Lagerkvist, Pär Fabian (1891–1974)

Swedish writer. His work includes lyric poetry, dramas, and novels. At first influenced by expressionism, notably in his poems Ångest/Angst (1916) and Kaos/Chaos (1918), he later matured towards a critical humanism, already evident in his play Han som fick leva om sitt liv/The Man Who Lived his Life Over (1928). He bitterly opposed the evils of Germany's Nazi regime in the play Bödeln/The Hangman (1935) and the historical novel Dvärgen/The Dwarf (1944). For his novel Barabbas (1950) he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1951.