Stig Dagerman

Stig Dagerman (5 October 1923 – 4 November 1954) was a Swedish author and journalist. He was one of the most prominent Swedish authors of the 1940s.

Stig Dagerman was born in Älvkarleby, Uppsala County. In the course of five years, 1945-49, he enjoyed phenomenal success with four novels, a collection of short stories, a book about postwar Germany, five plays, hundreds of poems and satirical verses, several essays of note and a large amount of journalism. Then, with apparent suddenness, he fell silent. In the fall of 1954, Sweden was stunned to learn that Stig Dagerman, the epitome of his generation of writers, had been found dead in his car: he had closed the doors of the garage and run the engine.

Dagerman's works deal with universal problems of morality and conscience, of sexuality and social philosophy, of love, compassion and justice. He plunges into the painful realities of human existence, dissecting feelings of fear, guilt and loneliness. Despite the somber content, he also displays a wry sense of humor that occasionally turns his writing into burlesque or satire.

The British writer Graham Greene said this about him: "Dagerman wrote with beautiful objectivity. Instead of emotive phrases, he uses a choice of facts, like bricks, to construct an emotion." This style is exemplified in the following excerpt from the story, "The Games of Night", where a young boy, Håkan, lies waiting for his drunken father to come home:

At night, all waking thoughts revolve around one thing, one moment.

And even Håkan's deepest sleep is much too fragile to block that thing out.

True, he hasn' t heard the car pull up out front. He hasn't heard the click

of the light switch or the steps in the stairwell. But the key that slides into the keyhole

also pokes a hole in Håkan's sleep. In an instant he's awake, stricken deep by a flash

of delight tingling hot from his toes to his scalp. But the delight disappears nearly

as fast as it comes, withdrawing into a cloud of uncertainties.

Since the 1980s, there is a strong renewed interest in Stig Dagerman's work and life. His collected works are available in eleven volumes. Scholars have examined his writing from every possible angle: philosophical, political, psychological, journalistic, its relationship to the medium of film, and why French and Italian readers have found him particularly appealing. Artists in Sweden and abroad continue to put music to his texts. Films have been made of his short stories and novels. The Stig Dagerman Society in Sweden annually awards the Stig Dagerman Prize to individuals who, like Dagerman, through their work promote empathy and understanding. In 2008, the SD Prize went to the French writer J. M. G. Le Clézio, who later was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Dagerman's work is translated into many languages, and his work continues to inspire readers, writers, musicians and filmmakers in Sweden and abroad.