29 Facts About Harry Martinson

Harry Martinson was a Swedish writer, poet and former sailor.

Harry Martinson was awarded a joint Nobel Prize in Literature in 1974 together with fellow Swede Eyvind Johnson "for writings that catch the dewdrop and reflect the cosmos".

Harry Martinson was born in Jamshog, Blekinge County in south-eastern Sweden.

At a young age he lost both his parents, his father died of tuberculosis in 1910 and a year later his mother emigrated to Portland, Oregon leaving behind her children, whereafter Harry Martinson was placed as a foster child in the Swedish countryside.

Harry Martinson was moved between different homes and alternated between working for his foster parents and attending elementary school, where he often received excellent grades.

The steam ship's journey reached France, Ireland and Scotland, but after returning to Stockholm Harry Martinson signed off as he could not afford the necessary winter clothes.

Harry Martinson stayed in Antwerpen, Belgium for a while before signing on to a ship destined for USA, where he hoped to meet his mother, and then to a Greek ship sailing to South America.

Harry Martinson spent some time as a seaman in Brazil and then signed on to a ship that sailed from Rio de Janeiro to Cape Town, and then further to Bombay.

Troubled by lung problems Harry Martinson set ashore in Sweden on his 23rd birthday in May 1927.

Around 1927, Harry Martinson began his literary career and had several poems published in different publications.

The commercial success of his recent books and several scholarships awarded for his writing allowed Harry Martinson to buy a farm in Sodermanland, where he lived with his wife, the proletarian novelist Moa Harry Martinson, and her sons.

In late 1939, Harry Martinson was engaged in the Finland Winter War as a representative of the Swedish Finland Committee.

Harry Martinson himself took part as a volunteer in the war.

Harry Martinson wrote about his experiences in the book Verklighet till dods, which was published in 1941.

The novel Vagen till Klockrike was another huge success, and in 1949 Harry Martinson became the first proletarian writer to be elected a member of the Swedish Academy.

In 1953 Harry Martinson published Cikada, a collection of poems which was another critical success and his best-selling poetry book to date.

Much of the collection featured familiar themes in Harry Martinson's writing such as nature, didactic poems and criticism of the modern society, but the last section in the book was something new.

Harry Martinson worked on a follow-up to Aniara called Doriderna which was going to be about the people left on earth.

Harry Martinson's next book Vagnen, a collection of poems which largely was a criticism of the modern society and its technology, was however not well received by contemporary critics.

Sensitive to criticism, Harry Martinson declared that no more of his poems would be published during his lifetime, but a few other works where published in the 1960's, such as the play Tre knivar fran Wei set in 7th century China, which was staged by Ingmar Bergman in the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm in 1964.

In 1971 Harry Martinson returned as a poet with Dikter om ljus och morker, which was followed by a collection of nature poems Tuvor in 1973.

Harry Martinson was generally seen as an old-fashioned author by the contemporary cultural world and became less productive as a writer.

The sensitive Harry Martinson found it hard to cope with the criticism following his 1974 Nobel Prize award in Literature, and died by suicide on 11February 1978 at the Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm after cutting his stomach open with a pair of scissors in what has been described as a "hara-kiri-like manner".

Harry Martinson was buried in Sollentuna on 24 February 1978.

Harry Martinson's poetry, characterized by linguistic innovation and a frequent use of metaphors, combined an acute eye for, and love of nature, with a deeply felt humanism.

Harry Martinson's poetry was noted for rich imagery with precise observations that emphazised details.

Harry Martinson had a strong interest in science which was a prominent influence in his work.

The 100th anniversary of Harry Martinson's birth was celebrated around Sweden in 2004.

Harry Martinson's best known works Aniara, Flowering Nettle and Vagen till klockrike have been translated to over a dozen different languages.