Carl Gustaf Verner von Heidenstam (6 July 1859 – 20 May 1940) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wr ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while othe ...

and

laureate In English, the word laureate has come to signify eminence or association with literary awards or military glory. It is also used for recipients of the Nobel Prize, the Gandhi Peace Award, the Student Peace Prize, and for former music direct ...

of the

1916 Nobel Prize in Literature The 1916 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the Swedish poet and prose writer Verner von Heidenstam (1859–1940) "in recognition of his significance as the leading representative of a new era in our literature." Heidenstam was the second Sw ...

. He was a member of the Swedish Academy from 1912. His poems and prose work are filled with a great joy of life, sometimes imbued with a love of Swedish history and scenery, particularly its physical aspects.

Early life

Verner von Heidenstam was born in

Olshammar Olshammar is a locality situated in Askersund Municipality, Örebro County, Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of ...

, Örebro County, on 6 July 1859 to a noble family. Von Heidenstam was the son of

Gustaf von Heidenstam Nils ''Gustav'' von Heidenstam (1822 – 2 June 1887) was a Swedish engineer born in Blekinge. He was the chief engineer of the Swedish Royal Coast Guard. Life He was the son of Werther Werner von Heidenstam (16 October 1763 – 1852) and fathe ...

, an engineer, and ''Magdalena'' Charlotta von Heidenstam (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth ...

Rütterskiöld). He was educated at ''Beskowska skolan'' in Stockholm. He studied painting in the Academy of Stockholm but soon left because of ill health. He then traveled extensively in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

and the Orient.

Literary career

He was at once greeted as a poet of promise on the publication of his first collection of poems, ''Vallfart och vandringsår'' (''Pilgrimage: the Wander Years'', 1888). It is a collection of poems inspired by his experiences in the orient and marks an abandonment of naturalism that was dominant then in Swedish literature. His love for beauty is also shown by the long narrative poem ''Hans Alienus ''(1892). ''Dikter'' ("Poems", 1895) and ''Karolinerna'' (''The Charles Men'', 2 vols., 1897–1898), a series of historical portraits of King

Charles XII of Sweden Charles XII, sometimes Carl XII ( sv, Karl XII) or Carolus Rex (17 June 1682 – 30 November 1718 O.S.), was King of Sweden (including current Finland) from 1697 to 1718. He belonged to the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, a branch line o ...

and his cavaliers, shows a strong nationalistic passion. English translations of short stories from ''Karolinerna'' can be found in the ''American-Scandinavian Review'' (New York), May 1914, November 1915, and July 1916. The two volumes of ''Folkunga Trädet'' (''The Tree of the Folkungs'', 1905–07) are the inspired, epic story of a clan of Swede chieftains in the Middle Ages. In 1910 a controversy was waged in Swedish newspapers between a number of Swedish literary men on the topic of the proletarian “degradation” of literature, the protagonists of the two opposing camps being

August Strindberg Johan August Strindberg (, ; 22 January 184914 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter.Lane (1998), 1040. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than sixty ...

and von Heidenstam. Professors Lidforss and Böök also took part. von Heidenstam's chief contribution was the pamphlet, directed chiefly against Strindberg, "Proletärfilosofiens upplösning och fall" ("The Decline and Fall of the Proletarian Philosophy"). von Heidenstam's poetical collection ''Nya Dikter'', published in 1915, deals with philosophical themes, mainly concerning the elevation of man to a better humanity from solitude.

Personal life

He died at his home Övralid on 20 May 1940.

Works

* ''Från Col di Tenda till Blocksberg '', pictures of travel (1888) * ''Vallfart och vandringsår'' (1888) * ''Renässans'' (1889) * ''Endymion'' (1889, novel) * ''Hans Alienus ''(1892) * ''Dikter'' (1895) * ''Karolinerna (''The Charles Men'', 1897–98, novel) * ''Sankt Göran och draken ''(1900) * ''Klassizität und Germanismus'' (published in German, Vienna 1901)Here the author advocates a sort of artistic exclusiveness; Heidenstam appears as the champion of the classic spirit, which he considers essentially aristocratic, as opposed to the Germanic attitude which he considers democratic and reprehensible. * ''Heliga Birgittas pilgrimsfärd'' (''Saint Bridget's Pilgrimage'', 1901) * ''Ett folk '' (1902) * ''Skogen susar ''(''The Forest Whispers'', 1904) * ''Folkungaträdet ''(''The Tree of the Folkungs'', 2 volumes, 1905–1907) * ''Svenskarna och deras hövdingar'' (1910, historical lectures) * ''Nya Dikter'' (1915). Works in English translation * ''A King and his Campaigners'' (1902) * ''The Soothsayer'' (1919) * ''Sweden's Laureate. Selected Poems of Verner Von Heidenstam'' (1919) - (trans. by Charles Wharton Stork) * ''The Birth of God'' (1920) * ''The Charles Men'' (1920) - (trans. by Charles Wharton Stork) * ''The Swedes and their Chieftains'' (1925) - (trans. by Charles Wharton Stork) * ''The Tree of the Folkungs'' (1925)

References

Bibliography

External links

at Project Runeberg *
List of Works
*
Works by Verner von Heidenstam
at

Swedish Literature Bank The Swedish Literature Bank is a non-profit organisation whose objective is making classic Swedish literature and literary criticism freely available in digital editions. It is a collaboration between the Swedish Academy, the National Library of Swe ...

(in Swedish) * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Heidenstam, Verner von 1859 births 1940 deaths People from Askersund Municipality Writers from Närke Members of the Swedish Academy Nobel laureates in Literature Swedish-language poets Swedish nobility Swedish Nobel laureates