Erik Axel Karlfeldt
Erik Axel Karlfeldt | |
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Karlfeldt in 1931 | |
Born | Erik Axel Eriksson (1864-07-20)20 July 1864 Karlbo, Sweden |
Died | 8 April 1931(1931-04-08) (aged 66) Stockholm, Sweden |
Occupation | poet |
Nationality | Swedish |
Notable awards | 1931 Nobel Prize in Literature |
Member of the Swedish Academy (Seat No. 11) | |
In office 20 December 1904 – 8 April 1931 | |
Preceded by | Clas Theodor Odhner |
Succeeded by | Torsten Fogelqvist |
Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy | |
In office February 1913 – April 1931 | |
Preceded by | Hans Hildebrand |
Succeeded by | Per Hallström |
Erik Axel Karlfeldt (20 July 1864 – 8 April 1931) was a Swedish poet whose highly symbolist poetry masquerading as regionalism was popular and won him the 1931 Nobel Prize in Literature posthumously after he had been nominated by Nathan Söderblom, member of the Swedish Academy.[1] Karlfeldt had been offered the award already in 1919 but refused to accept it, because of his position as permanent secretary to the Swedish Academy (1913–1931), which awards the prize.[2]
Biography
Karlfeldt was born into a farmer's family in Karlbo, in the province of Dalarna. Initially, his name was Erik Axel Eriksson, but he assumed his new name in 1889, wanting to distance himself from his father, who had suffered the disgrace of a criminal conviction. He studied at Uppsala University, simultaneously supporting himself by teaching school in several places, including Djursholms samskola in the Stockholm suburb of Djursholm and at a school for adults. After completing his studies, he held a position at the Royal Library of Sweden, in Stockholm, for five years.
In 1904, Karlfeldt was elected a member of the Swedish Academy and held chair number 11. In 1905, he was elected a member of the Nobel Institute of the academy, and, in 1907, of the Nobel Committee. In 1912, he was elected permanent secretary of the academy, a position he held until his death.
Uppsala University, Karlfeldt's alma mater, awarded him the title of Doctor honoris causae in 1917.
Works in English
- Modern Swedish Poetry Part 1 (1929) – (trans. by C. D. Locock)
- Arcadia Borealis (1938) – (trans. by Charles Wharton Stork)
- The North! To the North! (2001) – (trans. by Judith Moffett, five poets including Karlfeldt)
References
External links
- Erik Axel Karlfeldt on Nobelprize.org
- Short biography at nobel-winners.com
- List of Works
- Karlfeldt's collected works and a facsimile of a 1956 edition, both at Project Runeberg
- Petri Liukkonen. "Erik Axel Karlfeldt". Books and Writers.
Cultural offices | ||
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Preceded by | Swedish Academy, Seat No 11 1904–1931 | Succeeded by Torsten Fogelqvist |
- v
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- 1901: Sully Prudhomme
- 1902: Theodor Mommsen
- 1903: Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson
- 1904: Frédéric Mistral / José Echegaray
- 1905: Henryk Sienkiewicz
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- 1927: Henri Bergson
- 1928: Sigrid Undset
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- 1930: Sinclair Lewis
- 1931: Erik Axel Karlfeldt (posthumously)
- 1932: John Galsworthy
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- 1953: Winston Churchill
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- 1956: Juan Ramón Jiménez
- 1957: Albert Camus
- 1958: Boris Pasternak
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- 1961: Ivo Andrić
- 1962: John Steinbeck
- 1963: Giorgos Seferis
- 1964: Jean-Paul Sartre (declined award)
- 1965: Mikhail Sholokhov
- 1966: Shmuel Yosef Agnon / Nelly Sachs
- 1967: Miguel Ángel Asturias
- 1968: Yasunari Kawabata
- 1969: Samuel Beckett
- 1970: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
- 1971: Pablo Neruda
- 1972: Heinrich Böll
- 1973: Patrick White
- 1974: Eyvind Johnson / Harry Martinson
- 1975: Eugenio Montale
- 1976: Saul Bellow
- 1977: Vicente Aleixandre
- 1978: Isaac Bashevis Singer
- 1979: Odysseas Elytis
- 1980: Czesław Miłosz
- 1981: Elias Canetti
- 1982: Gabriel García Márquez
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- 1984: Jaroslav Seifert
- 1985: Claude Simon
- 1986: Wole Soyinka
- 1987: Joseph Brodsky
- 1988: Naguib Mahfouz
- 1989: Camilo José Cela
- 1990: Octavio Paz
- 1991: Nadine Gordimer
- 1992: Derek Walcott
- 1993: Toni Morrison
- 1994: Kenzaburō Ōe
- 1995: Seamus Heaney
- 1996: Wisława Szymborska
- 1997: Dario Fo
- 1998: José Saramago
- 1999: Günter Grass
- 2000: Gao Xingjian
- 2001: V. S. Naipaul
- 2002: Imre Kertész
- 2003: J. M. Coetzee
- 2004: Elfriede Jelinek
- 2005: Harold Pinter
- 2006: Orhan Pamuk
- 2007: Doris Lessing
- 2008: J. M. G. Le Clézio
- 2009: Herta Müller
- 2010: Mario Vargas Llosa
- 2011: Tomas Tranströmer
- 2012: Mo Yan
- 2013: Alice Munro
- 2014: Patrick Modiano
- 2015: Svetlana Alexievich
- 2016: Bob Dylan
- 2017: Kazuo Ishiguro
- 2018: Olga Tokarczuk
- 2019: Peter Handke
- 2020: Louise Glück
- 2021: Abdulrazak Gurnah
- 2022: Annie Ernaux
- 2023: Jon Fosse
- 2024: to be announced