Karl XII:s levnad. Till uttåget ur Sachsen

Karl Xll:s levnad #1

by Frans G. Bengtsson

1a delen i författarens biografi över Kalle Dussin!

Genres: History

319 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1932

About the author

Frans G. Bengtsson (1894–1954) was born and raised in the southern Swedish province of Skåne, the son of an estate manager. His early writings, including a doctoral thesis on Geoffrey Chaucer and two volumes of poetry written in what were considered antiquated verse forms, revealed a career-long interest in historical literary modes and themes. Bengtsson was a prolific translator (of Paradise Lost, The Song of Roland, and Walden), essayist (he published five collections of his writings, mostly on literary and military topics), and biographer (his two-volume biography of Charles XII (Karl XII:s levnad) won the Swedish Academy’s annual prize in 1938). In 1941 he published Röde Orm: Sjöfarare i västerled (Red Orm at Home and on the Western Way), followed, in 1945, by Röde Orm: Hemma och i österled (Red Orm at Home and on the Eastern Way). The two books were published in a single volume in the United States and England in 1954 as The Long Ships. During the Second World War, Bengtsson was outspoken in his opposition to the Nazis, refusing to allow for a Norwegian translation of The Long Ships while the country was still under German occupation.

Bengtsson married Gerda Fineman in 1939. He studied at the University of Lund from 1912, receiving his licentiate in philosophy in 1930. He died in 1954 after a long illness.

Reviews

[Christopher Saunders · Rating 3 out of 5]

Colorful but frustrating biography of Charles XII, the Swedish warrior-king who defied far superior Russian/Polish/Saxon forces in the Great Northern War before losing disastrously at Poltava. Bengtsson's writing is lively, humorous and richly detailed, yet there's a disconnect between his style and subject. Bengtsson views Charles as a noble paragon of manly virtue. But he comes off to this cynical, non-Swedish 21st Century reader as a reckless adventurer who picked needlessly fights with his neighbors, committed grievous strategic errors (especially his pointless war with Poland) that overwhelmed his tactical brilliance and demoted his country into a second rate power.

[Albin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Frans G Bengtsson är otrolig på att formulera sig, en riktig ordkonstnär.
Denna är en fröjd att läsa.