Johnson, Eyvind

Johnson, Eyvind (ü`vĭnt), 1900–1976, Swedish novelist and short-story writer. After working as a laborer in the north of Sweden, Johnson moved to Stockholm in 1919 and began to write. He is best known outside Sweden for his cycle of four autobiographical novels entitled Romanen om Olov [the novel about Olov] (1934–37), which is noted for its extraordinary psychological penetration. Johnson wrote more than 40 works, including the novels Grupp Krilon (1941), Krilon själv (1943), Return to Ithaca (1946, tr. 1952), The Days of His Grace (1960, tr. 1968), and Livsdagen long (1964) and the collection of short stories Sju liv (1944). Considered one of the foremost Swedish writers of the 20th cent., Johnson shared the 1974 Nobel Prize in Literature with his countryman Harry Martinson.

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Johnson, Eyvind

(born July 29, 1900, Svartbjörnsbyn, near Boden, Swed.—died Aug. 25, 1976, Stockholm) Swedish novelist. He endured a grim boyhood of hard labour. His early novels evince feelings of frustration; Bobinack (1932) is an exposé of the machinations of modern capitalism, and Rain at Daybreak (1933) is an attack on modern office drudgery. Return to Ithaca (1946) and The Days of His Grace (1960) have been widely translated. Johnson's working-class novels experimented with new forms and techniques; they also introduced new themes to Swedish literature. He shared the 1974 Nobel Prize for Literature with Harry Martinson.