Pär Lagerkvist (born May 23, 1891,Växjö, Sweden—died July 11, 1974, Stockholm) was a novelist, poet, dramatist, and one of the major Swedish literary figures of the first half of the 20th century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1951.

Lagerkvist was reared in a traditional religious manner in a small town. The influence of his early years remained strong despite his introduction to modern scientific ideas and his eventual break with the religion of his forefathers. He became involved with socialism and soon began to support artistic and literary radicalism, as demonstrated in hismanifesto entitledOrdkonst och bildkonst (1913; “Literary and Pictorial Art”). InTeater (1918; “Theatre”), the three one-act playsDen Svåre Stunden (“The Difficult Hour”) illustrate a similar modernist viewpoint.

The extreme pessimism thatpervaded Lagerkvist’s works duringWorld War I, such asÅngest (1916; “Anguish”), slowly subsided, starting withDet eviga leendet (1920;The Eternal Smile) and his autobiographicalnovelGäst hos verkligheten (1925;Guest of Reality), until finally he declared his faith in man in the great prose monologueDet besegrade livet (1927; “The Triumph over Life”), which became a positive point of departure for much of his later work.

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When the new creeds ofviolence were being proclaimed in the early 1930s, he quickly recognized their danger. His prose workBödeln (1933;The Hangman), later dramatized, is a protest against the everlasting brutality in the world. The playMannen utan själ (1936;The Man Without a Soul) is also an expression of Lagerkvist’s indignation withFascism. During the 1940s he wrote his most unusual play, sometimes called a “stage oratorio,”Låt människan leva (1949;Let Man Live), which deals with man’s readiness throughout history to judge his fellows and condemn them even to death.

It was not until his novelDvärgen (1944;The Dwarf ) appeared that he had unqualified success with Swedish critics; it became his first best-seller. WithBarabbas (1950) he achieved world recognition.

Evening Land=Aftonland (1975) is a literal translation into English by Leif Sjöberg and verse rendering by W.H. Auden of 66 of Lagerkvist’s poems.The Marriage Feast (1973) contains English translations of 19 Lagerkvist short stories.