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Harry Martinson

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Harry Martinson
Harry Martinson
Harry Martinson
Born(1904-05-06)6 May 1904
Jämshög, Sweden
Died11 February 1978(1978-02-11) (aged 73)
Stockholm, Sweden
Notable awardsNobel Prize in Literature
1974 (shared with Eyvind Johnson)
SpousesMoa Martinson (1929–1940)
Ingrid Lindcrantz (1942–1978)

Harry Martinson (6 May 1904 – 11 February 1978) was a Swedish writer, poet and former sailor. In 1949 he was elected into the Swedish Academy. He was awarded a joint Nobel Prize in Literature in 1974 together with fellow Swede Eyvind Johnson "for writings that catch the dewdrop and reflect the cosmos".[1] The choice was controversial, as both Martinson and Johnson were members of the academy.[2]

He has been called "the great reformer of 20th-century Swedish poetry, the most original of the writers called 'proletarian'."[3]

Life

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Childhood

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Martinson was born in Jämshög, Blekinge County in south-eastern Sweden.[4] Born Harry Edmund Olofsson, he was the fifth child of middle class parents who ran a small shop in the village Nyteboda and had four older and two younger sisters.[5] At a young age he lost both his parents, his father died of tuberculosis in 1910 and a year later his mother emigrated to Portland, Oregon leaving behind her children, whereafter Martinson was placed as a foster child (Kommunalbarn) in the Swedish countryside.[4] He was moved between different homes and alternated between working for his foster parents and attending elementary school, where he often received excellent grades.[6] Martinson would later depict his childhood in the novel Flowering Nettle (1935), and its continuation Vägen ut ("The Way Out", 1936).

Years at sea and vagrancy (1920-1927)

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At the age of sixteen Harry Martinson, as he now called himself, had run away and signed onto a ship in Gothenburg as an able seaman. The steam ship's journey reached France, Ireland and Scotland, but after returning to Stockholm Martinson signed off as he could not afford the necessary winter clothes. He then spent eighteen months as a vagrant, eventually reaching as far as Umeå in north-east Sweden and then Tromsø in northern Norway. During this time he was arrested for vagrancy in Lundagård park, Lund. In March 1922 he signed on as a stoker on a steam ship that sailed to Norway and Iceland, but after two months he ran away in Belgium. He stayed in Antwerpen, Belgium for a while before signing on to a ship for USA, where he hoped to meet his mother, and then to a Greek ship sailing to South America. He spent some time as a seaman in Brazil and then signed on to a ship that sailed from Rio de Janeiro to Cape Town, and then further to Bombay. In Bombay he again ran away, before signing on to another ship that sailed back to Europe.[7][4]

The headstone on Martinson's grave in Silverdal, Sollentuna – north of Stockholm

Troubled by lung problems Martinson set ashore in Sweden on his 23rd birthday in May 1927.[8][9][10] Martinson would later depict his years as a seaman in several acclaimed books, including Kap farväl! (1933), which was a critical and commercial success and the first of his books to be translated to English (Cape Farewell, 1934).[11]

Literary career

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Around 1927, Martinson began his literary career and had several poems published in different publications. The same year he met Artur Lundkvist, who introduced him to modernist poets such as Elmer Diktonius, Carl Sandburg and Edgar Lee Masters. In September 1929, Martinson's first book of poems called Spökskepp ("Ghost Ship") was published by Albert Bonniers förlag.[12] Together with Lundkvist, Gustav Sandgren, Erik Asklund and Josef Kjellgren he authored the anthology Fem unga (Five Youths),[13] which introduced Swedish modernism. His poetry, characterized by linguistic innovation and a frequent use of metaphors, combined an acute eye for, and love of nature, with a deeply felt humanism.[14][15] His popular success as a novelist came with the semi-autobiographical Nässlorna blomma (Flowering Nettle) in 1935, about hardships encountered by a young boy in the countryside. It has since been translated into more than thirty languages. The novel Vägen till Klockrike (The Road to Klockrike, 1948) was another huge success, and in 1949 Martinson became the first proletarian writer to be elected a member of the Swedish Academy.[3]

One of his most noted works is the poetic cycle Aniara, which is a story of the spacecraft Aniara that during a journey through space loses its course and subsequently floats on without destination. The book was published in 1956 and became an opera in 1959 composed by Karl-Birger Blomdahl.[16][17] The cycle has been described as "an epic story of man's fragility and folly".[18]

Personal life

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From 1929 to 1940, he was married to novelist Moa Martinson, prominent as a feminist and proletarian author, whom he met through a Stockholm anarchist newspaper, Brand.[3] He travelled to the Soviet Union in 1934.[3][4] He and Moa were divorced due to her criticism of his lack of political commitment.[3] Harry married Ingrid Lindcrantz (1916–1994) in 1942.[3][4]

Writing

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Harry Martinson debuted in 1929 with the collection of poems Spökskepp (Ghost Ship), that for the most part employed motifs of the ocean and life as a seaman. The same year he contributed to anthology Fem unga, a ground-breaking and highly influential book in modernist Swedish literature. Martinson's major breakthrough was his 1931 poetry collection Nomad. His poetry was noted for rich imagery with precise observations that emphazised details. In the books Resor utan mål (Aimless journeys, 1932) and Kap Farväl! (1933; English translation Cape Farewell, 1934) Martinson recalled memories of his life as a seaman. In his later writing nature and the earth became increasingly important motifs. During the 1930s he developed a mastery in describing nature in both prose and poetry and was especially noted for his short nature poems with precise observations. In the autobiographical novels Nässlorna blomma (Flowering Nettle, 1935) and Vägen ut (The Way Out, 1936) Martinson tells about his childhood. Martinson had a strong interest in science which was a prominent influence in his work. In his book Verklighet till döds (Reality to Death, 1940) written during World War II Martinson criticized contemporary social conditions and technological development. Criticism of modern culture is also a theme in Martinson's philosophical vagabond novel Vägen till Klockrike (1948; English translation The Road, 1950) and the collection of poems Passad (1945).

In his later writing Martinson developed a new major theme based on his increasing interest in outer space and the cosmic. This came to most distinct expression in Aniara (1956), a poetic space epic that became Martinson's best known work. In his late work criticism of modern life and its technology came to an even stronger expression in his 1960 poetry collection Vagnen (The Wagon), which unlike his previous books was not well received by contemporary critics. Sensitive to criticism it appeared to be Martinson's last published collection of poems, but in 1971 he returned with Dikter om ljus och mörker (Poems of Light and Darkness), which was followed by a collection of nature poems Tuvor (Tufts) in 1973.

Nobel Prize in Literature

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Main article: 1974 Nobel Prize in Literature

On 3 October 1974 the Swedish Academy announced that the Nobel Prize in Literature that year should be awarded jointly to Harry Martinson and Eyvind Johnson. Harry Martinson was awarded with the citation "for writings that catch the dewdrop and reflect the cosmos." The prize decision sparked heavy criticism in the Swedish press against the Swedish Academy for awarding the Nobel Prize to two of its own members. Although there were also positive reactions to the prize decision, the sensitive Martinson took the negative comments aimed at the Academy personally and found it hard the enjoy the recognition.[19]

Death

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The sensitive Martinson found it hard to cope with the criticism following his 1974 Nobel Prize award in Literature, and died by suicide on 11 February 1978 at the Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm by cutting his stomach open with a pair of scissors in what has been described as a "hara-kiri-like manner".[20][21]

Legacy

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Martinson is widely regarded as the greatest Swedish author since August Strindberg.[4] The 100th anniversary of Martinson's birth was celebrated around Sweden in 2004.[22] The Cikada Prize is awarded in memory of Harry Martinson since that year. The Harry Martinson Society was founded in 1984 and awards the Harry Martinson Prize to individuals or organisations working in the spirit of Harry Martinson.[23] The Swedish Academy awards a scholarship in memory of Harry Martinson to an author writing in Swedish.[24]

Bibliography

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Titles in English where known.

Works in English

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References

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  1. ^ "The Nobel Prize in Literature 1974". Nobel Foundation.
  2. ^ Örjan Lindberger "Människan i tiden. Eyvind Johnsons liv och författarskap 1938–1976" Bonniers 1990, pp. 445–447
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Harry Martinson" (in French). Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Holm, Ingvar. "Harry Martinson". Svenskt biografiskt lexikon. National Archives of Sweden.
  5. ^ Johan Svedjedal (2023). Min egen elds kurir. Harry Martinsons författarliv (in Swedish). Albert Bonniers förlag. p. 23-36.
  6. ^ Svedjedal, p.39-55
  7. ^ Svedjedal, p.77-93
  8. ^ Svedjedal, p.94
  9. ^ Sjöberg, Leif (1974). "Harry Martinson: From Vagabond to Space Explorer". Books Abroad. 48 (3 (Summer, 1974)). Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma: 476–485. doi:10.2307/40128696. JSTOR 40128696.
  10. ^ Brandsma, Elliott (27 June 2021). "Embracing Life's Aimless Journeys: A Reflection on Harry Martinson's "Nocturne of the Sea"". Harry Martinson-sällskapet. Retrieved 15 September 2021.
  11. ^ Svedjedal, p.163-189
  12. ^ Svedjedal, p.97-100
  13. ^ Kumm, Björn (12 December 1991). "Obituary: Artur Lundkvist". The Independent. London. p. 13.
  14. ^ "Harry Martinson – Biographical". Nobel Media AB. 2014. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  15. ^ "Harry Martinson". Albert Bonniers Förlag.
  16. ^ Johansson, Stefan (31 May 2009). "50-åring ur kurs når ännu fram" [50 year old man of course still gets through]. Svenska Dagbladet. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
  17. ^ Liukkonen, Petri. "Harry Martinson". Books and Writers (kirjasto.sci.fi). Finland: Kuusankoski Public Library. Archived from the original on 9 April 2003.
  18. ^ Critical survey of poetry. American poets. Reisman, Rosemary M. Canfield. (4th. ed.). Pasadena, Calif.: Salem Press. 2011. ISBN 9781587655937. OCLC 712652825.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  19. ^ Svedjedal, Johan (2023). "Nobelpriset (1974)". Min egen elds kurir. Harry Martinsons författarliv (in Swedish). Albert Bonniers förlag.
  20. ^ Hansson, Anita (31 August 2000). "Martinson begick harakiri" [Martinson committed hara-kiri]. wwwc.aftonbladet.se. Aftonbladet. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
  21. ^ Gyllensten, Lars (2000). Minnen, bara minnen [Memories, just memories] (in Swedish). Stockholm: Albert Bonniers Förlag. ISBN 91-0-057140-7. SELIBR 7150260.
  22. ^ "Harry Martinson-sällskapets material" [Material from the Harry Martinson Society]. Uppsala University Library.
  23. ^ Priser Harry Martinson-sällskapet
  24. ^ Stipendium till Harry Martinsons minne Svenska Akademien
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