Sjöberg, Birger

▪ Swedish poet

born Dec. 6, 1885, Vänersborg, Swed.

died April 30, 1929, Växjö

      songwriter and poet known for his development of a strikingly original form in modern Swedish poetry.

      After very little formal education and a number of occupations, Sjöberg became a journalist. In his spare time he wrote the lyrics and music of songs, which he sang occasionally to entertain friends. His first publication of songs, Fridas bok (1922; “Frida's Book”), was highly successful and brought him much acclaim. He was hailed a modern troubadour in the tradition of Sweden's Carl Bellman, and he soon found himself on a series of concert tours with his songs. He recoiled from this attention, however, and withdrew in disgust, apparently desiring his reputation to be based on work more significant than his songs. His only novel, Kvartetten som sprängdes (1924; “The Quartet Which Was Broken Up”), also became highly popular. He unleashed his full fury in Kriser och Kransar (1926; “Crises and Laurel Wreaths”), a relentless and explosive confrontation with post-World War I life and an artistic breakthrough to new forms and highly modern poetic devices.

      After his death, two further volumes of Sjöberg's work appeared, a second series of Frida songs (1929) and a selection from some 3,000 poems and fragments published under the title Minnen från jorden (1940; “Memories from Earth”).

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