SOURCE: Sondrup, Steven P. “Terms of Divergence: The Vocabularies of Pär Lagerkvist's Ångest and Artur Lundkvist's Glöd.” Scandinavian Studies 58, no. 1 (1986): 25-36.

In the following essay, Sondrup considers the influence of Lagerkvist on the poetry of Artur Lundkvist.

Ich weiß nicht, ob Ihnen unter all dem ermüdenden Geschwätz von Individualität, Stil, Gesinnung, Stimmung und so fort nicht das Bewußtsein dafür abhanden gekommenist, daß das Material der Poesie die Worte sind. …

(Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Poesie und Leben, 1896)

The publication in 1916 of Pär Lagerkvist's collection of poetry entitled Ångest (Angst) marks a decisive turning point in the history of modern Swedish literature. The power and intensity with which the poet evoked his agony were without parallel, and his strident Modernism pointed toward new areas of human experience accessible to poetic exploration. Lagerkvist was dramatically turning his back on the subtly nuanced and often...