Karin Boye
Karin Boye was a significant Swedish poet, novelist, and short-story writer, recognized as a pioneer of modernism in Sweden. Born in Göteborg in 1900 and later relocating to Stockholm, she experienced a comfortable upbringing, which allowed her to pursue education in teaching and literature. Boye's literary career began during her student years, and her early poetry reflected various emotional states, transitioning from despair to exuberance. Influenced by philosophical figures like Arthur Schopenhauer and Friedrich Nietzsche, her work often explored psychological and moral dilemmas.
Among her notable achievements is the science-fiction novel *Kallocain*, published in 1940, which critiques totalitarianism and has drawn comparisons to works by Aldous Huxley and George Orwell. Boye's life was marked by personal struggles, including depression and complex relationships, ultimately culminating in her tragic death by apparent suicide in 1941. Posthumously, her collection *De sju dödssynderna och andra efterlämnada dikter* has been celebrated as one of her finest works. Today, Karin Boye is remembered for her profound contributions to literature and the exploration of human experience through her poignant writings.
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Karin Boye
Poet
- Born: October 26, 1900
- Birthplace: Göteborg, Sweden
- Died: April 24, 1941
- Place of death: Near Alingsas, Sweden
Biography
Karin Maria Boye was a poet, novelist, short-story writer, and pioneer of Swedish modernism. Her poetry moved from despair to exuberance, apparently reflecting her own moods. She was born in Göteborg, Sweden, in 1900, and in 1909 her family moved to Stockholm. Her father made a good living as a civil engineer and she grew up comfortably. She began writing when she was a young student. Boye graduated from a teacher’s college in 1921 and then studied at the universities at Stockholm and Uppsala, earning an M.A. degree in 1928.
While a student in Uppsala, she joined the Socialist Clarté, founded in France by novelist Henri Barbusse, and wrote for its magazine. She taught in Motala in 1929 and in Viggbyholm during 1937 and 1938, and she was respected as a teacher, despite the personal depression she was experiencing. Boye married a friend from the Socialist Clarté organization, Leif Björck, in 1929. The marriage ended in 1932 when the wife of poet Gunnar Ekelöf left him for Boye. After her divorce, Boye underwent psychoanalysis in Berlin, which was reflected in her work.
Buddhism was an influence on some of her early poems. Subsequent influences stemmed from the philosophies of Arthur Schopenhauer and Friedrich Nietzsche. Her first collection of verse, Moln, demonstrated both her technical expertise and her idealism.
She published the poetry collections Gömda land in 1924 and Härdarna in 1927. In För trädets skull, published in 1935, her style had changed from the earlier classical to a more modernistic and expressionistic form of poetry. Much of Boye’s later poetry had its roots in her psychological problems, and her novels and short stories dealt with both psychological and moral problems. Her novel, Kris, touched on her religious views and her lesbianism, much as a psychoanalytic case history. The protagonist is a principal at a teacher’s college who finally accepts her own sexuality and abandons the school.
In 1931, she joined with Erik Mesterton and Josef Riwkin to launch a poetry magazine, Spektrum. She translated the work of poet T. S. Eliot into Swedish, and in the magazine she brought the work of Eliot and of Surrealist writers to Swedish readers. In 1940, she published a science-fiction novel, Kallocain, roman från 2000-talet, about a totalitarian state based on her trips to Germany and the Soviet Union. The title is the name of a drug which makes people vocalize their thoughts. The story has been viewed as a link between Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World> (1932) and George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949).
Boye’s death in 1941, when she was forty years old, was an apparent suicide. Her body was found north of Alingsås, Sweden, near a boulder which is now a memorial stone. She had been in a romantic relationship with Margot Hanel, who committed suicide shortly after. A posthumous poetry collection, De sju dödssynderna och andra efterlämnada dikter, is often considered her best work.