Frans G. Bengtsson, Swedish essayist, novelist, poet, and biographer, was born in Tossjö, near Kristianstad, as the son of the manager of an estate in Skåne. Bengtsson was the first successful practitioner of the informal essay in Sweden, a genre that he virtually introduced to the literature of his own country. His best-known novel is Röde orm (1941-45, The Long Ships), a Viking saga written in an ornate and romantic style.
"The literary equivalent of an action- and intrigue-filled
adventure movie that won't insult your intelligence...Orm is a
charismatic character, and Bengtsson is an infectiously
enthusiastic and surprisingly funny writer — even readers with zero
interest in the Europe of a millennium ago will want to keep
turning the pages. All novels should be so lucky as to age this
well." --NPR
"A household name in Scandinavian literature since its publication
during World War II, the title "The Long Ships" is
recognizable to English-speakers, if at all, from a tenuously
related 1964 epic with Sidney Poitier. New York Review Books
reckons to remedy that with this 500-page hunk chronicling 20 years
in the life of Red Orm, a son of Skania, born during the reign
of Harald Bluetooth, who first goes a-viking as a
teen....And if the company of so many burly, bearded heroes
can weary, Bengtsson's clear-eyed witnessing of a new world dawning
does not." "—L
"The literary equivalent of an action- and intrigue-filled
adventure movie that won't insult your intelligence...Orm is a
charismatic character, and Bengtsson is an infectiously
enthusiastic and surprisingly funny writer — even readers with zero
interest in the Europe of a millennium ago will want to keep
turning the pages. All novels should be so lucky as to age this
well." --NPR
“This extraordinary saga of epic adventure on land and sea…is a
masterpiece of historical fiction…The Long Ships should be a rare
delight. And not least of the rewards of reading Mr. Bengtsson's
gorgeous romance is the sly humor that is sprinkled through it.”
-Orville Prescot"t, The New York Times"
Bengtsson “keeps his readers eager for the next chapter. He has a
sharp eye for the picturesque and the comic in daily living, and
though his style is sophisticated he often writes with a kind of
festive abandon.” -Hudson Strode "The New York Herald Tribun
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