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Ivar Lo-Johansson

イヴァル・ロー＝ヨハンソン

Ivar Lo-Johansson

Pen Names: Ivar Lo-Johansson（Adopted in his twenties; he claimed 'Lo' was a family name and used it as part of his author name）, Ivar Johansson (birth name)（Birth name. Official records later registered him at times as Karl Ivar Loe）

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1901-02-23 （Ösmo, Sweden）
Died
1990-04-11 （Stockholm, Sweden） age 89
Nationality
Swedish
Languages
Swedish
Residence History
Stockholm (apartment on Bastugatan from 1934)

Career

Occupations
novelist, essayist, journalist, critic
Active Years
1927-1990

Awards

Nordic Council's Literature Prize
1979
Work: Puberty
Organization: Nordic Council
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Godnatt, jord

1933 novel

An early major novel depicting the lives and hardships of rural laborers, written from a proletarian perspective.

working-class liferural hardshipsocial inequality

Statarna

1936 short story collection / reportage

A collection portraying the contracted farm laborers (statare) in Sweden; exposed their conditions and contributed to calls for reform.

wage laborland tenurelabor movement

Bara en mor

1939 novel

Focuses on the farm servant's wife to express individual suffering and the clash between societal structures and human experience.

individual sufferinggender roleseconomic hardship

Pubertet

1978 memoir

A memoir reflecting on his childhood and youth, recounting his proletarian origins and early experiences. It won the Nordic Council's Literature Prize in 1979.

autobiographical recollectionclass and identitycoming of age
Translations
  • Pubertet translated into English as 'Puberty'

Bibliography

  • Vagabondliv i Frankrike (1927)
  • Kolet i våld (1928)
  • Nederstigen i dödsriket (1929)
  • Zigenare (1929)
  • Mina städers ansikten (1930)
  • Godnatt, jord (1933)
  • Kungsgatan (1935)
  • Statarna (1936–37)
  • Bara en mor (1939)
  • Jordproletärerna (1941)
  • Analfabeten (1951)
  • Gårdfarihandlaren (1953)
  • Stockholmaren (1954)
  • Proletärförfattaren (1960)
  • Elektra Kvinna år 2070 (1967)
  • Lyckan (1962)
  • Ordets makt (1973)
  • Pubertet (1978)
  • Asfalt (1979)
  • Tröskeln (1982)
  • Frihet (1985)
  • Skriva för livet (1989)
  • Blå jungfrun (1990, posthumous)

Translations of Works

  • Pubertet — translated into English as 'Puberty'

Style & Themes

Literary Style
proletarian realismsocial realismautobiographical memoir
Recurring Motifs
workers and povertyperspective of the marginalizedindividual suffering vs. collective

Legacy

Ivar Lo-Johansson is regarded as one of 20th-century Sweden's leading proletarian writers; his work gave voice to farm laborers and the marginalized, influenced social reforms, and his Stockholm apartment has been preserved as a museum.

Museums

  • Ivar Lo Museum (Ivar Lo-museet) Stockholm — apartment on Bastugatan Opened in 1990

Academic Societies

  • Ivar Lo Society (Ivar Lo-sällskapet)

Archives

  • Archives held by the Ivar Lo Society
  • Related collections at the Stockholm City Library

In Popular Culture

  • Ivar Los park on Mariaberget named in his honor
  • Bronze bust on Bastugatan (1991) by Nils Möllerberg

Quotes

  • "Lo was a family name," he claimed and adopted the form in his personal and author name.
    Source: Autobiographical references / biographical accounts
  • "One of our greatest proletarian writers"
    Source: Assessment by the Stockholm City Library

Trivia

  • Born Ivar Johansson; at times officially registered as Karl Ivar Loe.
  • Lived in an apartment on Bastugatan from 1934 which was turned into a museum after his death.
  • Won the Nordic Council's Literature Prize in 1979 for his memoir 'Pubertet'.