Harry Martinson
Facts
Photo from the Nobel Foundation archive.
Harry Martinson
The Nobel Prize in Literature 1974
Born: 6 May 1904, Jämshög, Sweden
Died: 11 February 1978, Stockholm, Sweden
Residence at the time of the award: Sweden
Prize motivation: “for writings that catch the dewdrop and reflect the cosmos”
Language: Swedish
Prize share: 1/2
Life
Harry Martinson was born in Blekinge, Sweden, into a family of seven children. After his father, a merchant, died of tuberculosis, his mother immigrated to the US leaving her seven children with foster families in the countryside. Martinson had an unstable childhood and ran away from home and school several times. As a 16-year-old he became a sailor, but later left the sea to become an author after contracting tuberculosis in 1927. He was first married to author Moa Martinson, and later to Ingrid Martinson, with whom he had two children.
Work
Harry Martinson's works include poetry and prose, characterized by expressive and original language. Themes include his experiences during a harsh and unloving childhood and during his youth spent as a seaman and vagrant with no fixed home or steady job. His philosophical reflections and descriptions of the natural world reflect both his affection and concern for nature and his interest in science. Martinson's most famous work, the Aniara poetry collection from 1956, is about a space ship that leaves Earth after a devastating nuclear war, but then goes off course.
Nobel Prizes and laureates
Six prizes were awarded for achievements that have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind. The 12 laureates' work and discoveries range from proteins' structures and machine learning to fighting for a world free of nuclear weapons.
See them all presented here.
