 
Choose another writer in this calendar: by name: by birthday from the calendar.
TimeSearch |
|
Eyvind Johnson (1900-1976) |
|
Swedish working class writer – on his own from the age of 13 – who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature with Harry Martinson in 1974. Eyvind Johnson's early works dealt with his impoverished upbringing and social or political problems. In many of his later novels Johnson sought ways to expand the art of storytelling through experimenting with time, and the interaction between historical events and their modern interpretation. Often his hero is a battered but resilient humanist. "His work, which mirrors the ideological and technical development of the novel from Hamsun to Faulkner, is pervaded by the political and cultural debates of his time. He regarded the dissolution of the form of of the novel as a necessary step in its development, and saw each of his novels as an experiment in expressing the dark and the bright sides on life." (Sven H. Rossel, in A History of Scandinavian Literature 1870-1980, translated by Anne C. Ulmer, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1982, p. 157) Eyvind
Johnson was born on the outskirts of what is now the city of Boden, in
Norrbotten, in
northern
Sweden. Boden was an important railroad junction. When his father, Olof
Jonsson, laborer on the Lapland iron ore railroad,
suffered from mental breakdown, Eyvind's mother entrusted her son's
upbringing to relatives. "I am told that he sang," Johnson said of his
father, "that he was a cheerful and genial man, and I am happy to
believe it. But he fell ill, he was ill for many years, and I never
heard him sing. I scarcely heard him speak." (Eyvind Johnson by Gavin Orton, New York: Twayne Publishers, 1972, p. 11) At the age of thirteen, Johnson left school and earned his living from odd jobs, mainly as a lumberjack, but also as a sawmill worker, a locomotive cleaner, and a silent-film projectionist in a movie theater. Johnson educated himself by reading and in 1919 he settled in Stockholm, where he was for a short time at LM Ericsson's workshop. With some other aspiring young writers he founded the magazine Vår Nutid and contributed to the anarchist magazine Brand. He also participated actively in politics and trade unionism. In 1924 he broke with Socialism – the year marked also the beginning of his career as a writer. Uneployed, he decided to leave Sweden. Much of the 1920s Johnson spent in Berlin and in Saint-Leu-la-Foret, near Paris. To earn his living, he worked as a dishwasher, among others, while striving to become a writer. There were only two options: "Slutar på Långholmen eller i Svenska Akademien." (I will end up in the Långholmen prison or at the Swedish Academy.) (Till en berättelse om tröst: Eyvind Johnson omläst by Mats Tormod, Stockholm: Atlantis, 2012, p. 7) While in France he wrote for Swedish newspapers, and read the works of John Dos Passos, Alfred Döblin, Marcel Proust, André Gide, and James Joyce, as well as Henri Bergson and Sigmund Freud. Through their influence he gradually took distance to traditional novel forms, which culminated in the publication of Kommentar till ett stjärnfall (1929), an attack on capitalist society, in which Johnson used used stream-of –consciousness technique effectively. The work was a critical success. On his return visits to Sweden Johnson was distressed by its sense of isolation from the rest of Europe. Johnson's early books, Timans
och rättfärdigheten (1925), Stad i mörker (1927), which
pursued two intertwining stories, and Stad i ljus (1928),
about an author starving in Paris, drew on Hamsun and expressionism. Minnas
(1928), which shows Johnson's familiarity with Freud's theory on
repression, used the inner monologue, quite new in Sweden at that time. Although
Johnson's books inspired discussion about modernism,
they were
not widely read. In 1927 Johnson married Aase Christoffersen (she died
in 1938), whom he had first met in Paris. Their son Tore (1928-1980)
became a photographer. Aase was born in Norway. Johnson rented a cottage by the Orkdal Fjord in Norway, where he wrote Nittonhundrasjutton, published in serialized form in Brand: ungsocialistiska förbundets organ (1930-1931). Before returning to Sweden, Johnson had established himself as the most important representative of experimental novel of his generation. Avsked till Hamlet (1930) began the series of five books about Mårten Torpare, a character with a background like the author's own. Mårten also learns to reject his ambivalence toward his simple past. Regn i gryningen (1933) was concerned with boring office jobs. Between the years 1934 and 1937 Johnson wrote Romanen om Olof, a classic of Swedish literature. The four-volume epic of Olof, who leaves home at the age fourteen, was based on Johnson's experiences as a logger. In the life of its young hero, Johnson blended fairy tale and realism. Typical modernist features include use of inner monologue, changing point of view, and preoccupation with the question of time. For most of the Swedish autobiographical novels, August Strindberg's Tjänstekvinnans son (The Son of a Servant), written in a naturalistic style, had provided the model. The tetralogy Nu var det 1914 (1934), Här har du ditt liv! (1935), Se dig inte om! (1936), and Slutspel i ungdomen (1937) tells of the story of a young Swedish boy growing up in the sub-Arctic during World War I. Jan Troell's faithful film adaptation of Här har du ditt liv (Here Is Your Life) premiered in July 1966. At that time it was the longest feature film made in Sweden. A critical success, it marked the breakthrough of Troell career as a director. Johnson also was happy with this screen version of his book. The tile factory in the film was the same factory where Johnson had worked at the age of 14. Following the shock of the assassination of Prime Minister Olof Palme, STV (the Swedish public service television company) broadcasted the film on May 1, 1968, instead of the scheduled humor programs. Increasingly disturbed by the rising totalitarianism in the 1930s, Johnson worked actively against the onslaught of Nazism and helped establish a link between Resistance in Norway and Sweden. In Nattövning (1938), portraying a group of Swedish Nazis, Johnson's alter ego, Mårten Torpare, gives his account of the times. Soldatens återkomst (1940) depicted the fate of a Swedish volunteer who had fought dictatorship in Spain. "One should prevent others from killing," says Mårten. After
the death of his first wife, Johnson married Cilla Frankenhaeuser
(1911-2002), a translator. With her Johnson collaborated in translating
writers such as
Albert Camus, Anatole France, Jean-Paul Sartre and Eugène
Ionesco. During World War II Johnson coedited with Willy Bradt the
newspaper Et Handslåg for the Norwegian resistance and wrote
the Krilon trilogy (Grupp Krilon, 1941; Krilons resa,
1942, and Krilon själv,
1943). The work, which weaves together fictional, allegorical, and symbolic levels, condemns Nazi oppression and explores the controversial policy of Swedish neutrality during the war. In the story a real-estate broker, Krilon, represents Western democratic values. He establishes a discussion group with his friends and tries to keep it together as a counterforce against totalitarian and corporative pressures. Their enemies are Jekau and Staph, representing the Soviet Union ("tjekan") and Hitler's Germany (Gestapo). The Swedish- American Frank Lind symbolizes Franklin D. Roosevelt and the U.S. At the same time their struggle is an allegory of the events of World War II and the battle between idealism and corruption. In 1947, Johnson condemned Bolshevism in a radio speech, when
the
Soviet Union celebrated the October Revolution: "Similarities between a
Communist state and a Nationalist or Fascist state are greater than
differences. The both rule by clichés and blood." At age 46 Johnson began to write historical novels, after travels to Italy and France. Strändernas svall (1946, Eng. tr. Return to Ithaca), a realistic retelling of Homer's Odyssey, illustrated the moral dilemma after World War II – does good ends justify the means? The story is written in the flashback technique. It begins with depiction of Ulysses's worn-out face, he is missing a finger ("Högra handens ringfinger var borta från roten.") – he is on the island of Calypso but his name is not mentioned – and ends with him and Telemachus killing Penelope's suitors; "go away, you old thing, you war-battered wrack," she thinks, yearning for her freedom and a young lover. Eurycleia, Ulysses's old wet-nurse, prepares him a bath. He is still possessed by wanderlust. Strändernas svall, translated as Return to Ithaca: The Odyssey Retold as a Modern Novel began a series of novels emphasizing the repetition of history, the similarity of man's condition under varying circumstances. "Man kan säga vad som helst on Amerika tämligen ostraffat, men till sist kommer man fram till att USA:s styrka är den för närvarande enda fullviktiga garanten för vår egen trygghet. Om Amerika är starkt - och med det västerlandet – betyder det för oss att vi ännu har möjligheten till vår folkliga självbestämmanderätt kvar. Ifall den styrkan mattas eller drar sig tillbaka i isolationism, återtsår oss det andra: att omfattas av, pressas in i en östlig världs intressen, att bli provinsen eller guvernementet Sverige i protektoratet Europa. Förebilden är de so kallade folkdemokratierna med så kallade folkdomstolar inför vilka själva tanken på västerländsk demokrati betraktas som ett grov brott, som lands- och statsfientlig verksamhet, värd dödsstraff." (first published in Stockholms-Tidningen, on March 13, 1951) Johnson traveled extensively in southern
Switzerland, where he lived two years (1947-49), and then in England. Switzerland's culture and
landscape provided the setting for several of his novels. Moreover, his
characters were not exclusively Swedish, but represented his ideal of
European cultural unity. Johnson was elected a member of the
Swedish Academy in 1957. In the 1960s and 1970s ideas of the rising
leftists movements did not attract him, and in 1974 he resigned from
the writers' association in protest. After Johnson and Martinson were awarded the Nobel Prize (decided by the Swedish Academy), Olof Lagercrantz wrote in the newspaper Dagens Nyheter ('Nobelpris till svenskar,' 04.10.1974), that the Academy awards itself, "Academien belönar sig själv" – both authors were its members. But he did not think that they did not deserve the honour. "Jag fann också att Sverige nu med sex litterära nobelpris – lika många som Asien, Afrika, Australien, Syd- och Mellanamerika tillsammans – var groteskt överrepresenterat. Men någon kritik mot Harry Martinson eller Eyvind Johnson framförde jag icke." ('Svar till Sekreteraren,' Dagen Nyheter, 20.02.1978, in Vårt sekel är reserverat åt lögnen by Olof Lagercrantz, edited by Niklas Nåsander and Richard Lagercrantz, Stockholm: Karneval förlag, 2007, p. 399) Until the prize, Johnson was rather unknown outside of Sweden. Eyvind Johnson died in Stockholm on August 25, 1976. The small cottage where he was born has been preserved. Like the Icelandic Nobel laureate Halldór Kiljan Laxness, Johnson admired the work of B. Traven, calling him "one of the great writers of our era." "Utan tidningar och radio skulle säkert stora delar av mänskligheten tro att allt är så bra som man kan gebärä – också på alla andra ställen på Jordklotet. Ja inbilla sej – kanske – att just de själva borde ha anledning till att vara, att de var lykliga. I brist på telegram och radionyheter och andra raporter skulle de kanhända vara fyllda av största lugn i själen. Människan är i hög grad outforskad. I brist på fantasi eller brist på kunskanp om de andra, skulle människor som har bara fem minuters promenadväg till Helvetet inte ha en aning om att Helvetet fanns så närä deras egen trygghet." (from Några steg mot tystnaden by Eyvind Johnson, Stockholm: Bonnier, 1973) Drömmar om rosor och eld
(1949, Eng. tr. Dreams of Roses and Fire) took place in Cardinal
Richelieu's 17th-century France and looked at political trials and
executions through the witchcraft trial of Urbain Grainier. The process
also inspired Aldous Huxley's The Devils of Loudun (1952).
Molnen över Metapontion (1957) combined three levels of time: the tale of Themestogenes from Xenophon's Anabasis with a Swedish survivor of a German concentration camp, and his visit to the places out of Anabasis. The story moves back and forth between four time levels, between events that happened 2,300 years ago and were retold by the Greeks, the concentration camps, and the 1950s. This narrative method was also used in Några steg mot tystnaden (1973), a novel about captives of the past. Livsdagen lång (1964) was an eight-episode chronicle spanning the 9th to 16th cs. Hans nådes tid (1960, Eng. tr. The Days of His Grace) was an analysis of the totalitarian ideology, seen through the eyes of the inhabitants of a nation, the Langobard people, conquered by Charlemagne. One one the sources was Historia Langobardorum, written by Paulus Diaconus, a Langobad historian; Johnson had read the book when he was living in Berlin in the early twenties. Although the Stalin-like dictator manages to destroy freedom (in this case a revolt in Lombardy), love and hope remain in dreams. "I've always detested power and the book is about the curse of political power," Johnson said in an interview.
For further reading: Eyvind Johnson by Jørgen Claudi (1947); 'An Interview with Eyvind Johnson' by L. S. Dembo and Eyvind Johnson, Contemporary Literature, Vol. 12, No. 3 (Summer, 1971); Eyvind Johnson by G. K. Orton (1972); The Ulysses Theme: A Study in the Adaptability of a Traditional Hero by W. B. Stanford (1963); Den tidlösa historien by Stig Bäckman (1975); Eyvind Johnsons historiska romaner: analyser av språksyn och världssyn i fem romaner by Ole Meyer (1977); Romantikern Eyvind Johnson by Thure Stenström (1978); Hamlet i klasskampen: en ideologikritisk studie i Eyvind Johnsons 20-talsromaner by Nils Schwartz (1979); 'Johnson, Eyvind' by G.O. [Gavin Orton], Columbia Dictionary of Modern European Literature, ed. by Jean-Albert Bédé and William B. Edgerton (1980); Myt och verklighet. Berättandets problem i Eyvind Johnsons roman Strändernas svall by Merete Mazzarella (1981); A History of Scandinavian Literature 1870-1980 by Sven H. Rossel (1982); Eyvind Johnson och Djävulen by Mona Kårsnäs (1984); Norrbottningen som blev europé: Eyvind Johnsons liv och författarskap till och med Romanen om Olof by Örjan Lindberger (1986); Människan i tiden: Eyvind Johnsons liv och författarskap 1938-1976 by Örjan Lindberger (1990); A History of Swedish Literature, ed. by Lars G. Warme (1996, pp. 349-353); 'Johnson, Eyvind,' in Encyclopedia of World Literature in the 20th Century, Vol. 2, ed. by Steven R. Serafin (1999); 'Eyvind Johnson and the History of Europe: Many Times in One Place' by Rolf Hugoson, in The Idea of Europe in Literature, edited by Susanne Fendler, Ruth Wittinger (1999); Berättaren Eyvind Johnson: En kort vägledning by Örjan Lindberger (1999); Eyvind Johnson och Norrbotten by Kjell Lundholm (2000); Eyvind Johnson: bibliografi by Per-Olof Mattsson (2000); Essays on Thorkild Björnvig, Eyvind Johnson, Harry Martinson and Erik Lindegren by Walter W. Nelson (2011); Omvägar till sanningen: nya perspektiv på Eyvind Johnsons författarskap, edited by Christer Johansson & Anders Lindström (2015); Det materialiserade ordet: medium och mening i Eyvind Johnsons författarskap by Christer Johansson (2021) Selected works:
|
