Jarl Hemmer


Jarl Robert Hemmer was a Swedish-speaking Finnish author. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature eight times.

Life

He was born into a wealthy family, from Vaasa, Finland. His first collection of poems was called Rösterna and it was published in 1914. He made his breakthrough in 1922 with another collection of epic poetry called Rågens rike. He got The Great Nordic Novel Prize for En man och hans samvete, a book about the Finnish Civil War, published in 1931. Inwardly troubled, he experienced several religious crises and alcoholism and finally committed suicide.
Following the murder of Kaj Munk on 4 January 1944 the Danish resistance newspaper De frie Danske brought condemning reactions from influential Scandinavians, including Hemmer.

Works in English