Moberg, (Carl Arthur) Vilhelm 1898-1973

views updated

MOBERG, (Carl Arthur) Vilhelm 1898-1973

PERSONAL: Born August 20, 1898, in Algutsboda, Sweden; died in a drowning accident, August 8 1973, near Stockholm, Sweden; son of Karl (a soldier and farmer); married Margareta Toernqvist, 1923.

CAREER: Novelist and playwright. Worked as a farmhand, a forest worker, and a journalist.

WRITINGS:

IN ENGLISH

Mans kvinna, [Sweden], 1933, translation by M. Heron published as Fulfillment, 1953.

Romanen om Knut Toring (autobiographical), Bonnier (Stockholm, Sweden), Volume I: Sänkt sedebetyg, 1935, translation by Edwin Björkman published as Memory of a Youth, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1937, Volume II: Sömnlös, 1937, reprinted, 1975, Volume III: Giv oss jorden!, 1939, reprinted, 1971, translation of entire trilogy of Björkman published in one volume as The Earth Is Ours, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1940.

Rid i natt!, Bonnier (Stockholm, Sweden), 1941, translation by Henry Alexander published as Ride This Night!, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1943, original Swedish edition reprinted, 1973.

Soldat med brutet gevär, Bonnier (Stockholm, Sweden), 1944, condensed translation by Gustav Lannestock published as When I Was a Child, Knopf (New York, NY), 1956, original Swedish edition reprinted, 1972.

Romanen om utvandrarna, Bonnier (Stockholm, Sweden), Volume I: Utvandrarna, 1949, translation by Gustav Lannestock published as The Emigrants, 1950, Volume II: Invandrarna, 1952, translation by Gustav Lannestock published as Unto a Good Land, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1953, Volume III: Nybyggarna, 1956, translation by Gustav Lannestock published with Sista Brebet till Sverige as The Last Letter Home, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1961, Volume IV: Sista brevet till Sverige, 1959, translation by Gustav Lannestock published with Nybyggarna as The Last Letter Home (see above); Din stund pa jorden, Bonnier (Stockholm, Sweden), 1962, translation by Naomi Walford published as A Time on Earth, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1965.

Min svenska historia (history), Norstedt, 1970, translation by Paul Britten Austine published as A History of the Swedish People, two volumes, Pantheon (New York, NY), 1972.

IN SWEDISH

Raskens: En soldatfamiljs historia (novel; title means "The Rask Family"), two volumes, Bonnier (Stockholm, Sweden), 1927, reprinted, 1966.

Jungfrukammare, Bonnier (Stockholm, Sweden), 1938.

De knutna handerna (novel; title means "The Clenched Hand"), Bonnier (Stockholm, Sweden), 1939, reprinted, 1971.

Langt fran landsvägen under gamla seklet (novel; title means "Far From the Highway"), Bonnier (Stockholm, Sweden), 1940, reprinted, 1974.

Sanningen kryper fram, fyra inlägg för dagen , Bonnier (Stockholm, Sweden), 1943.

Brudarnas källa, en legend om de bofasta , Bonnier (Stockholm, Sweden), 1946.

Hatets och kärlekens diktare, Raguar Jändel , Förlaget Frilansen, 1946.

Den okända släkten , Bonnier (Stockholm, Sweden), 1950.

Vem har rätt?, Uppsala, 1951.

Att övervaka överheten , Bonnier (Stockholm, Sweden), 1953.

Det gamla riket, Bonnier (Stockholm, Sweden), 1953.

Lea och Rakel, Bonnier (Stockholm, Sweden), 1954.

Däför är jag republikan , Folket i bilds forlag, 1955.

Kompletterna, Bonnier (Stockholm, Sweden), 1956.

Domaren (title means "The Judge"), Bonnier (Stockholm, Sweden), 1957.

Lustpel och enaktare, Bonnier (Stockholm, Sweden), 1957.

Divu viru sieva, Gramatu Draugs, 1960.

Nattkyparen, Bonnier (Stockholm, Sweden), 1961.

Romanen om Adolf i Ulvaskog (includes Langt fran landsvägen under gamla seklet and De knuta händerna ), Bonnier (Stockholm, Sweden), 1961.

Romanen om Valter Sträng (includes Soldat med brutet gevär ), three volumes, Bonnier (Stockholm, Sweden), 1961.

Sagoprinsen, Bonnier (Stockholm, Sweden), 1962.

Vestijums nakti, Gramatu Draugs, 1962.

Hundra ganger gifta, Bonnier (Stockholm, Sweden), 1965.

Kvinnas man, Bonnier (Stockholm, Sweden), 1965.

Bondearet: En krönika , Fabel (Stockholm, Sweden), 1966.

Förrädarland: En berättelse om människor som historien har glömt (history), Bonnier (Stockholm, Sweden), 1967.

A. P. Rosell, bankdirektor (fiction) Solna Seelig, 1968.

Berättelser ur min levnad (autobiographical; title means "Stories from My Life"), Bonnier (Stockholm, Sweden), 1968.

Emigrationer, Bonnier (Stockholm, Sweden), 1968.

Utvandrarromanens kallör. Förteckning över VilhelmMobergs samling av källmaterial , Utvandrarnas hus, 1972.

I skrivande stund, Solna Seelig, 1973.

I vapenrock och linnebyxor: En krigsmans intryck och upplevelser (title means "In Tunic and Linen Trousers: A Soldier's Impressions and Adventures"), Redviva (Stockholm, Sweden), 1973.

Otrons artiklar: Läsning i blandade ämnen, Författarförlaget (Stockholm, Sweden), 1973.

Småländskt folkliv, LT (Stockholm, Sweden), 1982.

Vårplöjning och andra berättelser, Carlsson (Stockholm, Sweden), 1990.

Vilhelm Moberg i Vadstena, edited by Bengt Larsson, Föreningen Gamla Vadstena (Vadstena, Sweden), 1993.

Att upptaecka Amerika: 1948-1949, Carlsson (Stockholm, Sweden), 1995.

I det ofria ordets tid, Carlsson (Stockholm, Sweden), 1996.

(As Ville i Momåla) Inom Baggemosa ägogränser:Bygdehistorier, Carlsson (Stockholm, Sweden), 2000.

PLAYS; IN SWEDISH

Kärlek och pengar, 1919.

Hjonelag skall med böneman byggas, 1922.

Doktor Allvetande, produced in Stockholm at the Lilla Teatern, 1924; produced again as Doktorn på nr. 18; revised version produced in Stockholm at the Lilla Teatern, 1924.

Kassabrist, produced in Stockholm at the Blancheteatern, 1926.

Hustrun (title means "The Wife"), produced at the Allan Rydings turnésällskap, 1929.

Bröllopssalut, 1929.

Våld: Skådespel i fyra akter (title means "Violence"), produced in Stockholm at the Dramatiska teatern, 1933.

Kyskhet (title means "Chastity"; produced in Åbo, Finland at the Åbo svenska teater, 1938), Bonnier (Stockholm, Sweden), 1937.

De knutna händerna, produced in Stockholm at the Riksteatern, 1939.

Änkeman Jarl, produced in Stockholm at the Dramatiska teatern, 1940.

Jungfrukammare, produced in Helsinki at the Helsingin Kansanteatteri, 1940.

Marknadsafton, produced in Stockholm at the Blancheteatern, 1940.

Rid i natt! produced in Stockholm at the Dramatiska teatern, 1942.

Mans kvinna, produced in Göteborg at the Göteborgs stadsteater, 1943.

Vår ofödde son (title means "Our Unborn Son"), produced in Göteborg at the Göteborgs stadsteater, 1945.

En löskekarl, produced in Copenhagen at the Det Kongelige Teater, 1946.

Gudens hustru, Bonnier (Stockholm, Sweden), 1946.

Lea och Rakel, produced in Malmö at the Malmö stadsteater, 1955.

Domaren, produced in Stockholm at the Intima teatern, 1957.

Dramatik (collection of plays), three volumes, Bonnier (Stockholm, Sweden), 1957.

Kvinnodramer (collection of plays), Bonnier (Stockholm, Sweden), 1957.

Aktenskapsdramer (collection of plays; includes Hustrun, Vald, and Mans kvinna), Bonnier (Stockholm, Sweden), 1957.

Nattkyparen, produced in Stockholm at the Dramatiska teatern, 1961.

Sagoprinsen, produced in Göteborg at the Göteborgs stadsteater, 1962.

Kvinnas man, produced in Göteborg at the Göteborgs stadsteater, 1964.

Din stund på jorden, produced in Stockholm at the Dramatiska teatern, 1967.

Riksdagsmannaskolan, produced in Stockholm at the Södra teatern, 1973.

RADIO SCRIPTS; IN SWEDISH

Årsskifte på Lillköpingsposten, Sveriges Radio, 1929.

Marknadsafton, Sveriges Radio, 1929.

Sötapeln och surapeln, Sveriges Radio, 1930.

Psykos, Sveriges Radio, 1930.

Depression, Sveriges Radio, 1931.

En brevkomedi, Sveriges Radio, 1931.

Hustrun, Modern svensk dramatik, Sveriges Radio, 1931.

Midsommarnattsdans, Sveriges Radio, 1931.

Blindbock, Sveriges Radio, 1932.

Femtioårsdagen, Sveriges Radio, 1933.

En främling lånar hus, Sveriges Radio, 1933.

Lördagsnatt, Radioteatern, 1934.

Änkeman Jarl, Sveriges Radio, 1941.

En löskekarl, Sveriges Radio, 1941.

Hundra gånger gifta, Sveriges Radio, 1941.

Rid i natt!, Sveriges Radio, 1942.

Vår ofödde son, Berömda nordiska dramatiker, 1945.

Jungfru Marie på fattiggårn, Sveriges Radio, 1946.

Våld, Radioteatern, 1948.

Gudens hustru, Vilhelm Mobergs dramatik, Sveriges Radio, 1954.

SCREENPLAYS; IN SWEDISH

Gläd dig i din ungdom (motion picture), Svensk Filmindustri; also released as Rejoice While You're Young, Fellow Cadets, 1939.

(With Gustaf Molander) Rid i natt! (motion picture), Svensk Filmindustri, 1942.

(With Sigurd Wallén) Änkeman Jarl (motion picture), Europa Film, 1945.

Vår ofödde son (television script), Sveriges TV, 1959.

En löskekarl (television script), Sveriges TV, 1960.

(With Alf Sjöberg) Domaren (motion picture), Sandrews, 1960.

Våld (television script), Sveriges Radio, 1960.

Kvinnas man (television script), Sveriges Radio, 1966.

Marknadsafton (television script), Sveriges Radio och TV, 1967.

En främling lånar hus (television script), Sveriges TV, 1987.

OTHER

Moberg's works have been translated into twenty languages. Many of Vilhelm Moberg's manuscripts, papers, and letters (including his extensive correspondence with Gustaf Lannestock) are held in the archives of the House of Emigrants in Växjö, Sweden.

ADAPTATIONS: Moberg's emigrant tetralogy was filmed as The Emigrants and The New Land in the mid-1970's.

SIDELIGHTS: "A man of strong opinions and a deep sympathy for the common people," according to Roger McKnight in the Dictionary of Literary Biography, "Vilhelm Moberg was one of Sweden's foremost novelists and dramatists in the first half of the twentieth century. Born and raised in the poverty-stricken highland area of southern Sweden, Moberg retained throughout his life a thorough, firsthand knowledge of the living conditions and thought patterns of the humble farming classes in his native Småland. As a result Moberg stands out as a leader among the proletärförfattare (working-class novelists) who gained their initial fame in the 1920s and 1930s. In 1998 the Swedish television program Röda Rummet conducted a vote among viewers to decide 'The Most Meaningful Swedish Book of the 20th Century.' Moberg's Utvandrarromanen finished in first place, a fact that would have cheered Moberg since the general reading public was always his greatest champion."

Raised in the barren Swedish province of Småland, Moberg understood when he was still very young the meager existence that the peasants extracted from the stony soil. He sympathized with the peasants and hoped to one day become an established author so he could write about their rugged individualism, their determination, and their stubborn, unyielding spirit. Although schooled in the basics, he was largely self-educated when he went to the city in search of an opportunity to write. Soon after Moberg landed a job with a newspaper, his literary flair was both noticed and encouraged, and he was subsequently promoted to editor. His years in journalism had whetted his appetite for creativity and expression through writing, however, and he longed for more freedom. He began writing plays and was soon undertaking more ambitious projects.

Moberg's first major success came with the partially autobiographical Knut Toring trilogy. Lars G. Warme explained in European Writers: "The novels are basically fictionalized accounts and are autobiographical only insofar as they attempt to analyze a fundamental dividedness in the author, a dividedness Moberg termed constitutional. With some over-simplification, this conflict could be reduced to such oppositions as country versus city, instinct versus civilization, soul versus intellect. The novels about Knut Toring describe attempts to reconcile these opposites." Like the author, Knut flees the peasant life to pursue a journalistic career in the city. Although successful, he is disillusioned by the emptiness of urban life and returns to his native soil with a new dedication to the land and his people. In the face of growing tension in Europe prior to the outbreak of World War II, Toring finds that his life and labors still lack substance and meaning. He then becomes radically and actively opposed to the rising tide of Nazism that threatens to overrun Europe. A Christian Science Monitor critic, reviewing Memory of a Youth, the first book of the trilogy, contended that "while the narration of natural development is vivid though dignified, and occasionally beautiful, it has not enough substance for a novel." A reviewer for Saturday Review of Literature, however, commended the volume as "a serious piece of work, well executed by a first class writer." The reviewer added that "it will, and should, win the esteem of those who recognize literary merit." When the trilogy was translated and published in one volume as The Earth Is Ours, critics applauded it as a major achievement in Scandinavian literature. A New Republic critic found it to be "a fine, calm, warm-hearted novel, placid as a country landscape and written by an author who has a piece to speak and clearly believes in taking his time about it."

Even as a child, Moberg was aware that masses of people were leaving his country for the New World. He was fascinated with the idea of America, and imagined it as a beautiful land of great wealth and prosperity. He had, in fact, confused the word "America" with the similar-sounding Swedish words "mer" and "rika" which mean "more rich." Through the years his curiosity grew and he sought answers to his questions concerning the people who had departed. Gathering information wherever it could be found—from parish registers, letters, and relatives—he ultimately decided to experience emigration himself.

In 1948 Moberg made his first visit to the United States on an emigrant's visa. He continued his quest for the fates of those who came before, piecing together information from diaries, tombstones, and the like. The result of his years of toil was a four-volume work chronicling the nineteenth-century exodus of his people to America. Although he chose to deal with only one small group in his tetralogy, Moberg nevertheless remained detached from the individuals so it not be forgotten that they represent the motivations, desires, needs, hopes, and fears of the millions of Swedes who made the journey.

"This is a story of epic proportions, told simply by a master story-teller," announced Jack Aldridge in a review of the first volume, The Emigrants, for the San Francisco Chronicle. John Nerber of the New York Times noted that The Emigrants is "filled with an earthy humor, the unpredictable flash of human malice and emotion which bring Mr. Moberg's characters sharply into focus." The third and fourth volumes of the tetralogy were published together as The Last Letter Home. In a review of the title, a reviewer for Booklist related that "background and people, particularly the two leading characters, are portrayed in authentic, immediate detail." In a review of the remaining volume, Unto a Good Land, V. P. Hass of the New York Times complained that Moberg's "style is ponderous, his prose phlegmatic, his imagination pedestrian," but added that "all of this he overcomes with his abiding love for the land and his dogged communication of that love."

"Vilhelm Moberg was a man and writer of many contradictions," McKnight concluded. "Concerned with his home province, he lived most of his life in urban centers. A champion of individualistic commoners, he joined the Social Democratic Party at an early age. Obsessed with the theme of freedom, he often portrayed characters who flee responsibility or sink into fatalism. . . . Above all else, Moberg was a master storyteller." Speaking of Moberg's remarkable popularity in his homeland and throughout the world, Warme noted that "in his native Sweden, Vilhelm Moberg is the most widely read author of all time. His career as a published writer spanned half a century, and during this period his works were sold in some six million copies in Sweden, a staggering figure for a country that today counts only eight million inhabitants. Moberg's magnum opus, the emigrant tetralogy, has alone appeared in close to two million copies in Sweden. After August Strindberg, Selma Lagerlöf, and Pär Lagerkvist, Moberg is the most translated Swedish author; his works can be read in more than twenty languages. If we add to the number of Moberg's readers the listeners and viewers of his numerous plays presented on radio and television and the audiences around the world that have seen Jan Troell's film version of The Emigrants, we count vast numbers of people who have at least briefly shared Moberg's vision and been moved by his epic power."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Adelmann, Kent, Vilhelm Mobergs utvandrarserie: En introduktion till "indianproblemet," Kent Adelmann (Lund, Sweden), 1976.

Beijbom, Ulf, Vilhelm Moberg och utvandrarbygden, Norstedt (Stockholm, Sweden), 1993.

Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 259: Twentieth-Century Swedish Writers before World War II, Gale (Detroit, MI), 2002.

Eidevall, Gunnar, Vilhelm Mobergs emigrantepos:Studier i verkets tillkomsthistoria, dokumentära bakgrund och konstnärliga gestaltning, Norstedt (Stockholm, Sweden), 1974.

Eidevall, Berättaren Vilhelm Moberg, PAN/Norstedt (Stockholm, Sweden), 1976.

Eidevall, editor, Porträtt av Vilhelm Moberg: 27 författare berättar, Carlsson (Stockholm, Sweden), 1993.

Eidevall, editor, Vilhelm Moberg läst på nytt: 12 studies i hans författarskap, Carlsson (Stockholm, Sweden), 1994.

Erland and Ulla-Britta Lagerroth, editors, Perspektiv på Utvandrarromanen, Rabén & Sjögren (Stockholm, Sweden), 1971.

European Writers, Scribner (New York, NY), 1990.

Holmes, Philip, Vilhelm Moberg, Twayne (Boston, MA), 1980.

Lannestock, Gustaf, Vilhelm Moberg i Amerika, Zinderman (Göteborg, Sweden), 1977.

Lundkvist, Artur and others, Vilhelm Moberg—en vänbok, Bonnier (Stockholm, Sweden), 1973.

Mårtensson, Sigvard, Vilhelm Moberg, Bonnier (Stockholm, Sweden), 1956.

Mårtensson, Vilhelm Moberg och teatern, Carlsson (Stockholm, Sweden), 1992.

McKnight, Roger, Moberg's Emigrant Novels and theJournals of Andrew Peterson: A Study of Influences and Parallels, Arno (New York, NY), 1979.

Rydh, Sven-Eric, Strövtåg i Vilhelm Mobergs stenrike, Askild & Kärnekull (Stockholm, Sweden), 1974.

Svensk Litteratur, 1900-1950, Aldus/Bonnier (Stockholm, Sweden), 1958.

von Platen, Magnus, editor, Emigrationer: En bok tillVilhelm Moberg, 20.8.1968, Bonnier (Stockholm, Sweden), 1968.

von Platen, Den unge Vilhelm Moberg: En levnad-steckning, Bonnier (Stockholm, Sweden), 1978.

PERIODICALS

American Quarterly, Volume 18, 1966, Gerhard T. Alexis, "Sweden to Minnesota: Vilhelm Moberg's Fictional Reconstruction," pp. 81-94.

Bonniers Litterära Magasin, Volume 62, 1973, Sven Delblanc, "Den omöjliga flykten," pp. 264-269; October, 1995, Christer Eriksson, "I am a stranger here; Det talande örat i Nybyggarna," pp. 34-38, and Per Ögren, "Det är en astrakaaan!: Den mirakulösa enkelheten i Troells utvandrarfilmer," pp. 70-71.

Books, April 3, 1938; March 23, 1941.

Books Abroad, winter, 1973.

Chicago Sunday Tribune, July 15, 1951; August 1, 1954; April 22, 1956.

Christian Science Monitor, July 19, 1951; August 5, 1954.

New York Herald Tribune Book Review, July 15, 1951; August 1, 1954; March 18, 1956.

New York Herald Tribune Books, July 30, 1961.

New York Times, April 10, 1938; March 23, 1941; May 23, 1943; August 1, 1954, John Nerber, review of The Emigrants; March 18, 1956.

New York Times Book Review, July 2, 1961.

Ord och Bild, Volume 47, 1938, Stig Ahlgren, "Vilhelm Mobergs värld," pp. 598-602.

San Francisco Chronicle, July 29, 1951, Jack Aldridge, review of The Emigrants; April 22, 1956.

Saturday Review of Literature, July 28, 1951; July 31, 1954.

Scandinavian Studies, Volume 64, 1992, Roger McKnight, "The New Columbus: Vilhelm Moberg Confronts American Society," pp. 356-389.