Ivar Lo-Johansson (23 February 1901 - 11 April 1990) was a
Swedish writer of the proletarian school.
Lo-Johansson was born in Ösmo. He wrote over 50 proletarian
novels and short-stories, all of which carried vivid portrayals of
working-class people.
He described the situation of the Swedish land-workers,
statare, in his novels, short stories and journalism, which encouraged the
adoption of certain land reforms in Sweden. He also caused much controversy
with his features on old-age pensioners, gypsies and other non-privileged
people. He died, aged 89, in Stockholm.
Lo-Johansson is best known for his vivid recollections of
the life in Swedish trade-unionist and literary circles of the twenties,
thirties and forties. He also continued throughout his long life to insist that
literature should face the world from the under-dog's perspective.
Lo-Johansson's works are characterized by a vivid expression
of individual human suffering. A great example of this motif is character of
the farm servant’s wife in Only A Mother (1939). He also explored the conflict
between individualism and collectivism extensively in his autobiographical
series of eight novels. He published the series in the 1950s with The
Illiterate (1951). He published the last book in the series, The Proletarian
Writer in 1960.
In the 1970s he wrote numerous short stories dealing with the
seven deadly sins. In the 1980s he wrote several memoirs.
Thanks, Ariel
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