Swedish novelist, poet and playwright Par Lagerkvist was born on May 23, 1891 in Vaxjo, Sweden. He attended the University of Uppsala briefly, but did not complete a degree. His first book was published in 1912, the same year he left the University. In 1913 Lagerkvist moved to Paris. He lived abroad, mainly in France and Italy, for many years, and even after returning to Sweden, he traveled frequently in Europe.
In his earlier writing, Lagerkvist was often bleakly pessimistic. His strong opposition to totalitarianism was voiced in the plays Victor in the Darkness and The Man without a Soul. In the 1940s, however, his focus shifted, and his writing began to explore religious and moral themes, such as the struggle between good and evil or reconciliation with God. Works from this period include The Sibyl, The Death of Ahasuerus, Herod and Mariamne, and The Dwarf.
Although he is now probably best known for The Dwarf, which was first published in the 1940s, Lagerkvist's first international success came in 1951, with the publication of Barrabas, a story about the life of the biblical character after he, rather than Jesus Christ, was pardoned. Barrabas was translated into several languages, and adapted as both a play and a movie.
Par Lagerkvist was named as one of the 18 "immortals" of the Swedish Academy in 1940. Several years later, in 1951, he received the Nobel Prize for Literature. He died in Stockholm on July 11, 1974.
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