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Fritiof Nilsson Piraten ("the Pirate") (4 December 1895 in 
Nilsson was deliberately non-literary, getting along with sailors, farmers and businessmen, and probably got his nickname for that reason (although he always insisted that it was there to distinguish him from another Nilsson). His humour is based more in
Vollsjö
Vollsjö () is a locality situated in Sjöbo Municipality
Sjöbo Municipality (''Sjöbo kommun'') is a municipality in Skåne County in southern Sweden. Its seat is located in the town Sjöbo.
The present municipality was created in 1974 when ...
– 31 January 1972 in Malmö
Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal populat ...
), born Nils Fritiof Adam Nilsson 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 ...
author and lawyer, from the south-most province Skåne
Scania, also known by its native name of Skåne (, ), is the southernmost of the historical provinces (''landskap'') of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous with Skåne C ...
, which plays an important role in many of his books.
Educated as a lawyer at Lund
Lund (, , ) is a city in the southern Swedish provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, across the Øresund, Öresund strait from Copenhagen. The town had 91,940 inhabitants out of a municipal total of 121,510 . It is the seat of Lund Municipali ...
he left a successful practice in 1932 to write, and that same year published his debut, ''Bombi Bitt och jag'' ("Bombi Bitt and me"), a Scanian Tom Sawyer-like story of sorts. ''Bombi Bitt'' is what he is most remembered for; it was made into both a movie in 1936, and a TV-series in 1968, the series starring Stellan Skarsgård
Stellan Skarsgård (, ; born 13 June 1951) is a Swedish actor. He is known for his collaborations with director Lars von Trier appearing in ''Breaking the Waves'' (1996), ''Dancer in the Dark'' (2000), ''Dogville'' (2007), ''Melancholia'' (2011 ...
of present Hollywood-fame in the lead role as Bombi Bitt, with Piraten himself as the narrator. Piraten went on to write two more books about Bombi Bitt, one in 1946 and one appeared posthumously in 1974. Most of his books are collections of bucolic anecdotes about eccentric people in Skåne
Scania, also known by its native name of Skåne (, ), is the southernmost of the historical provinces (''landskap'') of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous with Skåne C ...
, such as his novel, ''Bock i örtagård'' ("Buck in herbal garden
The traditional kitchen garden, vegetable garden, also known as a potager (from the French ) or in Scotland a kailyaird, is a space separate from the rest of the residential garden – the ornamental plants and lawn areas. It is used for grow ...
", 1933), about an illiterate horse-dealer and squire who bullies his way into a church-wardenship to win a bet. A movie was released 1958 based on this novel. A later novel, '' Bokhandlaren som slutade bada'' ("The book-dealer who ceased bathing", 1937) is a deeply tragic story, dotted with occasional comic situations, about a too-sensitive man falling in love with a woman and marrying her before he realizes who she really is, and the disasters that follow. 1969 a movie came out based on this novel. Most of his books are considered to fit well in the tall tale
A tall tale is a story with unbelievable elements, related as if it were true and factual. Some tall tales are exaggerations of actual events, for example fish stories ("the fish that got away") such as, "That fish was so big, why I tell ya', it n ...
category.
Nilsson was deliberately non-literary, getting along with sailors, farmers and businessmen, and probably got his nickname for that reason (although he always insisted that it was there to distinguish him from another Nilsson). His humour is based more in understatement
Understatement is an expression of lesser strength than what the speaker or writer actually means or than what is normally expected. It is the opposite of embellishment or exaggeration, and is used for emphasis, irony, hedging, or humor. A partic ...
than in hyperbole, although the stories may be wild enough. His famous epitaph
An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...
is representative of his style.
Sources
* Hägg, Göran: ''Den svenska litteraturhistorien''. Stockholm 1999.References