Читать книгу Modern Swedish Masterpieces: Short Stories онлайн

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The four authors here included are all living and active, from which it may be rightly inferred that the Swedish short story is of recent development. Verner von Heidenstam, born in 1859, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1916, has an international reputation but is not as yet widely known in America. The stories here selected are from his historical novel, The Charles Men, set in the time of Charles XII; for though the book has a clear unity, the separate chapters can be understood perfectly by themselves. Per Hallström, somewhat younger, is ranked even higher by Swedish critics as a master of short stories. The volume of translations just published omits, quite unaccountably, the two specimens here given which belong to his very best style. Hjalmar Söderberg, also a writer in his fifties, has been called the Anatole France of Sweden. Unknown in America up to now, his stories have won marked favor on their appearance in magazines. Sigfrid Siwertz, but slightly over forty, is the most promising of the younger generation. Less outstanding than the others, he has nevertheless a fine balance and much grace of detail. His chief novel, under the title Downstream, has just appeared in translation.