The Suffering of the Guilty
IN 1946, THE Swedish novelist Stig Dagerman traveled to Germany to write a series of articles about the civilian population in the aftermath of war. He was only twenty-three, but he had published two novels and he was already among the most famous Scandinavian writers of his generation. The book that resulted from this trip was published the following year and is available to us now, in a new translation by Robin Fulton Macpherson, as German Autumn. READ MORE >>
Art and Ugliness
The story of the abusive, alcoholic writer is a familiar one, and we generally make allowances for such a figure. He may have been a bum, but he wrote like an angel. We can forgive a great deal if the work is good enough. But what happens if a writer is something worse than a bum? How does a work of literary art stand in relation to its author if its author is truly abhorrent? READ MORE >>
