Hello
Gentle Reader
Torgny
Lindgren was one of Sweden’s most renowned contemporary authors. Lindgren began
his literary career in 1965, writing poetry, and was a teacher until the mid-1970’s.
Success however, would not come for Lindgren until the 1982 with his
breakthrough novel “The Way of the Serpent,” (“Ormens väg på hälleberget,”) the
novel recounts the story of a poor farmer and his family as they struggle
through the poverty and the cruelties of debt and credit, with their landlord(s),
in the northern regions of Sweden during the nineteenth century. “The Way of
the Serpent,” was noted by some as a scathing and unfiltered portrait of the
struggles of poverty, debt, the earthly cruelty of man, and the fading hope of absolution
and scripture. Moving past the poignant perspective the novel possess, the
Swedish Academy recounts on Torgny Lindgren’s biography, the main character of
the novel, is the language, in which Lindgren found his unique writing voice,
which would help make him a renowned Swedish literary star, both at home and abroad.
In 1986 the novel would be adapted into a film, directed by Bo Widerberg. In
1991, Torgny Lindgren was elected to Chair No. 9 of the Swedish Academy, filling
the seat of his predecessor linguist, Ture Johannisson. Despite being 78 years
old at the time of his passing, Lindgren was still publishing. His last novel
came out three years ago in 2014: “Klingsor,” followed by a radio play in 2016:
“Ring Game.” When he was asked after his last novel was published if he was
frightened by death, he responded:
“I
am not afraid of death, either, but it is more present to me now than twenty
years ago. I know about it.”
Many
in Sweden remember Torgny Lindgren as a kind and witty, and a phenomenal writer,
whose pages are graced with wisdom, and biblical musings, reflecting his
decision to become catholic in the 1980s.
I
leave off with one last extract from Torgny Lindgren’s novel “Norrlands Akvavit,”
retrieved from Torgny Lindgren’s biography on the Swedish Academy website:
‘“A
preacher cannot permit his teeth to decay’, said Olaf Halverson. ‘When you’re
preaching you cannot have false teeth that clatter.”’
Rest
in Peace Torgny Lindgren.
Thank-you
For Reading Gentle Reader
Take
Care
And
As Always
Stay
Well Read
M.
Mary
For
further reading about Torgny Lindgren’s passing please see the following
newspapers (please note, they are in Swedish):
For
a detail biography of Trogny Lindgren, please the Swedish Academy’s page
dedicted to Chair No. 9:
No comments:
Post a Comment