Vilhelm Moberg bust in Växjö

Vilhelm Moberg (August 20, 1898 - August 8, 1973) was a Swedish author and historian, best known for his series of four novels, The Emigrants. Växjö (vɛkːɧøː is a city in Småland in southern Sweden. Events 636 - Battle of Yarmouk: Arab forces led by Khalid ibn al-Walid take control of Syria and Palestine Year 1898 ( MDCCCXCVIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Events 1220 - Sweden is defeated by Estonian tribes in the Battle of Lihula. Year 1973 ( MCMLXXIII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar of the 1973 Gregorian calendar. "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation. The Emigrants is the collective name of a four novel suite by the Swedish author Vilhelm Moberg: The Emigrants

Early life

Moberg was born in Småland, in southern Sweden of peasant and soldier stock. is a historical province ( landskap) in southern Sweden. Småland borders Blekinge, Scania or Skåne Halland, He had six siblings, though only three survived into adulthood. Moberg underwent only limited schooling from 1906 until 1912. As a child he was an avid reader, however, and was first published at the age of 13. ^[1]

Moberg became a member of a young Social Democrats club in Algutsboda in 1913. During World War I he returned to his studies at the Folk Academy in Grimslöv, and later at a private school in Katrineholm. He worked as a farm and forest laborer, and later at glassblowing before and between his various studies. In 1916 he came close to emigrating to the United States, after his uncle and aunt had done so, but ultimately decided to remain in Sweden with his parents.

Moberg became infected with the Spanish Flu in 1918, and was sick for a half year. The 1918 flu pandemic (commonly referred to as the Spanish flu) was an Influenza Pandemic that spread to nearly every part of the world ^[1]

With a working class background, Moberg started out as a newspaper editor (in 1919). His first novel, Raskens, appeared in 1927. Raskens is Swedish novel by Vilhelm Moberg. The story takes place in the 19th century and is about Gustav Rask a peasant who becomes a soldier in the In his works, he often expressed a republican (anti-royalist) point of view, much due to the facts that surfaced in the Kejne affair and Haijby affair, in which Moberg took an active part. The Kejne affair was a political Affair in Sweden in the 1950s. The Haijby affair was a political Affair in Sweden in the 1950s involving the conviction and imprisonment of Kurt Haijby, a petty thief and convicted murderer

Author

Moberg's most famous work is a series of four novels (1949-1959) that describe one Swedish family's migration from Småland to Minnesota in the mid 19th century, a destiny shared by almost one million people, including several of the author's relatives. The Emigrants is the collective name of a four novel suite by the Swedish author Vilhelm Moberg: The Emigrants Year 1949 ( MCMXLIX) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The year 1959 ( MCMLIX) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. is a historical province ( landskap) in southern Sweden. Småland borders Blekinge, Scania or Skåne Halland, Minnesota ( Native Americans demonstrated the name to early settlers The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar These novels have been translated into English: The Emigrants (1951), Unto a Good Land (1954), The Settlers (1961), The Last Letter Home (1961). The Emigrants (Utvandrarna is a novel by Vilhelm Moberg from 1949 Unto a Good Land (Invandrarna is a novel by Vilhelm Moberg from 1952 There is also a novel by Meyer Levin by the same title "Nybyggarna" redirects here The Last Letter Home (Sista brevet till Sverige is a novel by Vilhelm Moberg from 1959 His literary depiction of the Swedish-American immigrant experience is comparable to O.E. Rolvaag's work depicting the experience of Norwegian-American immigrants. Swedish Americans are Americans of Swedish descent most often related to the large groups of immigrants from Sweden in the late nineteenth century and early Ole Edvart Rølvaag (spelled "Rolvaag" in the United States) ( April 22 1876 - November 5 1931) was a Norwegian-American Norwegian Americans (norskamerikanere are Americans of Norwegian descent Some of his other work has also been translated into English, and he is well-recognized in the English-speaking world among those interested in Scandinavian culture and history. Terminology and usage As a cultural term "Scandinavia" has no official definition and is subject to usage by those who identify with the culture in question as well

In his autobiographical novel A soldier with a Broken Rifle (Soldat med brutet gevär), he speaks to the importance of giving voice to the downtrodden, illiterate classes of his forebears. This viewpoint also informed his History of the Swedish People, I-II (Min svenska historia, berättad för folket, I-II), published in 1970-71 in both Swedish and English. The history was meant to have more volumes, but he never finished it.

The musical Kristina från Duvemåla by ex-ABBA members Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson is based on Moberg's The Emigrants. Kristina från Duvemåla ("Kristina from Duvemåla" is a Swedish musical written by former ABBA members Björn Ulvaeus Björn Kristian Ulvaeus, bjœɳ ɵlˈveɵs (born April 25 1945 is a Swedish Musician, Composer, a former member of the Swedish musical group Göran Bror Benny Andersson (born in Stockholm, Sweden on December 16, 1946) is a Swedish Musician, Composer

Later life

Moberg lived the last years of his life with depression, and eventually he committed suicide by drowning himself in a lake outside his house August 8, 1973. Events 1220 - Sweden is defeated by Estonian tribes in the Battle of Lihula. Year 1973 ( MCMLXXIII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar of the 1973 Gregorian calendar. He left a note saying: The time is twenty past seven; I go to search in the lake for eternal sleep. Moberg is buried in Norra begravningsplatsen in Stockholm. Norra begravningsplatsen, literally "The Northern Cemetery" in Swedish, is a major cemetery of Metropolitan Stockholm.

Works in English translation

The Emigrants

• The Emigrants (1949), ISBN 0-87351-319-3. The Emigrants is the collective name of a four novel suite by the Swedish author Vilhelm Moberg: The Emigrants The Emigrants (Utvandrarna is a novel by Vilhelm Moberg from 1949
• Unto a Good Land (1952), ISBN 0-87351-320-7. Unto a Good Land (Invandrarna is a novel by Vilhelm Moberg from 1952
• The Settlers (1956), ISBN 0-87351-321-5. There is also a novel by Meyer Levin by the same title "Nybyggarna" redirects here
• The Last Letter Home (1959), ISBN 0-87351-322-3. The Last Letter Home (Sista brevet till Sverige is a novel by Vilhelm Moberg from 1959

Fiction

• Memory of Youth
• Ride This Night!
• A Time on Earth, ISBN 1-56849-314-2.
• When I Was a Child, ISBN 0-8488-0302-7.

Nonfiction

• A History of the Swedish People, Vol. 1: From Prehistory to the Renaissance, ISBN 0-8166-4656-2.
• A History of the Swedish People, Vol. 2: From Renaissance to Revolution, ISBN 0-8166-4657-0.
• The Unknown Swedes: A Book About Swedes and America, Past and Present, ISBN 0-8093-1486-X.

External links

• Vilhelm Moberg - The Greatest Swedish Author
• Kristina from Duvemåla - the musical

Notes