Karin Maria Boye (; 26 October 1900 – 24 April 1941) was a Swedish poet and novelist. In Sweden, she is acclaimed as a poet, but internationally, she is best known for the dystopian science fiction novel Kallocain (1940).

Biography

Early life

thumb|Karin Boye as a child

Boye was born in Gothenburg, Sweden in a wealthy family and moved with her family to Stockholm in 1909, eventually settling in a house in Huddinge. In Stockholm, she studied at the Åhlinska skolan until 1920. She then attended Södra seminariet, a teacher-training programme, in order to become a school teacher. She studied at Uppsala University from 1921 to 1926 and debuted in 1922 with a collection of poems, (Clouds). During her time in Uppsala and until 1930, Boye was a member of the Swedish Clarté League, a socialist group that was strongly antifascist. She was also a member of the women's organization Nya Idun.

Literary career

thumb|Karin Boye, early 1930s

thumb|The poem "Aftonbön" handwritten by Karin Boye.

thumb|The poem "En målares önskan" handwritten by Karin Boye.

Boye made her literary debut in 1922 with the collection of poems Moln ("Clouds"). Taking influence from the writings of Arthur Schopenhauer and Friedrich Nietzsche and poets such as Gustaf Fröding, Vilhelm Ekelund and Edith Södergran, her poetry dealt from the start with the individual's right to freedom in relation to christianity, which was further developed in "Gömda land" (1924, "Hidden Lands") and Härdarna (1927, "The Hearths"). Worship of beauty, fighting spirit and dynamic movement were central elements in her poems that was concentrated into a distinctive, idiosyncratic rhythmic form.

In 1931, Boye, together with Erik Mesterton and Josef Riwkin, founded the poetry magazine Spektrum, introducing T. S. Eliot and the Surrealists to Swedish readers. She translated many of Eliot's works into Swedish; she and Mesterton translated "The Waste Land". and (In motion) from her collections of poems and (1935, "For the tree's sake"). The latter collection, which prominently feature Boye's frequent use of tree-symbolism in her poetry, was criticized by contemporary critics for modernistic obscurity but is by later readers widely regarded as her strongest book of poems.

Posthumously, the uncompleted poetry collection ("The seven deadly sins") was published in 1941. Its center-piece is a cycle of poems of the conflict between the individual's strong will to independence and the conformity of religion, which was the major theme in Boye's work.

As Boye had resigned as editor of Spektrum she earned her living from translations and writing short stories for weekly magazines, and later also writing as a literary critic for the newspapers Arbetaren and Social-Demokraten. From 1936 to 1938 Boye was employed as teacher at Viggbyholm school, but suffered from periods of depression and suicide attempts.

Death

On 23 April 1941 Boye disappeared from the house in Alingsås where she lived, taking sleeping pills with her.

thumb|The stone in Alingsås where Karin Boye was found dead.

Legacy

thumb|Karin Boye's grave at [[Östra kyrkogården, Gothenburg]]

right|thumb|The statue of Boye on [[Kungsportsavenyn, outside the Gothenburg City Library (Stadsbiblioteket)]]

thumb|Statue of Karin Boye in [[Huddinge]]Boye was given two very different epitaphs. The best-known is the poem (Dead Amazon) by Hjalmar Gullberg, in which she is depicted as "Very dark and with large eyes". Another poem was written by her close friend and is entitled (Dead friend). Here, she is depicted not as a heroic Amazon but as an ordinary human, small and grey in death, released from battles and pain.

She is also model to the character Isagel in Harry Martinson's 1956 poem Aniara. Boye and Martinson had a close friendship in the 1930's.

Boye has been the subject of several biographies, numerous literary studies and articles, and her work have continuously been published in new Swedish editions. In 1994, her Complete Poems was published in English translation by David McDuff.

A literary association dedicated to her work was created in 1983, keeping her work alive by spreading it among new readers. In 2004, one of the branches of the Uppsala University Library was named in her honour.

Works

Novels

  • , 1931
  • , 1933
  • Crisis, 1934
  • , 1936
  • Kallocain, 1940

Collections of poems

  • , 1922
  • , 1924
  • , 1927
  • , 1935
  • , 1941 (not completed, posthumously published)
  • Complete Poems in English translation by David McDuff, Bloodaxe Books, 1994

References

Sources

  • Abenius, Margit. 1965. Karin Boye. Stockholm, Sweden. Bokförlaget Aldus/Bonniers.
  • Hammarström, Camilla. 2001. Karin Boye. Stockholm, Sweden. Natur & Kultur. .

Further reading

  • The Karin Boye Society
  • David McDuff's English translations of Karin Boye's poems