Search

[German Version] (Knut Pedersen; Aug 4, 1859, Garmostræet, Vågå, Norway – Feb 19, 1952, at Nörholmen near Grimstad, Norway), grew up in Hamsund (Hamarøy Island [Nordland]) after 1862. After years of wanderings as an agricultural worker and roadman, and as a postal aid in Norway and America (a treasure of experiences for his “Vagabond” novels), he became a pioneer of the literature of modernity with his early metropolitan novel Sult (1890) (ET: Hunger, 1908). He sensitively depicted the most nuanced emotions of his often provocative characters. He was a stylist with …

[German Version] (May 23, 1891, Växjö, Sweden – Jul 11, 1974, Stockholm). Lagerkvist grew up with a conflicted relationship to the narrowness and protectiveness of Free Church religiosity. His childhood fear of the numinous laid the groundwork for an oeuvre dominated by the dark side of human existence. His endeavor to survive the acid test of life, to see good triumph over evil, is manifest in the range of his titles: Ångest (Anguish;1916); Kaos (Chaos;1919); Onda sagor (Evil yales;1924); Det besegrade livet (The triumph over life; 1927); Bödeln (1933, dramatized 1934; ET: “The H…