Smile of the Midsummer Night

Lars Gustafsson was born in Västerås, Sweden on May 17, 1936. He was a poet and novelist. He published his first novel, Vägvila: Ett Mysteriespel På Prosa (Rest on the Way: A Mystery Play in Prose), at the age of 21. His other novels include The Death of a Beekeeper and Dr. Wasser's Recept. His collections of poetry include The Stillness of the World before Bach, Elegies and Other Poems, A Time in Xanadu, and Selected Poems. He received numerous literary awards including the Prix International Charles Veillon des Essais in 1983, the Heinrich Steffens Preis in 1986, Una Vita per la Litteratura in 1989, a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship for poetry in 1994, and the Thomas Mann Prize in 2015 for his work and its influence on German culture. He taught philosophy and creative writing at the University of Texas at Austin from 1983 to 2006. He died after a short illness on April 3, 2016 at the age of 79.

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