Biography
Hjalmar Fredrik Elgérus Bergman (19 September 1883 in Örebro, Sweden – 1 January 1931 in Berlin, Germany) was a Swedish writer and playwright. The son of a banker in Örebro, Bergman briefly studied philosophy at Uppsala University but soon broke off his studies and took up the life of a free writer. He married Stina Lindberg, the daughter of actor and stage producer August Lindberg and Augusta Lindberg, and sister of Per Lindberg. Up to his father's death in 1915 Bergman was heavily sponsored by the family patriarch; after the old man died from a stroke it turned out that the family business had become highly indebted and Bergman was forced to start making money out of his writing and court readers in a more outgoing and more entertaining manner. He rose to the challenge and in the following ten years reached the peak of his work.
Much of his output takes place in a small town in mid-Sweden, which is growing into a parallel universe in a Balzacian manner. The shameful secrets of a dozen of interwoven families gradually come out of the closet as the stories grow increasingly symbolic. A pessimistic outlook is always counterbalanced by a grotesque humour - indeed, in a book like Markurells i Wadköping the latter almost succeeds in completely shading the former. The fictional town Wadköping is modelled on the author's hometown Örebro, and on Västerås, where he finished secondary school, there is for instance, like in Västerås, a bishop in Wadköping, but none in Örebro. When Örebro in 1965 opened its open-air museum featuring 19th century city life, it was named Wadköping.
After an unsuccessful bout as a manuscript writer in Hollywood, Bergman's alcoholism and narcotics abuse took over, from which he died prematurely; his final novel Clownen Jac mirrors his awareness of his drift into self-destruction as well as his belief in the honesty and purpose of artistic spectacle.
Filmography
all 31
Movies 30
Writer 30
TV Shows 1
Swedenhielms (2003)
Mr. Sleeman Is Coming (1983)
Clownen Jac (1981)
Swedenhielms (1980)
Love Through a Window (1978)
En skugga (1974)
Markurells i Wadköping (1968)
Patrasket (1966)
Swedenhielms (1961)
Der Nobelpreis (1959)
Mr. Sleeman Is Coming (1959)
Mr. Sleeman Is Coming (1957)
Girl in Tails (1956)
Familien Swedenhielm (1947)
Ein glücklicher Mensch (1943)
His Grace's Will (1940)
Dollar (1938)
Swedenhielms (1935)
Father and Son (1931)
Father and Son (1930)
A Perfect Gentleman (1927)
The Girl in Tails (1926)
Flygande holländaren (1925)
Kalle Utter (1925)
Charles XII (1925)
The Norrtull Gang (1923)
The Hell Ship (1923)
Love's Crucible (1922)
Fru Mariannes friare (1921)
A Lover in Pawn (1920)
His Lord's Will (1919)
Ratings
Information
Known ForWriting
GenderMale
Birthday1883-09-19
Deathday1931-01-01 (47 years old)
Birth PlaceÖrebro, Sweden
CitizenshipsSweden
AwardsSamfundet De Nio's Grand Prize
This article uses material from Wikipedia.
- Hjalmar Bergman
- Filmography
- Information
- Related Persons