View source for Eyvind Johnson

{{Short description|Swedish writer (1900–1976)}}
{{Expand Swedish|date=October 2015|topic=bio}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2013}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- see Template:Infobox writer -->
| name = Eyvind Johnson
| image = Eyvind.JPG
| imagesize = 200px
| caption = Eyvind Johnson
| birth_name = Olof Edvin Verner Jonsson
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1900|07|29|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Boden, Sweden|Boden]], Sweden
| death_date = {{death date and age|1976|08|25|1900|07|29|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Stockholm]], Sweden
| period = 1924–1976
| awards = {{Awd|[[Nobel Prize in Literature]]|1974 (shared with [[Harry Martinson]])}}
| notableworks = {{plainlist|
*''[[Here's Your Life (novel)|Here's Your Life]]''
*''[[Return to Ithaca (novel)|Return to Ithaca]]''
*''[[The Days of His Grace]]''
}}
| website = {{URL|http://www.eyvindjohnson.se}}
| spouses = {{plainlist|
*[[Aase Christoffersen]] (1927–1938, her death)
*[[Cilla Johnson]] (1940–1978)
}}
| children = 3
}}

'''Eyvind Johnson''' (29 July 1900 – 25 August 1976) was a Swedish novelist and short story writer. Regarded as the most groundbreaking novelist in modern Swedish literature<ref>[http://www.svenskaakademien.se/svenska-akademien/publikationer/svenska-klassiker/eyvind-johnson-herr-clerk-var-mastare Svenska Akademien]</ref> he became a member of the [[Swedish Academy]] in 1957 and shared the [[1974 Nobel Prize in Literature]] with [[Harry Martinson]] with the citation: ''for a narrative art, far-seeing in lands and ages, in the service of freedom''.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Brandsma |first1=Elliott |title=Recovering a "Lost Europe": The De-Centering of Master Narratives in Eyvind Johnson's Natten är här |journal=Humanities |year=2021 |volume=10 |page=46 |doi=10.3390/h10010046 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

==Biography==
[[File:Eyvind Johnson-Bagarstugan.jpg|thumb|The house in Björkelund where Eyvind Johnson was born in 1900.]]

Johnson was born Olof Edvin Verner Jonsson 29 July 1900 in a village near the town of [[Boden, Sweden|Boden]] in [[Norrbotten County|Norrbotten]]. The small house where he was born is preserved and marked with a commemorative plaque.

[[File:eyvindj.gif|thumb]]
Johnson left school at the age of thirteen and then held various jobs such as [[log driving]] and working at a [[saw mill]] and as a ticket-seller and projectionist in a [[Movie theatre|cinema]]. In 1919 he left his hometown and moved to [[Stockholm]] where he began to publish articles in [[anarchist]] magazines like ''[[Brand (magazine)|Brand]]''. In Stockholm he became friends with other young [[proletarian writer]]s and started the magazine ''Vår nutid''. He travelled in Germany in the 1920s and lived in [[Saint-Leu-la-Foret]], near [[Paris]], France, between 1927 and 1930 with his wife [[Aase Christoffersen]]  (1900–1938). At this point he had published his first books. The first ''De fyra främlingarna'', a collection of short stories, was published in 1924. Influenced by writers such as [[Marcel Proust]], [[André Gide]] and [[James Joyce]], Johnson gradually took distance from the traditional novel and became the most important representative of [[modernist literature]] in Sweden. Johnson's early novels were not widely read, but his 1929 novel ''Kommentar till ett stjärnfall'' ("Comment on a falling star"), an attack on [[capitalist society]], was a critical success.<ref name="A"> Petri Liukonnen [http://authorscalendar.info/eyvindj.htm Eyvind Johnson] Books and writers</ref>

Johnson's first major success as a writer was four [[autobiographical novel]]s published between 1934 and 1937, published together as ''[[Romanen om Olof]]'' ("The Novel about Olof"), about a young man growing up in the northern parts of Sweden. In the novels Johnson blended realism with fairy tales and typical modernist features such as [[inner monologue]] and changing [[point of view (literature)|point of view]]. ''Romanen om Olof'' became a [[classic book|classic]] in Swedish literature and was later filmed as ''[[Here Is Your Life]]''.<ref name="A"></ref>

Increasingly upset by the rising totalitarianism in the 1930s, Johnson was strongly against [[fascism]] and [[nazism]].<ref name="A"></ref> During [[World War II]] he was editor of the magazine ''[[Håndslag]]'' and published ''[[Krilon]]'', a trilogy of novels that in the form of an [[allegory]] deals with the events during the war. In the novels Johnson condemns Nazi oppression and criticises the controversial [[Sweden during World War II|Swedish neutrality policy]] during the war.<ref name="A"></ref> ''Krilon'' is considered to be one of Johnson's best works.<ref>Örjan Lindberger ''Människan i tiden: Eyvind Johnsons liv och författarskap 1938-1976'', Bonniers 1990 {{ISBN|91-0-047904-7}}, p. 134 </ref><ref>Gavin Orton ''Eyvind Johnson. En monografi'' Aldus 1974 {{ISBN|91-0-039665-6}}, p. 73</ref> In the same period he was a member of the nationalist association [[Samfundet Nordens Frihet]] and among the contributors of its magazine, ''[[Nordens Frihet]]''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Antinazister och nordister under andra världskriget|language=Swedish|publisher=forskning.se|url=https://www.forskning.se/2009/09/11/antinazister-och-nordister-under-andra-varldskriget/#|access-date=7 March 2022|date=11 September 2009}}</ref>

In 1946 he published one of his most famous novels, ''[[Return to Ithaca (novel)|Return to Ithaca]]'' (''Strändernas svall''), based on the story of [[Odysseus]] as he returns to Ithaca after the Trojan war. Johnson married translator [[Cilla Johnson]] in 1940. He lived with his family in Switzerland 1947–1949 and then a year in England. Travels to Italy and France inspired him to write several well-received [[historical novels]]. Among the best known are ''[[Dreams of Roses and Fire]]'' (''Drömmar om rosor och eld'', 1949) set in [[Cardinal Richelieu]]s 17th century France, and ''Molnen över Metapontion'' ("The Clouds above Metapontion", 1957) that typically for his later novels switches back and forth between different time levels.

Johnson's most noted works internationally include ''Return to Ithaca'' and ''[[The Days of His Grace]]'' (''Hans nådes tid'', 1960) which have been translated to many languages. For the latter novel Johnson was awarded the [[Nordic Council Literature Prize]] in 1962.<ref>[https://www.norden.org/en/literature-prize Nordic Council Literature Prize]</ref>

=== Member of the Swedish Academy and Nobel Prize in Literature ===
[[File:Authors-from-across-the-country-arrive-at-Writers-meeting-142347119180.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Eyvind Johnson (left) at a writers meeting in [[Karlstad]] in 1958, with authors [[Harry Martinson]] and [[Gabriel Jönsson]] and Jönsson's wife.]]

In 1957 Johnson was elected a member of the [[Swedish Academy]]. He was a member of the [[Nobel Committee for Literature]] between 1959 and 1972.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.svenskaakademien.se/svenska-akademien/ledamotsregister/johnson-eyvind |title=Ledamotsregister – Johnson, Eyvind |publisher=Svenska Akademien }}</ref> Johnson nominated several authors that were subsequently awarded the prize, including the 1963 Nobel laureate [[Giorgos Seferis]] twice, in 1962 and the year Seferis won.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-04-01 |title=Nomination Archive |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/archive/show_people.php?id=12135 |access-date=2024-01-03 |website=NobelPrize.org }}</ref>

In 1974, Eyvind Johnson was awarded the [[1974 Nobel Prize in Literature]] jointly with [[Harry Martinson]]. Johnson was awarded   "for a narrative art, farseeing in lands and ages, in the service of freedom"<ref>[https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1974/summary/ The Nobel Prize in Literature 1974] nobelprize.org</ref>

==Works==
===Novels===
* ''Timans och rättfärdigheten'' (1925)
* ''Stad i mörker'' (1927)
* ''Stad i ljus'' (1928)
* ''Minnas'' (1928)
* ''Kommentar till ett stjärnfall'' (1929)
* ''Avsked till Hamlet'' (1930)
* ''Bobinack'' (1932)
* ''Regn i gryningen'' (1933)
* ''Romanen om Olof'' (1934-1937, published together in 1945)
** ''Nu var det 1914'' (1934)
** ''Här har du ditt liv!'' (1935)
** ''Se dig inte om!'' (1936)
** ''Slutspel i ungdomen'' (1937)
* ''Nattövning'' (1938)
* ''Soldatens återkomst'' (1940)
* ''[[Krilon]]'' (1941-1943, published together in 1948)
** ''Grupp Krilon'' (1941)
** ''Krilons resa'' (1942)
** ''Krilon själv'' (1943)
* ''[[Return to Ithaca (novel)|Return to Ithaca]]'' ({{langx|sv|Strändernas svall}}, 1946)
* ''[[Dreams of Roses and Fire]]'' (''Drömmar om rosor och eld'', 1949)
* ''Lägg undan solen'' (1951)
* ''Romantisk berättelse'' (1953)
* ''Tidens gång'' (1955)
* ''Molnen över Metapontion'' (1957)
* ''[[The Days of His Grace]]'' ({{langx|sv|Hans nådes tid}}, 1960)
* ''Livsdagen lång'' (1964)
* ''Favel ensam'' (1968)
* ''Några steg mot tystnaden'' (1973)
* ''Herr Clerk vår mästare'' (original version of ''Minnas'', novel, 1998)

===Short story collections===
* ''De fyra främlingarna'' (1924)
* ''Natten är här'' (1932)
* ''Än en gång, kapten! '' (1934)
* ''Den trygga världen'' (1940)
* ''Sju liv'' (1944)
* ''Pan mot Sparta'' (1946)
* ''Olibrius och gestalterna'' (1986)

===Plays===
* ''[[Return to Ithaca (novel)|Return to Ithaca]]'' ({{langx|sv|Strändernas svall}}, 1948)

===Nonfiction===
* ''Dagbok från Schweiz'' (1949)
* ''Vinterresa i Norrbotten'' (1955)
* ''Vägar över Metaponto – en resedagbok'' (1959)
* ''Spår förbi Kolonos – en berättelse'' (1961)
* ''Stunder, vågor – anteckningar, berättelser'' (1965)
* ''Resa i hösten 1921'' (1973)

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
{{Commons category|Eyvind Johnson}}
* [http://www.eyvindjohnson.se/ Eyvind Johnson Society]
* {{Nobelprize}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-culture}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Nils Ahnlund]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Swedish Academy]],<br>[[List of members of the Swedish Academy#Seat 11|Seat No.11]]|years=1957–1976}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Ulf Linde]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Dobloug Prize winners}}
{{The Nordic Council's Literature Prize}}
{{Nobel Prize in Literature Laureates 1951-1975}}
{{1974 Nobel Prize winners}}
{{Swedish Nobel Laureates}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Eyvind}}
[[Category:1900 births]]
[[Category:1976 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Boden, Sweden]]
[[Category:Writers from Norrbotten County]]
[[Category:Harry Martinson]]
[[Category:20th-century Swedish novelists]]
[[Category:Nobel laureates in Literature]]
[[Category:Swedish-language writers]]
[[Category:Members of the Swedish Academy]]
[[Category:Nordic Council Literature Prize winners]]
[[Category:Swedish Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:Dobloug Prize winners]]
[[Category:Swedish male novelists]]
[[Category:Swedish historical novelists]]
[[Category:Male short story writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Swedish short story writers]]
[[Category:Swedish magazine founders]]