Rudolf Värnlund (6 February 1900 – 16 February 1945) was a Swedish novelist, short story writer and playwright. Värnlund had his biggest success as a playwright with his play (1932).

Biography

Värnlund grew up in the district of

Södermalm Södermalm, often shortened to just Söder, is the southern district of Stockholm City Centre. Overview The Södermalm district covers the island of the same name (formerly called ''Åsön''), which, however, is not fully separated from th ...

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 ...

, Sweden. He found work as a

typesetter Typesetting is the composition of Written language, text for publication, display, or distribution by means of arranging metal type, physical ''type'' (or ''sort'') in mechanical systems or ''glyphs'' in digital systems representing ''char ...

and in his free time devoted himself to intense studies of literature and politics and began to write stories and articles. His writing was frequently published in the

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

magazine ''

Brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...

''. Värnlund made several travels to

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

in the 1920s, experiencing the postwar anxiety and atmosphere of the time. Värnlund had his first book, the short story collection ''Döda människor'' ("Dead humans") published in 1924. By then he had already written numerous plays and works of prose. He was very productive and published several novels in the late 1920s and 1930s which generally received poor reviews. Contemporary critics had little understanding for his intense, expressionistic style. Although later Värnlund has been regarded as an important proletarian writer. He was the first writer to depict Stockholm from a

proletarian The proletariat (; ) is the social class of wage-earners, those members of a society whose possession of significant economic value is their labour power (their capacity to work). A member of such a class is a proletarian or a . Marxist philo ...

perspective in novels such as ''Upproret'' ("The Uprising", 1927), which along with the unusually lighthearted ''Det druckna kvarteret'' ("The drunken neighbourhood", 1928) and ''Man bygger ett hus'' ("A House is being built", 1938), is one of his best known novels. His play ''Den heliga familjen'' (The holy family) opened at the

Royal Dramatic Theatre The Royal Dramatic Theatre (, colloquially ''Dramaten'') is Sweden's national stage for "spoken drama", founded in 1788. Around one thousand shows are put on annually on the theatre's five running stages. The theatre has been at its present lo ...

(''Kungliga Dramatiska Teatern'') in March 1932 under the direction of

Alf Sjöberg Sven Erik Alf Sjöberg (21 June 1903 – 17 April 1980) was a Sweden, Swedish theatre director, theatre and film director. He won the Palme d'Or, Grand Prix du Festival at the Cannes Film Festival twice: in 1946 for ''Torment (1944 film), Torment ...

. Rudolf Värnlund died in a fire at

Österskär Österskär is eastern part of Åkersberga, Österåker Municipality in Sweden. It hosts the terminal station of the Stockholm suburban railway Roslagsbanan. The area is located in a hilly peninsula between Tunaviken and Sätterfjärden northwes ...

during 1945 and was buried at Skogskyrkogården in Stockholm.

References

Other sources

*Mattsson, Per-Olof (1989) ''Amor Fati - Rudolf Värnlund som prosaförfattare'' (Stockholm : Akademitryck AB) *Värnlund, Holger (1992) ''Fem steg över parketten. Holger Värnlund om Rudolf Värnlund'' (Stockholm : Carlsson)

Biography

References

Other sources

Related reading