Bo Johannes Edfelt was a Swedish writer, poet, translator and literary critic.

A native of Tibro

Tibro

Tibro is a locality and the seat of Tibro Municipality in Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 8,005 inhabitants in 2005. Tibro has a long tradition of furniture production.-Sports:The following sports clubs are located in Tibro:* Tibro AIK FK...

, Edfelt was elected to be a member of the Swedish Academy

Swedish Academy

The Swedish Academy , founded in 1786 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden.-History:The Swedish Academy was founded in 1786 by King Gustav III. Modelled after the Académie française, it has 18 members. The motto of the Academy is "Talent and Taste"...

 in 1969, occupying seat No. 17. He succeeded Erik Lindegren

Erik Lindegren

J. Erik Lindegren was a Swedish author, poet, critical writer and member of the Swedish Academy . Grandson of composer Johan Lindegren....

 and, following his death, was succeeded by Horace Engdahl

Horace Engdahl

Horace Oscar Axel Engdahl is a Swedish literary historian and critic, and has been a member of the Swedish Academy since 1997. He was the permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, i.e. its spokesman, from 1999 to June 2009, when he was succeeded by historian Peter Englund.-Biography:Engdahl was...

.

Amongst other writings, Edfelt translated works by Nelly Sachs

Nelly Sachs

Nelly Sachs was a Jewish German poet and playwright whose experiences resulting from the rise of the Nazis in World War II Europe transformed her into a poignant spokeswoman for the grief and yearnings of her fellow Jews...

, Georg Trakl

Georg Trakl

Georg Trakl was an Austrian poet. He is considered one of the most important Austrian Expressionists.- Life and work :Trakl was born and lived the first 18 years of his life in Salzburg, Austria...

, Novalis

Novalis

Novalis was the pseudonym of Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg , an author and philosopher of early German Romanticism.-Biography:...

, Andreas Gryphius

Andreas Gryphius

Andreas Gryphius was a German lyric poet and dramatist.Asteroid 496 Gryphia is named in his honour.-Life and career:...

, T. S. Eliot

T. S. Eliot

Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...

 and Ezra Pound

Ezra Pound

Ezra Weston Loomis Pound was an American expatriate poet and critic and a major figure in the early modernist movement in poetry...

.

Youth

Edfelt was the son of lieutenant August Edfelt and Ellen Hellner. He grew up in Skara, where he studied Latin and Greek at the senior high school. In fall 1923, he studied Nordic Languages at Lund University. He also attended public lectures in Philosophy and History of Literature.

From 1924 to 1930, with exception from his military service in 1925–26, Edfelt studied Nordic Languages, English, German, History of Literature and Pedagogics, including a course in History of Philosophy, at Uppsala university. During this period, he attended student circles that discussed Sigmund Freud and Carl Gustav Jung.

Early career

After he had taken his Master's Degree in Uppsala in spring 1930, Edfelt moved to Stockholm. The financial crisis following the Wall Street crash of 1929

Wall Street Crash of 1929

The Wall Street Crash of 1929 , also known as the Great Crash, and the Stock Market Crash of 1929, was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States, taking into consideration the full extent and duration of its fallout...

 soon made its impact on the Swedish labor market, and in the beginning of the 30s Edfelt earned his living by writing literary reviews. In fall 1931, he was hired as a temporary-staff master at the municipal school in Storvik in Gästrikland.

During winter 1930–31, Edfelt in Stockholm became acquainted with the female artist Hélène Apéria, to whom he later would dedicate his collection Aftonunderhållnng (Evening Entertainment). On March 2, 1932 the couple married at Nyloftet in Skansen in Stockholm.

In 1933, Edfelt temporary moved to the small town of Mariefred, where he completed his collection Högmässa (High Mass) under observation from the older poet Bertil Malmberg

Bertil Malmberg

Bertil Frans Harald Malmberg was a Swedish author, poet, and actor. He was born in Härnösand to Teodor Malmberg and Hanna Roman...

, who had settled down in the country idyll after his years in Munich.

Early Books

In 1923, Edfelt made his debut with the poetry collection Gryningsröster (Dawn Voices) 1923, when he was only 19 years old. Then followed the collections Unga Dagar (Young Days) 1925 and Ansikten (Faces) 1929. Except the classics, he was influenced by Franz Werfel

Franz Werfel

Franz Werfel was an Austrian-Bohemian novelist, playwright, and poet.- Biography :Born in Prague , Werfel was the first of three children of a wealthy manufacturer of gloves and leather goods. His mother, Albine Kussi, was the daughter of a mill owner...

, Bertolt Brecht

Bertolt Brecht

Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...

, Erich Kästner

Erich Kästner

Emil Erich Kästner was a German author, poet, screenwriter and satirist, known for his humorous, socially astute poetry and children's literature.-Dresden 1899–1919:...

, Vilhelm Ekelund

Vilhelm Ekelund

Vilhelm Ekelund was a Swedish poet.The works of Ekelund were influenced by Friedrich Hölderlin, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Emanuel Swedenborg...

, Harriet Löwenhielm och Birger Sjöberg

Birger Sjöberg

Birger Sjöberg was a modern Swedish poet and songwriter.Originally a journalist, Sjöberg wrote songs in his spare time. His first collection Frida's Book was extremely popular...

.

Breakthrough

Edfelt's mature poetry might be described as traditionalistic in form

Style (fiction)

In fiction, style is the manner in which the author tells the story. Along with plot, character, theme, and setting, style is considered one of the fundamental components of fiction.-Fiction-writing modes:...

 but modernistic in imagery. He got his major breakthrough in 1934 with Högmassa (High Mass), which was reviewed in many Swedish dailies. By that time, Edfelt was influenced by Swedish poets such as Bertil Malmberg

Bertil Malmberg

Bertil Frans Harald Malmberg was a Swedish author, poet, and actor. He was born in Härnösand to Teodor Malmberg and Hanna Roman...

, Birger Sjöberg

Birger Sjöberg

Birger Sjöberg was a modern Swedish poet and songwriter.Originally a journalist, Sjöberg wrote songs in his spare time. His first collection Frida's Book was extremely popular...

, Bo Bergman

Bo Bergman

Bo Bergman was a Swedish writer, literary critic and member of the Swedish Academy, sitting in Seat 12 from 1925 until his death...

 and Erik Axel Karlfeldt

Erik Axel Karlfeldt

Erik Axel Karlfeldt was a Swedish poet whose highly symbolist poetry masquerading as regionalism was popular and won him the Nobel Prize in Literature posthumously in 1931. It has been rumored that he had been offered, but declined, the award already in 1919.Karlfeldt was born into a farmer's...

 but also by international celebrities such as Charles Baudelaire

Charles Baudelaire

Charles Baudelaire was a French poet who produced notable work as an essayist, art critic, and pioneering translator of Edgar Allan Poe. His most famous work, Les Fleurs du mal expresses the changing nature of beauty in modern, industrializing Paris during the nineteenth century...

, Bert Brecht and T. S. Eliot

T. S. Eliot

Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...

.

Another characteristic trait for Edfelt's poetry from the 1930s are innumerous allusions to literature ranging from the Bible

Bible

The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

 and ancient tragic playwrights to psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis is a psychological theory developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis has expanded, been criticized and developed in different directions, mostly by some of Freud's former students, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav...

 and Modernism

Modernism

Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...

. Sometimes Edfelt even re-uses a part of the metric structure from older Swedish poets in order to create a certain mood.

Aftonunderhållning (Evening Entertainment) 1932, I Denna Natt (This Very Night) 1936, Vintern Är Lång (The Winter Is Long) 1939 and Sång för Reskamrater (Song for Travelling Companions) 1941 all belong to the same creative period as Högmässa. The contrast between dark human suffering and the redeeming flame of love distinguishes these books.

A New Direction

In the collections Elden och Klyftan (The Fire and the Cleft) 1943 and Bråddjupt Eko (Precipitous Echo) 1947, Edfelt's poetry becomes more introspective. From Hemliga slagfält (Secret Battlefields) 1952 onwards, there is an element of prose poetry in his collections.

Poetry

• Gryningsröster (1923)
• Unga dagar (1925)
• Ansikten (1929)
• Aftonunderhållning (1932)
• Högmässa (1934)
• I denna natt (1936)
• Vintern är lång (1939)
• Sång för reskamrater (1941)
• Elden och klyftan (1943)
• Bråddjupt eko (1947)
• Hemliga slagfält (1952)
• Under Saturnus (1956)
• Utblick (1958)
• Insyn (1962)
• Ådernät (1968)
• Dagar och nätter (1983)
• Följeslagare (1989)
• Mötesplatser (1992)
• Brännpunkter (1996)
• Dikter (2004)

Prose

• Dostojevski (1936)
• Strövtåg (1941)
• Heinrich Heine (1955)
• Årens spegel (1963)
• Birger Sjöberg (1971)
• Profiler och episoder (1973)

External links

• Blackbird's Nest — Johannes Edfelt