Heidenstam, Verner von, << HAY duhn stahm, VEHR nuhr fawn >> (1859-1940), a Swedish poet, won the 1916 Nobel Prize for literature. Heidenstam opposed the school of realism in Swedish literature. He advocated a literature based on beauty, fantasy, and nationalism.
Heidenstam expressed his opposition to Naturalism in his essay “Renaissance” (1889). He gained immediate success with his first book of poems, Pilgrimage and Wander Years (1888), which included fables and verse reflecting Asian philosophy. Heidenstam expressed his romantic attitude in poetry eventually collected in Sweden’s Laureate: Selected Poems of Verner von Heidenstam (1919). He also wrote several books of historical fiction, notably The Charles Men (1897-1898) and The Tree of the Folkungs (1905-1907). Carl Gustaf Verner von Heidenstam was born in Olshammar, Sweden.
