Martinson, Harry, 1904–78, Swedish writer. Orphaned early,
Martinson was self-educated. His works reveal his appreciation
of nature and his distrust of modern technological society. He
is best known for his long narrative poem Aniara (1956), about
the journey of a spaceship. It was set to music in 1959 by K. B.
Blomdahl. Noted for their novel, expressive style, his major
works include Kap Farväl! [Cape Farewell] (1933), based on his
travels; several volumes of poetry, Nässlorna blomma [flowering
nettle] (1936); and Vägen till Klockricke (1948, tr. The Road,
1956), a sympathetic portrayal of society's outcasts. Martinson
was the first writer of the working classes to be admitted to
the Swedish Academy. He shared the 1974 Nobel Prize in
Literature with the Swedish writer Eyvind Johnson. A collection
of Martinsson's poems, tr. by William Jay Smith and Leif
Sjöberg, was published as Wild Bouquet (1985). See study by L.
Sjöberg (1974). The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed.
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