The period of Modernistic Swedish literature started in the 1910s. Some regard 1910 itself as the beginning, when

August Strindberg Johan August Strindberg (, ; 22 January 184914 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter.Lane (1998), 1040. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than sixty p ...

published several critical newspaper articles, contesting many conservative values. Several other years are also possible. What is undisputed is that with the advent of

social democracy Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote s ...

and large labor strikes, the winds of the 1910s blew in the direction of a

working class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colo ...

reformationGustafson (1963), vol. 2, pp.7-16 After

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

(1914-1919), literature was marked by despair, depicted in works of

Pär Lagerkvist Pär Fabian Lagerkvist (23 May 1891 – 11 July 1974) was a Swedish author who received the 1951 Nobel Prize in Literature. Lagerkvist wrote poetry, plays, novels, short stories, and essays of considerable expressive power and influence from his ...

Hjalmar Bergman Hjalmar Fredrik Elgérus Bergman (19 September 1883 in Örebro, Sweden – 1 January 1931 in Berlin, Germany) was a Swedish writer and playwright. Biography The son of a banker in Örebro, Bergman briefly studied philosophy at Uppsala Univers ...

and Birger Sjöberg. Literature moved in the direction of proletariat writings during the

interwar In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second World War. The interwar period was relativel ...

years, and the remainders of folklore had been reduced to virtual insignificance. Proletarian writing had its strongest period in 1920-1940. Artur Lundkvist and the literary group '' Fem unga'' played a key role in introducing

literary modernism Literary modernism, or modernist literature, originated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and is characterized by a self-conscious break with traditional ways of writing, in both poetry and prose fiction writing. Modernism experimented ...

with an anthology published in 1929. Notable proletarian writers were

Moa Martinson Moa Martinson, born Helga Maria Swarts sometimes spelt Swartz, (2November 18905August 1964) was one of Sweden's most noted authors of proletarian literature. Her ambition was to change society with her authorship and to portray the conditions of ...

(1890-1964), who wrote about the difficulties women had in factory and farm work; and her husband,

Harry Martinson Harry Martinson (6May 190411February 1978) was a Swedish writer, poet and former sailor. In 1949 he was elected into the Swedish Academy. He was awarded a joint Nobel Prize in Literature in 1974 together with fellow Swede Eyvind Johnson "for wr ...

(1904-1978), who wrote about the fragility of human beings. But the most distinguished proletarian writer of the time was

Ivar Lo-Johansson Ivar Lo-Johansson (23 February 1901 – 11 April 1990) was a Swedish writer of the proletarian school. His autobiographical 1979 memoir, ''Pubertet'' (''Puberty''), won the Nordic Council's Literature Prize in 1979. Biography Born Ivar Johanss ...

(1901-1990), writing about the Swedish land-workers in novels, short stories and journalism, and also engaging in public debates about many other topics. In the late 1930s, the political developments in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

had their effects on Swedish literature. Taking a stand against

National Socialism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Naz ...

wrote the novels '' Bödeln'' (1933) and ''Dvärgen'' ( The Dwarf) (1944), both investigating human evil. A stand against National Socialism was also made by

Karin Boye Karin Maria Boye (; 26 October 1900 – 24 April 1941) was a Swedish poet and novelist. In Sweden she is acclaimed as a poet, but internationally she is best known for the dystopian science fiction novel '' Kallocain'' (1940). Career Boye wa ...

in the novel '' Kallocain'' (1940) set in a future

totalitarian Totalitarianism is a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and reg ...

world; the novel has since been translated into ten languages. During the war,

Eyvind Johnson 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 he became a member of the Swedish Academy in 1957 and shared the 1974 Nob ...

also took a recognized stand with his '' The Krilon Group'' series (1941-1943), a massive work speaking strongly in favour of democratic values, condemning dictatorship and worship of power.

Notes and references

*Algulin, Ingemar, ''A History of Swedish Literature'', published by the Swedish Institute, 1989. *Gustafson, Alrik, ''Svenska litteraturens historia'', 2 volums (Stockholm, 1963). First published as ''A History of Swedish Literature'', (American-Scandinavian Foundation, 1961). *Lönnroth, L., Delblanc S., Göransson, S. ''Den svenska litteraturen'' (ed.), 3 volumes (1999) * Swedish Institute,
Modern Literature
', accessed October 17, 2006 *Tigerstedt, E.N., ''Svensk litteraturhistoria'' (Tryckindustri AB, Solna, 1971) {{Swedish language Swedish literature 20th-century Swedish literature