Novel
The Markurells of Wadköping
Markurells i Wadköping
Hjalmar Bergman · 1919
Opening lines
Solen gick upp, markerande i staden Wadköpings annaler en märklig dag, den 6 juni år 1913.
The sun rose, marking in the annals of the town of Wadköping a remarkable day, 6 June 1913.
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from litteraturbanken.se
Synopsis
Wadköping, a small provincial town, 6 June 1913, the day of the baccalaureate. The innkeeper Harald Hilding Markurell, a brutal and self-assured parvenu, loves his son Johan more than anything in the world, and Johan is not sure of passing. To help him, Markurell tightens the screws on the town's notables, threatens with bankruptcy the aristocrat Carl-Magnus de Lorche, whose life has long been bound up with his own, and gives the teachers and examiners a lunch that does not go as he had planned. But the pressure he exerts awakens long-hidden secrets.
Context
The novel appeared in 1919 and takes place within a single summer day, lit by many flashbacks, in the imaginary town of Wadköping, modelled on Örebro and Västerås, where a large part of the author's work is set. Grotesque comedy almost outweighs pessimism in it. The author gave it a brief sequel, published in 1922 in an almanac, and himself made versions of it for the stage, radio and cinema: Victor Sjöström brought it to the screen in 1931, playing the main role. Translated into French as early as 1931 by Stock, it was retranslated in 1998; a new English translation appeared after nearly a century.
Who it is for
A novel of nearly two hundred and fifty pages, which can be read in Swedish, French or English; it helps to know that in Sweden the day of the baccalaureate was a public event.
Prizes and reception
Widely regarded as the masterpiece of its author, one of the great names of Swedish literature of the century.
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