Delblanc, Sven

Sven Delblanc was the third child in an emigrant family of farmer Siegfried Axel Hermann Delblanc, who lived in Canada from 1928 to 1934 ^[1] . Further, Sven, along with his parents and two older sisters, lived in Wagnherad near Roez. In 1942, the couple divorced, and in 1946, Siegfried returned to Canada. His father (Sven's grandfather), Friedrich Hermann Delblanc, worked as a printer in Stockholm, and was born in Leipzig, in Saxony. Maternal grandfather Sven Delblanca was from Väse , in Vermland , and her maternal grandmother was from Norway . As early as the 14th century, the Delblanc lived in the south of France, near Le Puy-en-Velay . One of the representatives of this kind of deserted under the rule of Napoleon I , during the Napoleonic Wars , and ended up in Germany.

In 1944, Sven moved with his mother to Södertälje , and from May to September 1947 he stayed with his father in Canada. In 1952 , after serving military service and passing the exam, Sven enters Uppsala University , where he studies the history of literature. In 1955, he married Christine Eckhord, the spouses subsequently had children - daughter Anna (1960) and son Fredrik (1967). During 1958 - 1964 Sven Delblanc writes literary-critical articles in the newspaper Arbetarbladet . In 1959, he passed a licensing exam on the history of literature and began teaching. In 1962, Delblanc made his debut with the novel "The Hermit Crab", later his plays put on the radio. In 1965 he defended his doctoral thesis "Honor and Memory" - a study of the Swedish literature of the XVIII century - and then teaches the history of literature as an assistant professor. In 1968 - 1969, he was a visiting professor at the University of California at Berkeley . He wrote a number of literary works. From the early 1970s, Delblanc became a professional writer. In 1976, he was elected an honorary member of the Södermanland-Nerike fraternity ( Swede. Södermanlands-Nerikes ) in Uppsala. In 1987 - 1989, Delblanc worked as an editor for the Den Svenska Litteraturen I — V publication, along with Lars Lönnrot. In this publication on the history of Swedish literature, he himself wrote many articles, in particular, on Shernjelm , Strindberg , Fröding , Heidenstam , Karlfeldt , Frans Bengtsson and Yalmar Bergman . Throughout his life, Sven Delblanc received fourteen different literary awards.

In late 1990, the writer learned that he had bone cancer and very little life left. Then he decided to publish the Ear of Life, written mainly in 1988 , but “too painful, there was nothing to publish it” ^[1] . Delblanc also wrote The Last Word - a book with 55 diary entries in which the author depicts the course of his illness and reflects on death. For the remaining year or two, Delblanc also created Myakin, a continuation of the Colossus of Life, which was published posthumously in 1993 . Delblanc still managed to write the play "Journey Home," which was put on Swedish television in the same year.

Before Leblanc died, it was rumored that he wrote anonymously under the pseudonym of Bu Balderson. Sven Delblanca was buried in the Gammarby cemetery in Uppsala.

Delblanca's prose, as a rule, has a parable character. He owns a cycle of autobiographical novels about the fictional town of Hedeby - in reality, Wagnherad - before the war, during and after World War II ( River of Memory , Stone Bird , Winter Den , City Gate ), which was used to shoot a popular television series and the same novel cycle, which develops around the figure of the maternal grandfather of the writer - the preacher, gone mad: the book of Samuel , the daughter of Samuel , the Land of Canaan and Mary alone .

• Hermit Crab / Eremitkräftan ( 1962 )
• Pastoral frock coat / Prästkappan, historical novel ( 1963 )
• Homunculus / Homunculus ( 1965 )
• Journey to the night / Nattresa ( 1967 )
• The Donkey Bridge / Âsnebrygga ( 1969 )
• Memory River / Åminne, autobiographical novel ( 1970 )
• Primavera / Primavera ( 1973 )
• The Stone Bird / Stenfågel, an autobiographical novel ( 1973 )
• Winter Den / Vinteride, autobiographical novel ( 1974 )
• Erax / Kastrater, a historical novel ( 1975 )
• City Gate / Stadsporten, autobiographical novel ( 1976 )
• Caveman / Grottmannen ( 1977 )
• Gunnar Emmanuel / Gunnar Emmanuel ( 1978 )
• Speranza / Speranza, a historical novel ( 1980 )
• Samuels book / Samuels bok ( 1981 )
• Daughters of Samuel / Samuels döttrar ( 1982 )
• Night over Jerusalem / Jerusalems natt, historical novel ( 1983 )
• Canaan Land / Kanaans land ( 1984 )
• Maria alone / Maria ensam ( 1985 )
• Moria land / Dystopia ( 1987 )
• Widow / Änkan ( 1988 )
• Ifigenia / Ifigenia, a mythological novel ( 1990 )
• Ear of Life / Livets ax, memoirs ( 1991 )
• Myakina / Agnar, memoirs ( 1993 )

• City gate. M .: Fiction, 1980
• The river of memory. M .: Rainbow, 1987
• Pastoral frock coat. Gunnar Emmanuel. M .: Kuchkovo field; Canon Press Central, 2000

The Aftonbladet Newspaper Prize ( 1965 ). Nordic Literary Prize ( 1981 ). Pilot Prize ( 1986 ), August Prize (1991).

• Sven Delblanca Society Site (Swedish) , (eng.)
• On the IMDB website