Sven Lindqvist

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Sven Lindqvist (2018)

Sven Lindqvist (born March 28, 1932 in Stockholm ; † May 14, 2019 ) was a Swedish writer and literary historian . He has written more than 30 books, mostly documentary, on Latin America , China and Africa , among others , in which he repeatedly dealt with topics such as imperialism , colonialism , racism and war .

life and work

Sven Lindqvist studied in Stockholm and wrote his dissertation on the Swedish poet Vilhelm Ekelund . From 1956 to 1986 he was married to the sinologist , writer and photographer Cecilia Lindqvist . 1960 to 1961 he was cultural attaché at the Swedish embassy in Beijing . In 1979 he received an honorary doctorate from Uppsala University and has been an honorary professor there since 1990. He made numerous trips, which became the basis for his publications; he wrote u. a. for Dagens Nyheter .

As a student, Lindqvist spent several years in China. This resulted in his books Kina inifrån (German 1964: China from the inside. 2 years in Mao's empire ), which he wrote together with his wife, and the Myten om Wu Tao-tzu ( The Myth about Wu Tao-tzu ), published in 1967 ; a “loose sequence of observations, reflections, and literary analyzes in which Eastern collectivism is contrasted with Western individualism”. Chinese artist Wu Tao-Tzu allegedly disappeared into his own wall painting. “Lindqvist's book is z. Written partly as a polemic against Hermann Hesse's work, which was shaped by the desire to flee from reality and into art. "

Lindqvist's publication Gräv där du står (1978, German 1989: Grabe, wo du standst. Handbook for researching one's own history ) had a great impact . From it emerged the history workshop movement in Scandinavia , which prompted many people to research their local and personal history.

Lindqvist wrote in his works Nu dog du , Terra Nullius and Avsikt att förinta against racism. Especially in his book Utrota varenda jävel (1992; German 1999: Durch das Herz der Finsternis. An Africa traveler on the trail of the European genocide ), whose title is based on Joseph Conrad's quote “Exterminate all the brutes” (“Beat these beasts all dead “) In whose book Heart of Darkness goes back, he wrote against the injustice of the colonial powers and drew a connection up to the Holocaust . The book was broadcast in 15 languages ​​and its content has been dramatized for the stage in France and Sweden. The work received a lot of praise, but its narrative style also received criticism:

“In any case, the result is disappointing. His protocol “Through the Heart of Darkness” is not a travelogue, nor is it an analysis of history, but a little of both, and too little of both. Plus memories of your own childhood somewhere else. To the grandmother, who smelled sweet and sour and therefore had to eat in the kitchen. Again and again the author comes from stick to stick - and rarely does he find his way back. The piles of thoughts that he collects along the way are fashionably numbered. Otherwise no logic can be seen. "

- Andreas Obst

In his travel report Ökendykarna (German 2002: Wüstentaucher. On the trail of poets, dreamers and generals ) published in 1990, Lindqvist, who had already been fascinated by the Sahara as a child, followed the traces of various people who were influenced by it Desert obsessed. These included the aviator and writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry , the globetrotter Isabelle Eberhardt disguised as a man , the French adventurer Michel Vieuchange and the painter Eugène Fromentin . He tried to fathom their motives. "But again and again the reader is torn out of the well-done stories and legends and thrown into the Swedish childhood of the author or, worse still, into the state of his Saharan journey."

Lindqvist had been married to the Swedish economist Agneta Stark since 1986 and lived in Stockholm. He died in May 2019 at the age of 87.

Publications

Swedish first editions (selection)

  • Kina inifrån (1963)
  • Asiatisk erfarenhet (1964)
  • Dagbok och dictverk. En study i Wilhelm Ekelunds Nordiskt och Klassiskt (1966)
  • Myten om Wu Tao-tzu (1967)
  • Jord och makt i South America (1973)
  • Jordens gryning - Jord och makt i South America del II (1974)
  • Arbetsbyte (1976)
  • Lägenheter på Verkstadsgolvet (1977)
  • Gräv där du står (1978)
  • Kina Nu (1980)
  • En älskares dagbok (1981)
  • En gift mans dagbok (1982)
  • En underjordisk stjärnhimmel (1984)
  • Elefantens fot (1985)
  • Ökendykarna . Bonnier, Stockholm 1990, ISBN 91-0-047713-3 .
  • Utrota varenda jävel . Bonnier, Stockholm 1992, ISBN 91-0-055610-6 .
  • Nu dog du. Bombernas århundrade Bonnier, Stockholm 1999, ISBN 91-0-057051-6 .
  • Terra nullius. En resa genom ingens land . Bonnier, Stockholm 2005, ISBN 91-0-010599-6 .
  • Avsikt att förinta . Albert Bonniers Förlag, Stockholm 2008, ISBN 978-91-0-011624-8 .

German-language editions

  • China from within. 2 years in Mao's kingdom . Translation: Irene Salzner. Brockhaus, Wiesbaden 1964.
  • Latin America. The plundered continent . Translation: Ute Merry. von Schröder, Hamburg and Düsseldorf 1971, ISBN 3-547-76113-1 .
  • Dig where you stand Handbook for Researching Your Own History . Translation: Manfred Dammeyer. Dietz, Bonn 1989, ISBN 3-8012-0144-9 .
  • Through the heart of darkness. A traveler to Africa on the trail of the European genocide . Campus, Frankfurt / Main and New York 1999, ISBN 3-593-36176-0 .
  • Desert divers. In the footsteps of poets, dreamers and generals . Translation: Sandra Nalepka. Haymon, Innsbruck 2002, ISBN 3-85218-398-7 .
  • An art of truth . In: Lettre International 71, Winter 2005, pp. 126–127. ISSN 0945-5167
  • Father, son, holy wheel. In the footsteps of Robert M. Pirsig . In: Lettre International 72, Spring 2006, pp. 70–77. ISSN 0945-5167
  • The bomber dream . In: Lettre International 76, Spring 2007, pp. 16-25. ISSN 0945-5167

Awards

literature

  • Scandinavian literary history . Metzler, Stuttgart and Weimar 2006, ISBN 978-3-476-01973-8 .
  • Johann F. Janka: Sven Lindqvist: Desert diver . In: Buchkritik.at of October 20, 2002.
  • Andreas Obst: Far away. “Through the heart of darkness” by Sven Lindqvist . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of August 26, 1999.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Thomas Seiler in: Scandinavian literary history . Metzler, Stuttgart and Weimar 2006, page 299
  2. ^ Ricki Neuman: De vill utrota all rasism . In: Svenska Dagbladet of October 27, 2007
  3. ↑ Distant. “Through the heart of darkness” by Sven Lindqvist . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of August 26, 1999
  4. ↑ Delirium in the Sahara . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung from April 15, 2004

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Lindqvist, Sven
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swedish writer and literary historian
DATE OF BIRTH March 28, 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH Stockholm
DATE OF DEATH May 14, 2019