Bengtsson, Franz Gunnar

Franz Bengtsson's creative work began with the publication of historical essays in the journal Ord och Bild (1920). The first book of the writer - a collection of poems "Throwing the Bones" ( Tärningkast ) - published in 1923. Two years later, the book Legends of Babylon ( Legenden om Babel ) was published. In both works, the author often used rather old poetic forms (in particular, canzone and sonnet). In 1929, Bengtsson became widely known for a collection of essays on historical topics, "Writers and Warriors" ( Litteratörer och militärer ).

In 1938, Bengtsson published a two-volume biography of Charles XII , which was widely recognized and was awarded the prize of the Swedish Academy . The work is largely based on the records and diaries of ordinary soldiers and non-ordinary officers, as well as the biography of Charles XII, written in 1731 by Voltaire .

In 1941, the first part of the novel “Red Orm” ( Röda Orm ) was released, which later became one of the most widely read Swedish novels. The second part of the novel appeared in 1945. The novel describes the adventures of the Swedish Viking during the Christianization of Scandinavia. It is worth noting that the occupation authorities in Norway proposed to publish the Norwegian translation of "Red Orma", with the so-called "some abbreviations and corrections" - that is, with the removal of the key (and very positive) character - the Jewish jeweler Solomon. The author’s response, addressed to his publisher Ragnar Svanström, leaves no doubt about Bengtsson’s attitude to fascist authorities:

“Not a single comma, and there can be no question that the Jew Solomon was removed from the book with my consent [...] I generally refuse to translate into Norwegian until these gentlemen cretins and criminals stop publishing, as well as any other matters at all".

In 1953, Bengtsson's memoirs came out under the title “Paradise as I Remember It” ( Den lustgård som jag minns ).

After the death of the author in 1954, a number of collections of essays and poems were published.

• Dice Game (Tärningkast), 1923
• Legends of Babylon (Legenden om Babel), 1925
• Writers and Warriors (Litteratörer och militärer), 1929
• The Life of Karl XII (Karl XII's levnad), 1938
• Silver Shields, 1931
• Red Orm (Röda Orm), 1941/1945
• Paradise as I remember it (Den lustgård som jag minns), 1953
• The people who sing other essays (Folk som sjöng, och andra essäer), 1955
• The Art of Reading (Konsten att läsa), 1960
• Standing Before a Woman (Inför kvinnan ställd), 1964

In Russian translation

• Bengtsson F.G. Redhead Orm. - M .: TERRA, 1996. - ISBN 5 300 00293 3 .

Bengtsson was fond of chess and was a pretty strong player. He played for the Skåne Chess Club. In 1916, in the match Skane - Stockholm, he managed to defeat one of the strongest Swedish chess players O. Levenborg . In the same year, Bengtsson participated in a side event of the Nordic tournament . He scored 7 points out of 13 and took 6th place. White started the game only with move 1. e2 – e4, claiming that it was “real chess”.

• https://web.archive.org/web/20110307023044/http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/bengtss.htm (in English)
• http://fgb-sallskapet.no-ip.org/ (in Swedish)
• http://www.livelib.ru/author/233139 (in Russian)
• http://fantasy-worlds.org/author/id931/ (in Russian)
• F. Bengtsson's games at Chessgames
• F. Bengtsson's personal card on 365Chess