Nils Artur Lundkvist (3 March 1906 – 11 December 1991) was a Swedish

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

and

literary critic A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature' ...

. He was a member of the

Swedish Academy The Swedish Academy (), founded in 1786 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden. Its 18 members, who are elected for life, comprise the highest Swedish language authority. Outside Scandinavia, it is best known as the body t ...

from 1968. Artur Lundkvist published around 80 books, including poetry, prose poems, essays, short stories, novels and travel books, and his works have been translated into some 30 languages. He is also noted for having translated many works from Spanish and French into Swedish. Several authors whose works he translated were later awarded the

Nobel Prize in Literature The Nobel Prize in Literature, here meaning ''for'' Literature (), is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, "in ...

. He married the poet Maria Wine in 1936.

Biography

Artur Lundkvist was born in Perstorp Municipality,

Skåne County Skåne County ( ), sometimes referred to as Scania County or just Scania in English, is the southernmost Counties of Sweden, county, or , of Sweden, mostly corresponding to the traditional Provinces of Sweden, province of Scania. It borders th ...

. As a child he lived on a small farm, first in Hagstad and then in nearby Toarp. From an early age his main interest was reading and he also liked wandering in the surrounding countryside. At the age of twenty Lundkvist moved to

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

determined to become a writer, he studied at a

Folk high school Folk high schools (also ''adult education center'') are institutions for adult education that generally do not grant academic degrees, though certain courses might exist leading to that goal. They are most commonly found in Nordic countries and i ...

and became acquainted with other young people with the same interests. His first books of poems, the anthology '' Fem unga'' and introductions of foreign

modernist literature Modernist literature originated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and is characterised by a self-conscious separation from traditional ways of writing in both poetry and prose fiction writing. Modernism experimented with literary form a ...

quickly established Lundkvist as a leading figure in Modernist Swedish literature in the 1930s. Lundkvist went on to publish more than 80 books in many genres and was also a prominent critic. In 1968 he was elected a member of the

, and was a member of the Academy's

Nobel committee A Nobel Committee is a working body responsible for most of the work involved in selecting Nobel Prize laureates. There are six awarding committees from four institutions, one for each Nobel Prize. Five of these committees are working bodies ...

from 1969 to 1986. He was married to Maria Wine since 1936 and died on 11 December 1991.Artur Lundkvist
Svenskt översättarlexikon (in Swedish)

Literary career

Lundkvist published his first book of poems ''Glöd'' (''Glowing Embers'') in 1928 and contributed to the important anthology '' Fem unga'' (''Five young men'') in 1929. He was one of the dominant figures in Swedish

literary modernism Modernist literature originated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and is characterised by a self-conscious separation from traditional ways of writing in both poetry and prose fiction writing. Modernism experimented with literary form a ...

, the most vigorous promoter of the modernist breakthrough that took place around 1930, and one of the leading poets of the period. His early works was influenced by Scandinavian and American modernists, most notably

Carl Sandburg Carl August Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American poet, biographer, journalist, and editor. He won three Pulitzer Prizes: two for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. During his lifetime, Sandburg w ...

, and later by

surrealism Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

. In the late 1940s his works became increasingly influenced by Spanish language writers like

Pablo Neruda Pablo Neruda ( ; ; born Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto; 12 July 190423 September 1973) was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Neruda became known as a poet when he was 13 years old an ...

and

Federico García Lorca Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936) was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27, a g ...

, whose poetry he also translated to Swedish. Although he continued to publish books of poetry, including ''Liv som gräs'' (''Life as grass'', 1954) and ''Ögonblick och vågor'' (''Moments and waves'', 1962) which by many is considered to be among his finest works, prose works dominated his writings from the 1950s and onwards. In several books, starting with ''Malinga'' (1952) and leading up to late works such as ''Skrivet mot kvällen'' (''Written towards the evening'', 1980), his ambition was to defy genre limitations and merge prose poetry, fictional stories, short essays, personal memoirs and impressions from his many travels around the world into a new form of literature. Artur Lundkvist was a very productive writer, and also published numerous articles, short stories, collections of literary essays, and books about his travels in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, the Soviet Union and

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. As a literature critic, and also translator, he introduced foreign literature to Swedish readers, including several authors that would subsequently be awarded the

, such as

William Faulkner William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer. He is best known for William Faulkner bibliography, his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, a stand-in fo ...

T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist and playwright.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biography''. New York: Oxford University ...

Claude Simon Claude Eugène Henri Simon (; 10 October 1913 – 6 July 2005) was a French novelist and recipient of the 1985 Nobel Prize in Literature. Biography Claude Simon was born in Tananarive on the isle of Madagascar. His parents were French, an ...

, Vicente Aleixandre,

Octavio Paz Octavio Paz Lozano (March 31, 1914 – April 19, 1998) was a Mexican poet and diplomat. For his body of work, he was awarded the 1977 Jerusalem Prize, the 1981 Miguel de Cervantes Prize, the 1982 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, a ...

, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and

Mario Vargas Llosa Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa, 1st Marquess of Vargas Llosa (28 March 1936 – 13 April 2025) was a Peruvian novelist, journalist, essayist and politician. Vargas Llosa was one of the most significant Latin American novelists and essayists a ...

. His later work also include several

historical novel Historical fiction is a literary genre in which a fictional plot takes place in the setting of particular real historical events. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to oth ...

s such as ''Snapphanens liv och död'' (1968, about snapphanar), ''Tvivla, korsfarare!'' (1972, about

crusade The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding t ...

rs), ''Krigarens dikt'' (1976, about

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...

) and "Slavar för Särkland" (1978, about

vikings Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

). In 1966 his autobiography ''Självporträtt av en drömmare med öppna ögon'' (''Self portrait of a dreamer with open eyes'') was published, and in 1968 he was elected a member of the

Swedish academy The Swedish Academy (), founded in 1786 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden. Its 18 members, who are elected for life, comprise the highest Swedish language authority. Outside Scandinavia, it is best known as the body t ...

. In 1977 he was awarded the prestigious Golden Wreath of the

Struga Poetry Evenings Struga Poetry Evenings (SPE) (, СВП; tr. ''Struški večeri na poezijata'', ''SVP'') is an international poetry festival held annually in Struga, North Macedonia. During the several decades of its existence, the Festival has awarded its most ...

festival in

Struga Struga ( ; , sq-definite, Struga) is a town and popular tourist destination situated in the south-western region of North Macedonia, lying on the shore of Lake Ohrid. The town of Struga is the seat of Struga Municipality. Name The name Struga ...

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

. He died in

Solna Solna ( or , ), also known as Solna Municipality, is a municipality in central Stockholm County, Sweden, located just north of Stockholm City Centre. Its seat is located in the town of Solna, which is a part of the Stockholm urban area. Solna i ...

, Stockholm County.

Political activism

Artur Lundkvist was a supporter of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and

communism Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...

. Lundkvist himself, however, never accepted being labelled as a communist, instead calling himself a "free socialist". During the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

, Lundkvist was an adherent of the so-called "third stance" () in Swedish public debate, which purported to advocate a neutral stance in the conflict between the two superpowers. He served on the board of the pro-communist Sweden-GDR Association. He was also a member of the Swedish Peace Committee, the Swedish section of the

World Peace Council The World Peace Council (WPC) is an international organization created in 1949 by the Cominform and propped up by the Soviet Union. Throughout the Cold War, WPC engaged in propaganda efforts on behalf of the Soviet Union, whereby it criticize ...

, a Soviet front organization. In 1958 he was awarded the

Lenin Peace Prize The International Lenin Peace Prize (, ''mezhdunarodnaya Leninskaya premiya mira)'' was a Soviet Union award named in honor of Vladimir Lenin. It was awarded by a panel appointed by the Soviet government, to notable individuals whom the panel ...

from the

Selected works

*''Glöd'' 1928 *''Naket liv'' 1929 *''Jordisk prosa'' 1930 *''Svart stad'' 1930 *''Vit man'' 1932 *''Atlantvind'' 1932 *''Floderna flyter mot havet'' 1934 *''Himmelsfärd'' 1935 *''Nattens broar'' 1936 *''Sirensång'' 1937 *''Eldtema'' 1939 *''Ikarus' flykt'' 1939 *''Korsväg'' 1942 *''Dikter mellan djur och gud'' 1944 *''Skinn över sten'' 1947 *''Fotspår i vattnet'' 1949 *''Indiabrand'' 1950 *''Malinga'' 1952 *''Liv som gräs'' 1954 *''Den förvandlade draken'' 1955 *''Vindingevals'' 1956 *''Berget och svalorna'' 1957 *''Vulkanisk kontinent'' 1957 *''Ur en befolkad ensamhet'' 1958 *''Komedi i Hägerskog'' 1959 *''Utsikter över utländsk prosa'' 1959 *''Det talande trädet'' 1960 *''Agadir'' 1961 *''Berättelser för vilsekomna'' 1961 *''Sida vid sida'' 1962 *''Ögonblick och vågor'' 1962 *''Drömmar i ovädrens tid'' 1963 *''Texter i snön'' 1964 *''Sällskap för natten'' 1965 *''Självporträtt av en drömmare med öppna ögon'' 1966 *''Snapphanens liv och död'' 1968 *''Utflykter med utländska författare'' 1969 *''Himlens vilja'' 1970 *''Antipodien'' 1971 *''Tvivla, korsfarare!'' 1972 *''Lustgårdens demoni'' 1973 *''Fantasins slott och vardagens stenar'' 1974 *''Livsälskare, svartmålare'' 1975 *''Världens härlighet'' 1975 *''Krigarens dikt'' 1976 *''Sett i det strömmande vattnet'' 1978 *''Slavar för Särkland'' 1978 *''Utvandring till paradiset'' 1979 *''Skrivet mot kvällen'' 1980 *''Babylon, gudarnas sköka'' 1981 *''Sinnebilder'' 1982 *''Färdas i drömmen och föreställningen'' 1984

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lundkvist, Artur 1906 births 1991 deaths People from Perstorp Municipality Writers from Skåne County Swedish-language poets Modernist poets Members of the Swedish Academy Recipients of the Lenin Peace Prize Struga Poetry Evenings Golden Wreath laureates Dobloug Prize winners 20th-century Swedish poets