Nobel Prize Recipient. Par Lagekvist, a Swedish author, received world-wide recognition after being awarded the 1951 Nobel Prize in Literature. According to the Nobel Prize committee, this covet award was given "for the artistic vigor and true independence of mind with which he endeavors in his poetry to find answers to the eternal questions confronting mankind." Since 1944, he received 18 nominations for the Nobel candidacy. Born Pär Fabian Lagerkvist, he was the youngest son of a railroad man. After one year, he left the University of Uppsala in Sweden to travel to Paris, France in 1913, where he became involved in socialism as well as artistic and literary radicalism as depicted in his manifesto poem "Ordkonst och bildkonst" or "Verbal Art and Pictorial Art" in 1913 and the play "Teater" or "The Theater" in 1918. His work changed from the deeply pessimistic to the more hopeful over the years, as seen in such publications as the collection of violent poems about World War I, "Angest" in 1916; the more peaceful piece, "Det eviga leendet" in 1920; and his autobiographical volumes, "Gäst hos verkligheten" in 1925 and "Det besegrade livet" in 1927. As a playwright, he was extremely versatile with over a dozen pieces written as mysteries, dramas, and realistic works. On the brink of World War II, his stand against totalitarianism with strong opposition against dictators and fascism was seen in his play "Bödeln" in 1933, and "Seger i mörker" in 1939. It was not until his novel "Dvärgen" in 1944 that he achieved unqualified critical success, and it became his first best-seller. With "Barabbas" in 1950, he achieved international recognition and a Nobel Prize in Literature. A feature film based upon the novel was released in 1961. His successful novels "Dvärgen" and "Barabbas," along with and "Sibyllan" in 1956, dealt with the problem of man's relation to God and having faith. "Aftonland" in 1953, his final collection of verse, has been considered by critics a poetic masterpiece. Prior to 1930, he lived in mainly Italy and France, and even after returning to Sweden, he had long stays in places throughout Europe. The world was his university, learning from first hand experiences. Besides his dozens of novels, seven collections of short stories, seven non-fictional pieces, and collections of poetry, he wrote essays keeping with the subject of evil and good. In 1940, he was elected to the Swedish Academy. He was honored with his image on a postage stamp. W.H. Auden translated 66 of Lagerkvist's poems into English. "The Marriage Feast," which was published in 1973 contains English translations of 19 of Lagerkvist's short stories. Besides English, the writings have been translated to Arabic Danish, Esperanto, Estonian, Finnish, French, Faroese, Greek, Hebrew, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Catalan, Chinese, Latvian, Lithuanian, Dutch, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbo-Italian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Czech, Turkish, German, and Ukrainian. According to his "New York Times" obituary, he was a "shy introverted man, who seldom appeared in public," yet he was very independent with his words on the page. He married twice; the first was short ending in divorce, but the second marriage lasted 40 years ending in his wife's death. He had three children. He is considered one of the major Swedish literary figures of the first half of the 20th century.