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Swedish to English: Summary of thesis in journalism about Swedish author Vilhelm Moberg titled Vilhelm Moberg Tar Ställning by Anna-Karin Carlstoft Bramell, 2007, ISBN 978 91 7331 079 6 General field: Other Detailed field: Journalism
Source text - Swedish Vilhem Moberg tar ställning. En studie av hans journalistik och tidsaktuella diktning.
Translation - English Summary
Vilhelm Moberg takes a stand. A study of his journalism and topical fiction.
In two different votes for the foremost Swedish writer of the 20th century in fiction and journalism, Vilhelm Moberg (1898-1973) finished in first place. His series of novels about Swedish emigrants to the United States (published in 1949-59, translated into English by Gustaf Lannestock; The Emigrants, Unto a Good Land, and The Last Letter Home 1951-1961) was not an unexpected choice for the best Swedish literary work of the century. However, the fact that he at the same time was chosen as the best journalist was more of a surprise, because his career as a journalist is considerably more unknown. In fact, his journalism always had a central role in his writing, but has been considered as secondary in relation to his achievements in prose fiction and drama. He has been associated with journalism primarily by his intermittent campaigns against legal abuse and the monarchy, but, as this study shows, his journalistic commitment was lifelong and runs through all of his writings.
In the dissertation attention is directed to Moberg’s newspaper articles, primarily those written in the period from the late 1930s up to the beginning of the 1960s. The study brings out and sheds light on a large number of texts that have never before been examined. Since there has never before existed a list of Moberg’s newspaper articles, an important part of my work has consisted in finding as many of his articles as possible.
An equally important part of Moberg’s writing is his short controversial pamphlets, which have also been neglected by literary scholars. He also gave a large number of speeches on various issues, an aspect of his accomplishment as an opinion-maker that has been forgotten by posterity. The manuscripts of some of the speeches have been preserved in “Moberg-samlingen” in Kungliga biblioteket in Stockholm. In my study, these texts, the pamphlets, the articles, and the speeches — and in addition, a number of hitherto unknown letters — are put in relation to some of his most important and influential works of fiction. The purpose of the dissertation is to investigate Moberg’s achievements as a journalist and opinion-maker. My thesis is that Moberg’s texts, irrespective of genre, form a continuum, in which the same themes and issues recur, but in different shapes, and with a number of links between the different texts. The main method of interpretation in the study is rhetoric. By bringing out persuasive elements in the texts, I want to make visible their opinion-forming character, discuss their themes and structures, and illustrate how the material is used stylistically. The texts are also related to their contemporary context.
The dissertation consists of eight chapters, which are mainly organised chronologically. Chapter one gives a brief sketch of how Moberg sought and found his way to newspaper offices. He started his career as a journalist by working as a volunteer without pay at Wadstena Läns Tidning in 1919. Here he received his first lessons in journalism by the editor-in-chief Pälle Segerborg. During the 1920s Moberg was also employed at Västra Östergötland in Motala, at Arvika Nyheter, and at Nya Växjöbladet as the local correspondent at Alvesta, the latter his longest term of employment (1922-1927). During this decade he wrote not only for the papers but also created works of epic and drama, which were partly based on the life of a journalist at a small-town newspaper.
Moberg wrote as a columnist for the weekly magazine Våra Nöjen between 1926 and 1931 and for Veckans Bästa in 1931. A long-term contribution to the weekly Familjetidningen Smålänningen between 1925 and 1935 made it possible for him to develop his personal journalism. In his columns he not only reflected on such everyday matters that in general characterize the genre, but also, to a surprisingly great extent, treated important issues that he would later pursue in other forums. His writing for Familjetidningen Smålänningen can thus be seen as an important step on his way towards the position as a central, opinion-making intellectual leader that he would hold later on. In the columns, of which there are as many as 500, approximately, Moberg treated issues such as the Swedish monarchy and the growing Nazism in Germany. In spite of the modest format, he did not hesitate to debate deeply serious matters such as the persecution of Jews in Germany, and his columns were to a great extent pervaded by a critical outlook.
Chapter two begins by relating how Moberg attempted to put into words the difficult situation an individual faces in the choice between pacifism and armed resistance in a world that is becoming increasingly tumultuous. Ever since his youth he had been a pacifist and he had handed out Tolstoy’s call for peace. In the series of novels about Knut Toring (1935-1939), he depicts not only the conflict between the city and the countryside, between modernism and old values, but also, and equally importantly, a revaluation of a pacifistic belief system. The world at large is changing and a tide of violence is at the door. Toring decides that armed resistance is morally justified; the important values that are now being threatened have to be defended at any cost.
One of the consequences of his own revaluation was that he put his literary writing aside between 1939 and 1940, and instead devoted himself to arguing for a reinforcement of the Swedish defence. The difficult situation of Finland caused him to make crucial decisions for his own part, but not until the Swedish government was preparing to restrict the constitutional freedom of press did he take an explicitly critical position towards the people in power. A trip to Finland in the winter of 1940 resulted in a manuscript, “The night before the 13th of March”, which his publisher did not dare print. In the text Moberg described what he saw as the Swedish coalition government’s betrayal of its Finnish neighbours. He saw a Nordic defence cooperation as a matter of the utmost importance. He was one of the most frequent among Swedish writers to speak at Finland meetings and he was a member of the association of Nordens Frihet. In his speeches he tried to create a public opinion in favour of increased support for Finland, while at the same time emphasizing the importance of national unity.
Thus his commitment during the years of war did not restrict itself to signing a number of petitions but extended itself to writing a large number of contributions to the public debate. Moreover, Moberg stated that even the ultimate sacrifice might be necessary and by doing his military service he fulfilled what he considered his obvious duty. When the question of restrictions on the freedom of press came up in 1940, Moberg took a fiercely critical position, an attitude that caused a breech with the policy of the coalition government. In articles and in speeches he maintained that the freedom of press was crucial, without which the defence of the sovereignty of Sweden would be meaningless. In the wartime novel Rid i natt! (published in 1941, translated by Henry Alexander 1943; Ride this night) he discussed these issues and developed the theme of the age-old Swedish freedom, a theme that he had written about earlier in the same year in his essay “Svensk strävan”, which was distributed by the Swedish defence. In his texts from the first years of war there is a strong oratorical tendency and an exalted feeling conveyed with a passionate force. In his historically allegorical novel Rid i natt! Moberg used a simple description of character in order to emphasize the message. The simplicity became a narrative strategy that strengthened the call for resistance against the German intruders, and the role of storyteller became identical with the role of polemic in the work. When the novel was turned into a drama the following year, the text further stressed that the matter of taking a stand could not wait.
Chapter three, which deals with the period 1943-1946, examines Moberg’s confrontation with the policy of the Swedish coalition government. The only forum where he was given free reign to write was Göteborgs Handels- och Sjöfarts- Tidning, where he wrote regularly on the important so-called third page. The editor-in-chief, Torgny Segerstedt, was one of a relatively small number of newspapermen in Sweden who offered a haven for critics of the coalition government during the time when Sweden was surrounded. In a number of polemic articles in 1943 Moberg tried to put his finger on what he saw as the government’s betrayal of the democracy and neutrality of Sweden. He claimed that Sweden’s concessions to Germany went much further than the neutrality demanded. When the articles were collected in the controversial pamphlet Sanningen kryper fram (1943), they received renewed attention and Moberg was harshly criticized by Social Democratic politicians and editorialists.
During the war years Moberg tried to step forward as a spokesman for the common man and raise an awareness of what he saw as the coalition government’s betrayal. The rhetoric he used was more rooted in a patriotic stance than in his anti-Nazism, and he did not make any thorough analyses of German politics. Central to the worldview in the texts is the question of how to preserve the age-old Swedish freedom, a question he brings out by giving historical parallels. The texts reveal an eagerness to find a position as an authoritative social critic. The argumentation is based more on common sense than refined logic. The strategically rhetorical force of the texts is expressed among other things by a characteristic repetitive quality with rhythmical enumerations and an oratorically expressed emotional identification with the subject. His journalistic texts about the Swedish wartime foreign policy had the ambition to delve deeply into the factual events. His argumentation here is based to a large extent on concrete facts, dates, and quotations. Stylistically, he employs irony and sarcasm frequently, a technique which lends the texts a certain degree of accessible humour.
After the world conflagration Moberg might have chosen to keep a lower profile in the Swedish political debate, but instead he chose to continue to participate in the press. This is dealt with in chapter four. With the international tension reduced, his concept of freedom changed. Now the threats seemed to spring from a Swedish mentality imbued with an attitude of humility before what he called “överheten” (“the authorities”). According to Moberg, this among Swedes innate tendency had the consequence that authorities had been able to build a control apparatus that governed and restrained the individual’s life. In several articles in Dagens Nyheter and Svenska Dagbladet, two of the most important news and opinion-forming organ in Sweden, Moberg warned about the consequences of a society restricted by laws and regulations that controlled life at the most trivial level. He maintained that people again were at risk of seeing their freedom being taken away from them, by a state of force and a state of police.
Moberg was also involved in the issue of the conditions in the Communist-governed countries. In this matter he found himself on a collision course with several Swedish author colleagues, as he tried to bring out what he perceived as similarities between Nazism and Communism. The important thing is to make your position clear, said Moberg, who wanted to warn about the consequences of being passive. He thought it necessary for Sweden to participate in the growing military alliance between Europe and the United States. This, he felt, could be a reasonable way out of what he saw as the failure of the neutrality of Sweden. In the beginning of 1950 Prime Minister Tage Erlander declared that Sweden should not be a member of the alliance. Only a few days later Moberg published a newspaper article in which he attacked the decision, which he regarded as an expression of isolationism.
He continued to be very active in the public debate in Sweden and denounced the idea of the so-called “third position” as being destructive. It is exactly this position that those who want to dominate mankind by force wish that we should take, he wrote. His world-view was thoroughly dualistic. The way he saw it, in the choice between a totalitarian communistic world and an individualistic democratic world the answer was given. The fear that there might be a new major war in the future must not stand in the way of our final decision, he further claimed. He dismissed those who criticized him for interfering with political issues instead of sticking to his literary writing. For him there were no clear boundaries between his roles of author, polemic, and journalist. Chapter four also discusses his rhetoric in a debate caused by his language in Utvandrarna.
In the 1950s there occurred a series of events in Sweden that triggered Moberg’s deep involvement in issues having to do with the administration of justice. This is dealt with in chapters five and six. While he was writing about the Swedish emigration to the United States in the 19th century, he became involved in a lengthy debate through a personal commitment that must be considered unique in its scope. Chapter five relates how he in December of 1950 began his investigation of the state of affairs in his home country with an article that became a manifesto for the movement of citizens that he sought. The article, called “Att övervaka överheten” (“Keeping an eye on the authorities”), was followed by a large number of contributions to the press. To ensure a functioning democracy he pleaded for a more disrespectful attitude among the citizens towards the authorities. In several speeches to Föreningen Rättsvärnet he scrutinized the events that had caused three of the most debated judicial affairs. With the affairs, which were named after the involved persons Kejne, Haijby, and Lundquist, respectively, questions about possible abuse of power within the police, the courts, and the Swedish Royal Court were brought up. Moberg was one of the people who took part in revealing some of the events that started the affairs. He became personally involved when he took the law into his own hands by taking with him and making public classified material in 1952.
The study examines how Moberg tried to create a debate about the affairs by writing alternately in different genres. The now forgotten controversial pamphlet Fallet Krukmakargatan. De försvunna polispapperens gåta (1951) was a detailed account of the research he had done in order to find the facts of a case that he considered as a sequel to the Kejne affair. He wanted a new investigation of the case, which, according to him, involved arson. He feared that the result of the work of the committee that investigated the circumstances of the Kejne affair would be classified. In several newspaper articles he warned about the consequences of what he perceived as suppression of sensitive matters. When the committee had finished their work in 1951, the government decided to classify parts of it. This confirmed Moberg’s fears and he continued his inopportune efforts to sort out the affair.
Chapter six continues to analyse Moberg’s contributions to the debate of the 1950s, with a focus on the period from 1953 to 1956. The satirical description of the condition in his home country that he made in his roman à clef Det gamla riket (1953) revealed the use of another rhetorical device, namely the allegory. In the novel he paints a picture of a totalitarian bureaucratic society that suffocates its citizens with its regulations. The controversial pamphlet Komplotterna. Fallen Unman och Selling (1956) consisted mainly of a speech that Moberg had given about two judicial affairs, but which the main Swedish news agency had not distributed to the press. As a consequence, Moberg felt censored, and he decided to publish the speech in the form of a book. His concern for the smallest details of the course of events as he entered the debate about the affairs is striking. What really constituted facts in the complicated affairs and what was merely rumour and conspiracy theory is a question that still remains to be fully answered. Partly through Moberg’s many contributions, the affairs received a vast amount of attention in the Swedish political debate in the 1950s. The diaries of Prime Minister Tage Erlander show that even he had to answer to the controversial writer that had a key role in the debate.
During this decade the alternate use of different genres continued to be a characteristic of Moberg´s writing. The facts that he had helped to unearth in connection with the affairs now served as the material for fiction, as well as for newspaper articles, speeches, pamphlets, and contributions to the radio. The skills he had acquired as a journalist at small-town newspapers helped him in his approach to the events, as he showed great perseverance and care in his research. These texts do not belong to the category of his writings that has lived on, but in the study they are brought out and related to their contemporary context. The fictitious kingdom of Idyllien that had served as the scenario of the plot of Det gamla riket also served as the scene of the drama Domaren. This play would be regarded as a mirror of contemporary issues and at its opening in 1957 it was called a “report play”.
An important driving force for Moberg in the 1950s was his opposition against the monarchy, a theme that was also enacted in Det gamla riket. Moberg’s varying contributions in this issue form the subject of discussion in chapter seven. The irregularities that had been revealed in the Haijby affair confirmed to him that the very existence of the monarchy might have consequences that are destructive to democracy from a purely judicial perspective, not to mention the fact that it demanded a ridiculous submissiveness from the people. In two more texts he developed his thoughts on the Swedish constitution. In the first, the controversial pamphlet Därför är jag republikan (1955), he looks back on history and tries to encourage people to form a new perspective on the monarchy. In the other, the light comedy Sagoprinsen (1962), he returns for the last time to Idyllien. To the general public, the plot touched real life and the Huseby affair too closely and the play was one of the most debated in 20th century Sweden. The play, which made a mockery of devoted royalists, was followed by a number of newspaper articles and debates in which Moberg expounded on his relentless opposition against the monarchy.
In the 1960s he continued to contribute to the press, and this is given a brief survey in the eighth and last chapter. Before this, however, the chapter deals with Moberg’s contacts with some of the publicists of the papers where he worked. His attitude to the Swedish national radio regarding the judicial affairs of the 1950s is examined. Moberg claimed that the radio lacked the independence that was necessary for an impartial analysis of the events behind the affairs. Among the people that he argued with in this issue was the legendary publicist and editor-in-chief at Dagens Nyheter, Herbert Tingsten.
A critical outlook on society and a constant fight for justice epitomizes Moberg´s authorship. His journalism and his topical fiction resound with an authoritative voice. The various texts that the study sheds light on are to a high degree dependent on each other. The different forms of expression that he used run as parallel lines in his opinion-making strategies, but as he shifts from one genre to another we find a noticeable unity of thought in his explicit attitude. He was not educated in classical rhetoric, but he learned from the persuasive public speaking that he met in the popular movements. He was very interested in the moulding of public opinion, which characterized his whole authorship. He had a distinctive ability to draw attention to his contributions to the debate. He constantly made successful attempts to make himself heard. He wanted not only to expose what he considered to be wrong, but also participate in arousing the Swedish people to a change.
Moberg was one of the most important epic novelists and dramatists of his time, but he also held a crucial position as a social critic. His struggle to take part in the social debate lasted all his life. He contributed to a great many newspapers and periodicals, some of which have been mentioned. Some of the other important organs for which he wrote were Arbetaren, Expressen and Folket i Bild.
Translation: Tom Sköld
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Years of experience: 21. Registered at ProZ.com: Oct 2009.
I am a freelance translator located in the old university town of Lund in southern Sweden. I do translations from English into Swedish, my native language, and also from Swedish into English. With a long-standing general interest in language and all things related to language, I have a solid language education at Lund university. First I studied French and Latin, and then I earned a licentiate of philosophy degree in the English language and linguistics. At the English department I also taught grammar and translation to students for a few terms before and after getting my degree.
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