Frans Gunnar Bengtsson (4 October 1894 – 19 December 1954) was a Swedish novelist, essayist, poet and biographer. He was born in Tåssjö (now in

Ängelholm Municipality Ängelholm Municipality () is a Municipalities of Sweden, municipality in Scania County in South Sweden in southern Sweden. Its seat is located in the city Ängelholm. In 1971 the ''City of Ängelholm'' was amalgamated with the rural municipalit ...

) in

Scania Scania ( ), also known by its native name of Skåne (), is the southernmost of the historical provinces of Sweden, provinces () of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous w ...

and died at Ribbingsfors Manor in northern

Västergötland Västergötland (), also known as West Gothland or the Latinized version Westrogothia in older literature, is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden (''landskap'' in Swedish), situated in the southwest of Sweden. Vä ...

Literary career

Bengtsson began as a poet, with his debut work ''Tärningkast'' (Throwing Dice) published in 1923. In 1929, he published his first essay collection titled ''Litteratörer och Militärer'' (Writers and Warriors) with contributions on

François Villon François Villon (; Modern French: ; ; – after 1463) is the best known French poet of the Late Middle Ages. He was involved in criminal behavior and had multiple encounters with law enforcement authorities. Villon wrote about some of these e ...

Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (18 ...

Joseph Conrad Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, ; 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924) was a Poles in the United Kingdom#19th century, Polish-British novelist and story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in the Eng ...

, and

Stonewall Jackson Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson (January 21, 1824 – May 10, 1863) was a Confederate general and military officer who served during the American Civil War. He played a prominent role in nearly all military engagements in the eastern the ...

; he would publish four more collections during the rest of his career. His essays mainly dealt with literary and historical subjects. A selection was translated into English in 1950 and published as ''A Walk to an Ant Hill and Other Essays''. His biography on the Swedish king

Charles XII Charles XII, sometimes Carl XII () or Carolus Rex (17 June 1682 – 30 November 1718 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.), was King of Sweden from 1697 to 1718. He belonged to the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, a branch line of the House of ...

(''Karl XII:s levnad'') 1932 is his

magnum opus A masterpiece, , or ; ; ) is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, skill, profundity, or workmanship. Historically, ...

. He describes the king through excerpts from contemporary diaries by officers and common soldiers, and from a wealth of quotes from the published literature. Bengtsson's work draws heavily on the biography of Charles XII by

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778), known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' Voltaire (, ; ), was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, philosopher (''philosophe''), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit ...

published in 1731, thirteen years after the king’s death. Later, Bengtsson became widely known for his

Viking 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� ...

saga novel ''Röde Orm'' (''

The Long Ships ''The Long Ships'' or ''Red Orm'' (original Swedish: ''Röde Orm'' meaning ''Red Orm'', lit. ''Red Serpent'' or ''Red Snake'') is an adventure novel by the Swedish writer Frans G. Bengtsson. The narrative is set in the late 10th century and ...

''), published in two parts in 1941 and 1945. The hero Orm, later called Röde Orm (Red Snake) because of his red beard, is kidnapped as a boy onto a raiding ship and leads an exciting life in the Mediterranean area around the year AD 1000. Later, he makes an expedition eastward into Gardarike. ''The Long Ships'' was later adapted into a film. The novel was the inspiration for the name of the wireless technology

Bluetooth Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is li ...

. Bengtsson once said: "

Joan of Arc Joan of Arc ( ; ; – 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the Coronation of the French monarch, coronation of Charles VII o ...

, and

Garibaldi Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi ( , ;In his native Ligurian language, he is known as (). In his particular Niçard dialect of Ligurian, he was known as () or (). 4 July 1807 – 2 June 1882) was an Italian general, revolutionary and republican. H ...

are the persons I would like to meet - for them the truth was more important than intrigues."

Personal life

Bengtsson studied at the

University of Lund Lund University () is a public research university in Sweden and one of Northern Europe's oldest universities. The university is located in the city of Lund in the Swedish province of Scania. The university was officially founded in 1666 on the ...

from 1912, but spent a lot of his time writing poetry and playing

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

rather than studying. He graduated with a licentiate degree in English literature in 1930. Bengtsson married Gerda Fineman in 1939 and the couple had a son.

References

External links

*
Frans G. Bengtsson-sällskapet
(The Frans G. Bengtsson society, in Swedish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bengtsson, Frans Gunnar 1894 births 1954 deaths People from Ängelholm Municipality Writers from Skåne County Swedish-language writers Swedish historical novelists Lund University alumni Swedish essayists 20th-century Swedish novelists 20th-century essayists Swedish biographers