Lagerkvist, Pär Fabian, << LAH guhr `kvihst,` pair FAH bee ahn >> (1891-1974), a Swedish novelist, playwright, and poet, won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1951. He is known for such plays as The Hangman (1933), Midsummer Night in the Workhouse (1941), and Let Man Live (1949), and such novels as The Dwarf (1944), Barabbas (1951), and Pilgrim at Sea (1964).
Lagerkvist’s lyrical poetry has deep philosophical content. Even though his works are often set in the past, Lagerkvist wrote about the cruelty of his own time and urged people to show more humanity and tolerance. He was born in Växjö, Sweden, on May 23, 1891. He died on July 11, 1974.
