Harry Edmund Martinson

Swedish poet and writer. His father died when he was six, his mother abandoned him, and he became a sailor at the age of sixteen. He established himself as a poet with his poetry collections Ghost Ship (1929), Wanderer (1931), and Nature (1934). He was one of the group of young poets known as the "Five Young Men". His prose works include travelogues such as Aimless Voyage (1932) and Cape Farewell (1933), the autobiographical novel The Nettle Blooms (1935), and essays on nature contemplation such as Moths and Dragonflies (1937) and Midsummer Valley (1938). His wandering novel The Road to Kroklike (1948) develops the author's philosophy of life, which is sympathetic to Chinese Taoism. During World War II, he published Truth is Dead (1940), which deals with the Soviet-Finnish war. After the war, he published five collections of poetry, starting with "Semi" (1953) and ending with "Kusa no Yama" (1973). His name is known to posterity for his long poem "Agnara" (1956), which used his vast knowledge to depict the future of humanity, entrusting it to those who are trying to escape from the radioactively contaminated Earth, and was made into an opera. In 1949, he became the first person of proletarian origin to be elected as a member of the Academy, and in 1974 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

[Michio Tanaka]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

スウェーデンの詩人、作家。6歳で父に死別、母に捨てられ、16歳で海員生活に入る。詩集『幽霊船』（1929）、『放浪者』（1931）、『自然』（1934）で詩人の地位を確立。若い詩人のグループ「五人の若者」の1人。散文では、『あてのない旅』（1932）、『さよなら岬』（1933）などの紀行文、自伝小説『いらくさの花咲く』（1935）、自然観照のエッセイ『すずめ蛾(が)とかとんぼ』（1937）、『仲夏の谷』（1938）など。放浪小説『クロックリーケへの道』（1948）は中国の道教に共感する作家の人生哲学を展開する。第二次世界大戦中はソビエト・フィンランド戦争を扱う『真実は死んだ』（1940）を発表。戦後は『蝉(せみ)』（1953）以下『草の山』（1973）に至る五つの詩集を出版。彼の名を後世に伝えるのは長詩『アニャーラ』（1956）で、放射能汚染の地球脱出を図る人々に託して人類の未来を、該博な知識を駆使して描き、オペラ化された。1949年プロレタリア出身者として初のアカデミー会員に選ばれ、74年ノーベル文学賞を受賞。

［田中三千夫］

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