Mats Ulrik Malm (born 10 May 1964) is a Swedish literary writer and translator. On 18 October 2018, Malm 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 ...

, on 26 April 2019 he was elected the new Permanent Secretary and Speaker of the Swedish Academy. Mats Malm is a university professor of

literary science Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, plays, and poems. It includes both print and digital writing. In recent centuries, th ...

at the

University of Gothenburg The University of Gothenburg () is a List of universities in Sweden, university in Sweden's second largest city, Gothenburg. Founded in 1891, the university is the third-oldest of the current List of universities in Sweden#Public universities, S ...

. He has a PhD in

Gothicism Gothicism or Gothism ( ; ) was an ethno-cultural ideology and cultural movement in Sweden, which took honor in being a Swede, for being purportedly related to the Goths. This was a result of a resolute decades long effort from Swedish writers, ...

. As a translator, he has published Icelandic

Saga Sagas are prose stories and histories, composed in Iceland and to a lesser extent elsewhere in Scandinavia. The most famous saga-genre is the (sagas concerning Icelanders), which feature Viking voyages, migration to Iceland, and feuds between ...

s. He is working on digitizing Swedish literature as director of the

Swedish Literature Bank The Swedish Literature Bank is a non-profit organisation whose objective is making classic Swedish literature and literary criticism freely available in digital editions. It is a collaboration between the Swedish Academy, the National Library of S ...

. Since 2012, Malm has been a member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities The Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities also called simply the Royal Academy of Letters or Vitterhetsakademien abbreviated KVHAA ( or or ) is the Sweden, Swedish Swedish Royal Academies, royal academy for the Humanities. Its ...

. On 18 October 2018, Malm was elected member of the Swedish Academy, where he succeeded

Klas Östergren Klas Östergren (born 20 February 1955) is a Swedish novelist, short story writer, screenwriter, and translator. Östergren had a breakthrough with his fourth novel ''Gentlemen'' in 1980. He has been awarded numerous Swedish literary prizes, ...

in Chair No. 11. A man impersonating Malm rang the novelist

John Banville William John Banville (born 8 December 1945) is an Irish novelist, short story writer, Literary adaptation, adapter of dramas and screenwriter. Though he has been described as "the heir to Marcel Proust, Proust, via Vladimir Nabokov, Nabokov", ...

on the day that the Swedish Academy intended to announce the recipients of the 2019 and 2018 Nobel Prizes in Literature. The man purporting to be Malm told Banville he had won and even read out the customary citation and asked if he would prefer to be designated the 2018 or 2019 laureate. Banville was attending a

physiotherapy Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is a healthcare profession, as well as the care provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through patient education, physical intervention, disease preventio ...

appointment at the time and was lying face down on a couch when the call came. He informed his daughter; she called her father back while watching the live announcement at midday to tell him his name had not been mentioned. After the announcement, a voicemail to Banville (again from the man posing as Malm) claimed the Swedish Academy had withdrawn his prize due a disagreement. Banville felt sorry for the man purporting to be Malm: "He certainly sounded upset, he was a very good actor". But he later compared the voice of the speaker to that of the real Malm, at which point he realised that neither man sounded alike. However, despite this, when Banville rang the number back he found himself in contact with the offices of the Swedish Academy.

Works

* ''Voluptuous Language and Poetic Ambivalence. The Example of Swedish Baroque'', Peter Lang Verlag, Frankfurt am Main etc. 2011, . * ''Minervas äpple: om diktsyn, tolkning och bildspråk inom nordisk göticism'' (1996) * ''Textens auktoritet: de första svenska romanernas villkor'' (2001) * ''Det liderliga språket: poetisk ambivalens i svensk "barock"'' (2004) * ''Poesins röster: avlyssningar av äldre litteratur'' (2011) * ''The Soul of Poetry Redefined: Vacillations of Mimesis from Aristotle to Romanticism'' (Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 2012)

Translations

Gautreks saga ''Gautreks saga'' (''Gautrek's Saga'') is a Scandinavian legendary saga put to text towards the end of the 13th century which survives only in much later manuscripts. It seems to have been intended as a compilation of traditional stories, often hu ...

(Samspråk, 1990) *

Gísla saga ''Gísla saga Súrssonar'' (, ''The saga of Gísli the Outlaw'') is one of the sagas of Icelanders. It tells the story of Gísli, a tragic hero who must kill one of his brothers-in-law to avenge another brother-in-law. Gisli is forced to stay on th ...

(''Gísla saga Súrssonar'') (Fabel, 1993) *

Carl Jonas Love Almqvist Carl Jonas Love Ludvig Almqvist (28 November 1793 – 26 September 1866) was a Swedish author, romantic poet, romantic critic of political economy, realist, composer and social critic. Biography Carl Jonas Love Almqvist was born in Stockhol ...

: ''Om François Rabelais' liv och skrifter'' (''De vita et scriptis Francisci Rabelæsi'') (Litteraturvetenskapliga institutionen, University of Gothenburg, 1993) *

Snorri Sturluson Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of th ...

: ''Snorres Edda'' (''

Prose Edda The ''Prose Edda'', also known as the ''Younger Edda'', ''Snorri's Edda'' () or, historically, simply as ''Edda'', is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often considered to have been to some exten ...

'') (co-translated with Karl G. Johansson) (Fabel, 1997) *

Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu ''Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu'' () or the ''Saga of Gunnlaugur Serpent-Tongue'' is one of the sagas of Icelanders. Composed at the end of the 13th century, it is preserved complete in a slightly younger manuscript. It contains 25 verses of skald ...

(''Gunnlaugs saga Ormstungu'') (Saga forlag Reykjavik, 2014) *

Hrafnkels saga ''Hrafnkels saga'' (; ) or ''Hrafnkels saga Freysgoða'' (O.N.: ; Ice.: ) is one of the Icelanders' sagas. It tells of struggles between chieftains and farmers in the east of Iceland in the 10th century. The eponymous main character, Hrafnkell, st ...

(''Hrafnkels saga Freygoða'') (Saga förlag Reykjavik, 2014)

Awards

* Schückska Award of Swedish Academy 2010

References

External links

Chair no. 11 - Mats Malm. Literary historian, Elected: 2018.
biographical notes on Mats Malm at ''Svenska Akademien'' website
Staff profile as professor
Universität Göteborg
List of computer science publications by Mats Malm
dblp.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Malm, Mats 1964 births Living people Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities Members of the Swedish Academy Scandinavian studies scholars Swedish literary historians Swedish translators Translators from Icelandic Academic staff of the University of Gothenburg Writers from Gothenburg