Söderberg, Hjalmar [key], 1869–1941, Swedish writer. He is known for a lyrical but melancholic and disillusioned mood. Söderberg's first novel, Martin Birck's Youth (1901, tr. 1930), is the story of a dreamer living a drab middle-class existence. His novels are unsurpassed at evoking Stockholm life at the turn of the century; major examples include Doctor Glas (1905, tr. 1963) and the semidocumentary The Serious Game (1912). Söderberg's play Gertrud (1906) was made into a film by Carl Dreyer. Selections of the his short stories, mocking complacency and deceit, have been translated by C. W. Stork (1935) and Carl Lofmark (1987).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Scandinavian Literature: Biographies
