Karl Vennberg

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Karl Vennberg (1960)

Karl Gunnar Vennberg (born April 11, 1910 in Blädinge , now part of the Alvesta municipality ; † May 12, 1995 in Spånga , Stockholm ) was a Swedish poet, translator, journalist, editor and critic. Together with Erik Lindegren he was co-founder of the literary group "Fyrtiotalisten", in which Swedish poets of their generation had come together.

life and work

Karl Gunnar Vennberg grew up as the son of a farmer in the Småland province of Kronobergs län in a milieu characterized by “moralistic piety” and studied philosophy, German and Nordic languages ​​at Lund University and Stockholm University . He was a Norwegian teacher at an adult education center and worked for numerous periodicals , including the Finnish-Swedish cultural magazine Horisont , Bonnier's literary magazine and 40-tal . From 1941 he was a reviewer of the weekly Arbetaren , later culture editor for the newspapers Aftontidningen and Aftonbladet . He was a member of the Swedish Academy of Literature Samfundet De Nio and received numerous awards.

With his friend, the poet Erik Lindegren , he founded the "Gruppe 1940", to which writers of his generation came together. It formed the classic modernism of that time. These "Fyrtiotalists" included Stig Dagerman , Gunnar Ekelöf and Artur Lundkvist . Vennberg translated TS Eliot and Franz Kafka and was heavily influenced by him. In 1938 he finished his translation of Metamorphosis , but his manuscript wandered through Swedish publishers for several years until it was finally printed in 1945. In the same year Der Process appeared in Swedish. Lindegren referred to Vennberg as a kindred spirit of Kafka, who, like him, used "a highly personal, ingenious irony" as an artistic device.

In his works Vennberg “sharply criticized the bourgeois standard of living and traditional religious norms”; he dealt with religious, political and psychological ideologies and illusions. “All phrases are paralyzed, the display of personal worries is frowned upon and things are convincingly reduced to zero.” His late work no longer seems so dry, shows mildness and “more intense emotional commitment”, but also bears signs of personal and political resignation.

The Swedish Academy of Literature Samfundet De Nio awards the “Karl Vennebergs Prize”, named after him and endowed with 100,000 crowns, every year.

Awards

Quote

“ Vilken fin balans in min förtröstan / eller några klunkar Aalborg / och en slinga Kalmar Nyckel.
(Translation :)
What a balance my trust / or a few sips of Aalborg / and a cloud of Kalmar Nyckel . "

- Karl Vennberg

Publications

Original Swedish editions

  • Hymn och Hunger , 1937
  • Halmfackla (straw torch ), 1944
  • Tideräkning (calendar), 1945
  • Fiskefärd (fish haul ), 1949
  • Gatukorsning , 1952
  • Vårövning , 1953
  • Synfalt (field of vision), 1954
  • Vid det röda trädet , 1955
  • Tillskrift (communication), 1960
  • Sju ord på tunnelbanan , 1971
  • Vägen till Spånga Folkan , 1976
  • Visa solen ditt ansikt , 1978
  • Från ö till ö , 1979

Translations from German

  • Franz Kafka: Trials . (The process). Wahlström och Widstrand, Stockholm 1946 (last: 2002, ISBN 91-46-18315-9 )
  • Max Brod: Franz Kafka. En biografi . Together with Gösta Oswald. Wahlström och Widstrand, Stockholm 1949
  • Franz Kafka: Förvandlingen . (The transformation). With Caleb J. Anderson. Forum, Stockholm 1964

German editions

  • Poetry . Swedish and German. Translation: Nelly Sachs and Hans Magnus Enzensberger. Epilogue: Lars Gustafsson. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt 1965
  • A poem without company . Swedish and German. Translation and epilogue: Anni Carlsson . Heiderhoff, Eisingen 1986, ISBN 3-921640-79-2

literature

  • Ulf Wittrock: Erik Lindegren . In: Nordic literary history . Volume II. Fink, Munich 1984, ISBN 3-7705-2105-6
  • Vennberg, Karl Gunnar . In: Gero von Wilpert (ed.): Lexicon of world literature LZ . Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-423-59050-5

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Nordic literary history . Volume II, p. 522
  2. ↑ Thomas von Vegesack : German is no longer the gateway to Europe . In: The time of May 10, 1963
  3. ↑ Erik Lindegren about Vennberg in the anthology Den unga parnassen edited by Gustaf Näsström and Martin Strömberg . Norstedt & Söner, Stockholm 1947
  4. ↑ Artur Berthke in: North European literatures . VEB Bibliographisches Institut Leipzig, 1980, p. 329
  5. ↑ Lexicon of World Literature LZ . Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 1997
  6. ↑ Nordic literary history . Volume II, p. 525
  7. ↑ From the poem Idyll in the volume of poetry Fiskefärd (Fischzug) , 1949. Translation: Ulf Wittrock

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Vennberg, Karl
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Vennberg, Karl Gunnar (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swedish poet, translator, journalist, editor and critic
DATE OF BIRTH April 11, 1910
PLACE OF BIRTH Blädinge , Alvesta (municipality)
DATE OF DEATH May 12, 1995
Place of death Spånga-Tensta , Stockholm