Heidenstam, Verner von

Heidenstam, Verner von (vĕr`nər fən hā`dənstäm), 1859–1940, Swedish lyric poet, novelist, and essayist. His first volume of poetry, Pilgrimage and Wanderyears (1888), challenged the contemporary realistic and utilitarian Swedish literature. His subjective and personal style was also evident in Poems (1895) and New Poems (1915), which established him as one of Sweden's lyric poets. In the historical novels The Charles Men (1897–98, tr. 1920), Saint Birgitta's Pilgrimage (1901), and The Tree of the Folkungs (2 vol., 1905–7; tr. 1925), he evoked a sense of national continuity. Heidenstam received the 1916 Nobel Prize in Literature.

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Heidenstam, (Carl Gustaf) Verner von

(born July 6, 1859, Olshammar, Swed.—died May 20, 1940, Övralid) Swedish poet and novelist. His first book of poems, Pilgrimage and Wander Years (1888), drew on his years living in southern Europe and the Middle East and was an immediate success. With his essay “Renaissance” (1889), he became a leader of the opposition in Sweden to naturalism, calling for a rebirth of the literature of fantasy, beauty, and nationalism. Many of the poems he wrote in this vein are translated in Sweden's Laureate (1919). He also wrote historical fiction, including The Charles Men (1897–98) and The Tree of the Folkungs (1905–07). He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1916.