be my region of choice. Thus far, however, I've barely got my feet wet, having read only Doctor Glas by Hjalmar S?derberg and a stalled attempt at Klas ?stergren's Gentlemen. I expect to hopefully read Lars Saabye Christensen's The Model and Bengt Ohlsson's Gregorius as a result of their shortlisting in the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2008. All Swedish.

I've noticed a few Swedish books coming out in English translation recently (The Director by Alexander Ahndoril and Katarina Mazetti's Benny And Shrimp) and wouldn't mind, in time, reading them also.

So, I want to use this thread for general discussion on Swedish literature and for canonical recommendations.

 

[Bjorn]

Saabye Christensen is Danish...

 

[Stewart]

Saabye Christensen is Danish...

Whoops! Call it Friday fever. But being born in Oslo would make him Norwegian. So we're both wrong. Unless you know different.

I should add that I was originally calling this thread Scandinavian Literature, before deciding to change it to Swedish. So I'm only half culpable in my stupidity, ignorance, call it what you will.

 

[Flower]

Hi Stewart,
Glad to see that you are reading Scandinavian literature.

Lars Saabye Christensen is Norweigan. I have read "The half brother" + "The model". I can recommend both books but somehow I think that you would enjoy "The model" the best.

Flower

 

[Morten]

Stringdberg and Nobel laureate Lagerkvist are the two most influential Swedish authors.

 

[Eric]

August Strindberg was an extraordinary figure. He was regarded as a misogynist, yet was nevertheless married to several women. He is best known as a playwright, but also wrote satirical novels about his epoch. He was totally uncharacteristic as a Swede, a non-conformist in a country where the greatest virtue you can possess is conformity, not sticking your head above the parapet. He even wrote a couple of his prose works in French, as he lived in Paris; and also Berlin.

I prefer his late, more metaphysical-philosophical plays, where had mellowed from his earlier "Miss Julie" type of quick verbal duels. These plays include "To Damascus" and "A Dream Play". This latter work inspired film-maker Ingmar Bergman, when Bergman too had moved away from his earlier, rather morbid, films and made the epic "Fanny and Alexander". The closing lines of that long film are a quote from "A Dream Play".

Strindberg was also an extraordinary dabbler. He painted very muddy and indistinct seascapes. He messed around with alchemy. He wrote a history book.

The Wikipedia has a good article on him:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Strindberg

Also:

http://www.imagi-nation.com/moonstruck/clsc8.htm

Most of Strindberg's major plays and some of his prose works (e.g. "The Red Room" and "Son of a Servant") are available in English translation. He's an author you keep going back to, and discover a new dimension every time.

 

[Eric]

What is not so well known in Britain is that literature is written in the Swedish language in Finland, as well as Sweden.

The majority of authors that get translated into English are from Sweden itself, such as:

August Strindberg (playwright, novelist), Torgny Lindgren (novels), Astrid Lindgren (e.g. the Pippi Longstocking children's books), Henning Mankell and Kerstin Ekman and H?kan Nesser (crime), Hjalmar S?derberg (novel "Doctor Glas"), Karin Boye (poet, novelist), Carl Michael Bellman (bawdy-boozy 18th century ballads), Gunnar Ekel?f (Modernist poet), Harry Martinson & Eyvind Johnson (won the Nobel together), Vilhelm Moberg (emigration to America novels), Tomas Transtr?mer (poet).

But there are also Finland-Swedes, i.e. those writing in Swedish but born and bred in Finland, e.g:

Tove Jansson (Moomin children's books and short-stories for adults), Kjell West? (novelist, crime writer), Bo Carpelan (poet), Johan Ludvig Runeberg (epic poet), Edith S?dergran (Modernist poet), Gunnar Bj?rling (another Modernist poet).

There are, of course, many more interesting authors in both countries, but as there are so few translations into English, you don't get to know much about them.

 

[Eric]

I've just been spending a fortnight in Sweden itself or, more accurately, on the island of Gotland, three hours away from the mainland by ferry. There I met four present-day writers that write in Swedish, plus several other writers or translators from Germany, Slovenia, Denmark, Finland and Iceland.

The four authors I met at the Baltic Centre for Writers and Translators (BCWT) in Visby are:

1) Lars Ardelius (born 1926). Although 82 years of age, Ardelius is still going strong, having published books in 2003, 2006 and 2008. He has written novels, short-stories and essays. I've not yet read anything by him, but now have three of his books, including a book of twelve short-stories all based on episodes in the lives of literary figures such as William Faulkner, the Bront?s, Mansfield and Mann.

2) Bror R?nnholm (born 1949) is a journalist at the daily ?bo Underr?ttelser in ?bo / Turku, Finland. His latest book is a collection of prose poetry.

3) Kjell West? (born 1961). One of West?'s books has been translated into English ("Lang", Harvill), but this is a crime novel, whereas his other two novels and collections of stories deal more with Helsinki, now or in history.

For instance:

http://www.panorstedt.se/templates/Agency/Book.aspx?id=42460

The crime novel is at:

http://www.panorstedt.se/templates/Agency/Book.aspx?id=41708

4) Einar Askestad (born 1964), author of three books.


*

I'll review anything I read by these authors here on the WLF or for the Three Percent website.

 

[saliotthomas]

I just had lunch with my parents before their return to France,they left me with -The man who do not like women-by Stieg Larsson orginal-man som batar kvinnor-both loved it,could not put it down,so was my brother,sister in law....all the clan.It sound like the new fever,and they usualy have a nose for this.They are already getting others from him.
I can't wait to start it but if i put down the first circle,i won't get back to it,would be a shame.

Have you heard of it?

 

[saliotthomas]

A little correction about Stieg Larsson,the book in English is called "the girl with the dragon tattoo" and is the first of the millenium series.

the web site of Larsson-
http://www.stieglarsson.com/

i can't belive that none of you heard of him,disliked,or not qualified for literary is the raison?

 

[Eric]

I've certainly heard of the late Swedish thriller writer Stieg Larsson whose real name was Karl Stig-Erland Larsson [1954-2004], not to be confused with Stig H?kan Larsson [born 1955], the living Swedish fiction author and poet, but I'm afraid I don't read thrillers or crime novels. Nor have I, for that matter, read anything by the latter author.

It is handy to be able to read Swedish, as you can then choose any Swedish book that takes your fancy, without having to wait for the English translation, as that could take years. For instance, one rather Gothic, contemporary Swedish novelist and dramatist called Alexander Ahndoril (born 1967) has written what look to be interesting postmodernistish novels. However, the only one of his books translated into English so far is based on the life of Ingmar Bergman. See:

http://ahndoril.com/

What I find significant is that this book, with its Bergman connection, is Ahndoril's eighth novel, but the first one to be translated into English, although his first novel was published back in 1989. The above website has a section in English and one in Swedish. The English part has no mention of his other seven novels, whereas, if you can read Swedish, there is a list of all the titles. Obviously, English-speakers have no interest in books they can't read. Languages open doors.

"The Director" (Portobello Books, 2008), the Ahndoril novel available in English (translated by Sarah Death) deals with Ingmar Bergman's fraught relationship with the exile Estonian concert pianist K?bi Laretei. Read a review:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-e...lexander-ahndoril-trs-sarah-death-768237.html

 

[Eric]

Swedish Book Review

I've just read a brilliant novel by a Finland-Swede called Hannele Mikaela Taivassalo: "Fem knivar hade Andrej Krapl" (Andrej Krapl had Five Knives). I shall be reviewing it for the Swedish Book Review (SBR) in due course. This is a British publication where those interested in books written in Swedish can read all about mainly new literature, also Swedish classics:

http://www.norvikpress.com/swedish-book-review.php

Obviously, the SBR focuses mostly on Sweden, but those Swedish-speaking novelists and poets that live in Finland also get a look in. You can subscribe to the printed version. I personally always prefer to read a magazine to printing out endless A4s from the internet.

The magazine is published by the Norvik Press, which specialises in Scandinavian literature in English translation. Swedish and Finland-Swedish authors include Kerstin Ekman, P.C. Jersild (a novelist, not a policeman), Selma Lagerl?f, Hjalmar S?derberg, Hjalmar Bergman, Edith S?dergran, Elin W?gner, Runar Schildt, Gunnar Ekel?f, Victoria Benedictsson, August Strindberg, plus authors from the other Scandinavian, and the Baltic, countries. See:

http://www.norvikpress.com/browse-author.php

 

[Paul]

Thanks Eric, these are very good sites to know about. I've ordered Martin Brick's Youth from Norvik. Unfortunately, they had run out of The Sharks by Jens Bjorneboe - I'd like to see what a more novel-like novel of his would be like after reading the Moments of Freedom trilogy (phew! that was an experience).

 

[Mirabell]

Anybody here read anything of Lagerkvist? Axelk Munthe? Harry Martinson? Lars Gustafsson?

I am incredibly under-read in scandinavian literature. Recommendations?

 

[Bjorn]

Anybody here read anything of Lagerkvist? Axelk Munthe? Harry Martinson? Lars Gustafsson?

I am incredibly under-read in scandinavian literature. Recommendations?

I'm shamefully under-read in Swedish literature myself; some bits I know fairly well, others (both classic and contemporary authors) are a complete blank to me. So this isn't a complete rundown by any means; there are tons of writers still on my TBR list.

Out of the ones you mention I've read Lagerkvist (Barabbas) and Martinson (Aniara and his autobiography). Both Barabbas (a fictional biography of the robber spared by Pilate) and Aniara (an epic sci-fi poem!) are excellent. I keep meaning to read Lagerkvist's The Dwarf, which is supposed to be his greatest achievement.

Some other recommended writers. For some of these you might have to scour used book stores for translations:

Dead:
Selma Lagerl?f, especially The Emperor of Portugalia and The Saga of G?sta Berling.

Eyvind Johnson (who shared a Nobel with Martinson), Return to Ithaca.

Carl Jonas Love Almqvist, The Queen's Diadem.

Hjalmar S?derberg, Doctor Glas and any collection of short stories.

August Strindberg is a bit of a love-or-hate affair for most people. I thought The Natives of Hems? was brilliant, Married and The Red Room somewhat less so but still worth a read.

Karin Boye, Kallocain (if you're into Orwell-style wartime dystopia; she's probably more famous for her poetry).

Vilhelm Moberg, The Emigrants (tetralogy about the Swedish emigration to the US - excellent) and Ride This Night.

Frans G Bengtsson, The Long Ships.

Alive:
Torgny Lindgren, The Way of A Serpent (or just about anything by him that you can find)

Majgull Axelsson, April Witch.

Klas ?stergren, Gentlemen.

Peter Englund, just about anything by him; non-fiction, but one of the most readable historians I've ever come across.

John Ajvide Lindqvist, Let Me In (possibly the best horror novel I've read in a decade).

Carl-Johan Vallgren, Documents Concerning Rubashov the Gambler.

Alive and as of yet untranslated, at least in English:
Sara Stridsberg, Dr?mfakulteten

Jonas Hassen Khemiri, Ett ?ga r?tt and Montecore (the latter is supposedly being translated right now, and I fear for the poor translator... Khemiri really likes his wordplay)

Maja Lundgren, Pompeii (available in German, apparently)

Monika Fagerholm, Den amerikanska flickan (her Wonderful Women by the Sea has been translated, but I haven't read it... come to think of it, she may count as Finnish?)

Avoid:
Jan Guillou, Liza Marklund... basically, most detective novels that are not written by Henning Mankell or Sj?wall/Wahl??.

 

[Eric]

I've read much the same Lagerkvist novels as Bjorn, and a long time ago. About forty years ago, before I knew any Swedish, I read virtually everything translated, in an adolescent bout of enthusiasm that ultimately led to my studying Swedish at the University of East Anglia a few years later. I also read Martinson's Aniara, which I enjoyed. I think I once read Boye's Kallocain too.

Many of the other dead authors mentioned by Bjorn are ones I've never read. But I read a lot of Strindberg. Normally I don't like reading plays, but I love Strindberg's late plays, where he has become more compassionate and less crabby, e.g. A Dream Play and To Damascus.

*

One bit of pedantry on my part:

When you ask whether Monika Fagerholm counts as Finnish, I would say: no. In Scandinavian literary circles there are three very distinct categories:

1) Swedish literature from Sweden, written in Swedish; no problem there. (Examples; the majority of the authors Bjorn lists above, dead or alive.)

2) Finnish literature, written in the Finnish language, mostly in Finland. (Examples: V?in? Linna, Alexis Kivi, Pentti Saarikoski, etc. Plus the epic the Kalevala.) See: Finnish literature - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

3) Finland-Swedish literature, written by citizens of Finland who have Swedish as their mother-tongue. Monika Fagerholm belongs to this third category. (Further examples: Johan Ludvig Runeberg, Zacharias Topelius, Runar Schildt, Henry Parland, Mirjam Tuominen, Henrik Tikkanen, J?rn Donner, Henrik Jansson, Thomas Wulff, Bo Carpelan, Robert ?sbacka, Hannele Mikaela Taivassalo, Kjell West?, Tove Jansson, Edith S?dergran, Gunnar Bj?rling, Lars Sund, Zinaida Lind?n, Ulla-Lena Lundberg, Eva-Stina Byggm?star, and many others.) See:

Swedish Book Review

and

Swedish Book Review

(These are two separate URLs, both about Finland-Swedish literature specifically, and published in the Swedish Book Review.)

More names of Finland-Swedish authors here:

http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kategori:Finlandssvenska_f%C3%B6rfattare

All the authors listed on this Wikipedia page are Finland-Swedes.

One final thing: if you want to know whether an author is Finnish or Finland-Swedish, because of the Finnish surname, look at the forename / Christian name. If it looks Swedish, this is a Finland-Swede, not a Finn. (Examples: M?rta Tikkanen, Sally Salminen, Hannele Mikaela Taivassalo, Johannes Salminen, Mirjam Tuominen.)

 

[Bjorn]

When you ask whether Monika Fagerholm counts as Finnish, I would say: no. In Scandinavian literary circles there are three very distinct categories:

I know that, I just wasn't sure whether Fagerholm is Swedish or Finland-Swedish. I wanted to ask whether she counts as "Finlandish" (horrible but useful word, covering that which relates to the Republic of Finland regardless of ethnicity), but I don't think I've ever heard it used in English. But that's a different discussion, of course.

Selma Lagerl?f seems sadly forgotten and out-of-print outside of Sweden (except possibly for the children's story/geography lesson The Wonderful Adventures of Nils, which is excellent but not really representative). But of course, Project Gutenberg have The Emperor of Portugalia and Jerusalem for free download.

 

[Mirabell]

Selma Lagerl?f seems sadly forgotten and out-of-print outside of Sweden

We have a new translation of G?sta Berling here I think and there's an English one in a Penguin Classics edition that's still in print I think.

 

[Eric]

Bjorn, I'm sure you know all about the Finland-Swedes, but I have to say that when I did my experiment in the 1980s, the results were amusing. And not everyone on these threads knows who and what about the Finland-Swedes. I do; I lived among them for four years, and mixed with some of their authors.

Eric's Finland-Swedish Bookshop Experiment
About maybe 20 years ago, when living in Uppsala, Sweden, I went, gormless like, into several key bookshops in Uppsala and Stockholm (Studentbokhandeln, LundeQ, Akademibokhandeln, perhaps Hedengrens). I spoke in English, as my clear Finland-Swedish accent when I speak Swedish would have given the game away. I cannot imitate a rikssvensk (Sweden-Swedish) accent very well.

What I asked, with feigned na?vet?, was simple: could they recommend any Finland-Swedish authors?

They were all terribly helpful, going to the shelves with me to have a look, but I distinctly remember the slight perplexity. They didn't really know. Remember these weren't yokels from the boonies, but educated Swedish bookshop staff in some of the most important bookshops in Sweden. I think maybe Kjell West? had just come out with his first book - but he was published in Sweden by Norstedts (in Finland by S?derstr?ms in a parallel edition). I remember someone in Akademibokhandeln suggesting... Gerda Antti, the widow of the now neglected Swedish author Walter Ljungquist, who is a writer in her own right. But she is Finnish (or Tornedalen-Finnish) by origin, not Finland-Swedish. You would have thought they knew that in a bookshop.

In those days, most of the authors listed in my previous posting had been published, barring Zinaida Lind?n (who is a recent Russian immigrant) and Eva-Stina Byggm?star. And Mikaela Taivassalo, who published her first novel last year.

But to be perfectly frank, I was shocked, back then, at the sheer ignorance in Sweden regarding Finland-Swedish literature - the only literature on this Earth written in Swedish, apart from that of Sweden itself. Hardly anyone that I spoke to in Sweden seemed to care. And I mixed with people from the literary magazine Hj?rnstorm and others, attended PEN club meetings in Gamla Stan in central Stockholm, and so on. But I don't remember any knowledge or enthusiasm, when I said I was interested in Finland-Swedish literature.

Finland-Swedish literature unfortunately falls between two stools: Finnish literature and that of Sweden. While I have been concentrating on Estonian literature for about fifteen years, I am now going back to that of what is quaintly known as Svenskfinland, an almost non-existent geographical area in modern day life, but implying the regions where Swedish is still spoken in Finland.

I think a good analogy would be Scottish literature, that is written in the same language as England's literature, except with some regional input (e.g. Irvine Welsh, Lewis Grassic Gibbon) meaning that English readers sometimes benefit from a glossary. Literature written in Swedish in Finland has that same type of distinct identity to that of the Scots.

 

[Stewart]

Thanks to a mention on the Literary Saloon, the Swedish Arts Council have taken responsibility for the promotion of Swedish literature at international level. Among the new developments are grants for:

Sample translations:

Translators often have their own views about which books have the capacity to succeed in their own country, and the fact that payment is now available for samples will encourage them to put their recommendations to the test in a more concrete fashion.
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Translation subsidies:

Swedish and foreign publishers have been asking for a long time for its terms to be widened to include not only literary genres but also non-fiction, and it is therefore our pleasure to announce that non-Swedish publishers will now be able to apply for translation subsidies for this category of writing, including literary non-fiction.
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Travel grants:

Swedish authors will now qualify for travel grants in conjunction with the subsidy scheme. A foreign publisher whose application for a translation grant has been successful will be able to invite the Swedish author to take part in readings and presentations, with their travel costs paid for by the scheme.
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