Thorsten Jonsson (1910–1950) was a Swedish writer, journalist and translator. Jonsson grew up in a small village in

Västerbotten Västerbotten (), sometimes called West Bothnia or Westrobothnia, is a province (''landskap'') in northern Sweden, located by the Gulf of Bothnia. It borders the provinces of Ångermanland, Lapland and Norrbotten. The region is famous for Väs ...

. He studied at

Stockholms högskola Stockholm University (SU) () is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, social sciences, and natu ...

and then worked as journalist for various newspapers, including ''

Dagens Nyheter (, ), abbreviated ''DN'', is a daily newspaper in Sweden. It is published in Stockholm and aspires to full national and international coverage, and is widely considered Sweden's newspaper of record A newspaper of record is a major nationa ...

''. In 1943 he became ''Dagens Nyheters''

correspondent A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locati ...

in United States. A selection of his articles as a correspondent were published in the book ''Sidor av Amerika'' in 1946. Jonsson was praised for his translations of American writers like

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...

and

John Steinbeck John Ernst Steinbeck ( ; February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American writer. He won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social percep ...

and wrote several essays on contemporary American literature. Six studies were published in the book ''Sex amerikaner: Hemingway,

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

, Steinbeck,

Caldwell Caldwell may refer to: People * Caldwell (surname) * Caldwell (given name) * Caldwell First Nation, a federally recognized First Nation in southern Ontario, Canada Places Great Britain * Caldwell, Derbyshire, a hamlet * Caldwell, Ea ...

Farrell Farrell (anglicization of the Irish ''Ó Fearghail'') is a surname and may refer to: * Farrell (surname) * Farrell Lines, shipping company (acquired by Maersk) * Farrell, Mississippi, a census-designated place in Mississippi * Farrell, Nevada, a g ...

Saroyan Saroyan () is a surname of Armenian origin. Notable people with the surname include: * Camille Saroyan, a character in the TV series ''Bones'' * Sedrak Saroyan (1967–2022), Armenian general and politician * William Saroyan (1908–1981), Pulitz ...

'' in 1942. As a writer he published two books of poems, two short story collections and the acclaimed novel ''Konvoj'', published in 1947. ''Dimman från havet'', a book of four stories set in America, an essay collection and his collected short stories were published posthumously.

Bibliography

*Utflykt, 1933 *Stor-Norrland och litteraturen, 1938 *Som ett träd, 1939 *Som det brukar vara, 1939 *Martin Koch, 1941 *Fly till vatten och morgon, 1941 *Sex amerikaner: Hemingway, Faulkner, Steinbeck, Caldwell, Farrell, Saroyan, 1942 *Sidor av Amerika: Intryck och resonemang, 1946 *Konvoj, 1947 *Dimman från havet, 1950 *Synpunkter, 1951 *Noveller, 1955 *Berättelser från Amerika, 2007 ;Translations (selected) *

A. J. Cronin Archibald Joseph Cronin (Cronogue) (19 July 1896 – 6 January 1981) was a Scottish physician and novelist. His best-known novel is ''The Citadel (novel), The Citadel'' (1937), about a Scottish physician who serves in a Welsh coal mining, minin ...

Citadellet (The Citadel), 1938 *

Att ha och inte ha (To Have and Have Not), 1939 *

Vredens druvor (The Grapes of Wrath), 1940 *Ernest Hemingway Klockan klämtar för dig (For Whom the Bell Tolls), 1940 *

Daniel Defoe Daniel Defoe (; born Daniel Foe; 1660 – 24 April 1731) was an English writer, merchant and spy. He is most famous for his novel ''Robinson Crusoe'', published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its number of translati ...

Robinson Crusoe, 1942 *Ernest Hemingway Snön på Kilimandjaro och andra noveller (The Snows of Kilimanjaro), 1942 *

Erskine Caldwell Erskine Preston Caldwell (December 17, 1903 – April 11, 1987) was an American novelist and short story writer. His writings about poverty, racism and social problems in his native Southern United States, in novels such as '' Tobacco Road'' (19 ...

Avlöning vid Savannah River (Savannah River Payday), 1942 *John Steinbeck Den långa dalen (The Long Valley), 1943 *John Steinbeck Månen har gått ned (The Moon is Down), 1943 *

Dylan Thomas Dylan Marlais Thomas (27 October 1914 – 9 November 1953) was a Welsh poet and writer, whose works include the poems " Do not go gentle into that good night" and " And death shall have no dominion", as well as the "play for voices" ''Un ...

En varm lördag (One Warm Saturday), 1943 *

E. E. Cummings Edward Estlin Cummings (October 14, 1894 – September 3, 1962), commonly known as e e cummings or E. E. Cummings, was an American poet, painter, essayist, author, and playwright. During World War I, he worked as an ambulance driver and was ...

poems, included in Sidor av Amerika, 1946 *Mörk sång: Fyrtiofem amerikanska negerdikter (anthology of afroamerican poetry), 1949

References

Thorsten Jonsson
Riksarkivet
Jonsson Thorsten Jonsson
Svenskt översättarlexikon Swedish novelists Swedish short story writers Swedish poets 1910 births 1950 deaths 20th-century Swedish journalists 20th-century Swedish translators Writers from Västerbotten County {{Sweden-writer-stub