Gösta Ågren

Sven Gösta Ågren (August 3, 1936[1] – June 24, 2020[2]) was a Finnish author who won the Finlandia Prize in 1988 for Jär.[3][4] Gösta Ågren, who wrote his works in Swedish, praised the Gospel of Mark for its literary values and published the collection Timmermannen (“The Carpenter”) in reference to it.[5] He was known for his left-wing sympathies, which can be seen in his autobiographical work concerning the rural "proletariat." His brothers Leo and Erik were also writers.[6]

Gösta Ågren in 1968.

He published poems, essays and biographies. Among the literary prizes awarded to him was the Finlandia Prize for Fiction for the poetry collection Jär ('Here') in 1989. In his poems, Ågren often referred to the region he was born in, Ostrobothnia, on the west coast of Finland. (Books from Finland once had t-shirts printed with a philosophical line from one of his poems: “Don’t worry, it will / never work out.” The shirts were highly popular.)

References
  1. Ågren, Gösta in Uppslagsverket Finland (in Swedish).
  2. Gösta Ågren är död (in Swedish)
  3. Bredsdorff, Elias (1990). Scandinavica, vols. 29–30. Academic Press.
  4. "Literary Awards of the Nordic Countries: Finland – The Finlandia Prize", ScandinavianBooks.com, retrieved 20 January 2010
  5. Poetics For The Gospels? Rethinking Narrative Criticism by Petri Merenlahti, p. 36.
  6. History of Finnish Literature by Jaakko Ahokas, p. 433.

Selected bibliography
  • Ågren, Gösta (1992). A Valley in the Midst of Violence: Selected Poems [En dal i våldet]. Translated by David McDuff. Newcastle upon Tyne: Bloodaxe Books. ISBN 1-85224-236-1.
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