Born in Missenträsk (Skellefteå Municipality), Lidman (30.12.23 – 17.06.04) was raised in the Västerbotten region (northern Sweden). She studied at the University of Uppsala, but her studies were interrupted by tuberculosis. She achieved her first great success with the novel ‘Tjärdalen‘ (The Tar Still): in this work and in her second novel ‘Hjortronlandet‘ (The Cloudberry Field) she explores the themes of alienation and isolation. Her early novels are focused on the difficult conditions facing poor farmers in the northern Swedish province of Västerbotten during the 19th century. Arguably one of the most important writers of the Swedish language in the 20h century because of her innovative method of combining spoken vernaculars with Biblical language, integrating the worldly and the spiritual. In connection with her first four novels, she wrote extensively on political subjects, always from a strongly socialist standpoint. She engaged in protest against the Vietnam War (including traveling to North Vietnam and participating in the Russell Tribunal) and against apartheid in South Africa. She supported the widely influential miners’ strikes of 1969–1970 and was active in the Communist and environmentalist movements. Between 1977 and 1985, she wrote a series of seven novels dealing with the colonization process of the north of Sweden. She was awarded a number of prizes, including the ‘Nordic Council Literature Prize‘ for her work ‘Vredens barn‘.
Bibliography
Tjärdalen, 1953. (The Tar Still)
Hjortronlandet, 1955. (The Cloudberry Field)
Regnspiran, 1958. (The Rain Bird)
Bära mistel, 1960. (To Hold A Mistletoe)
Jag och min son, 1961. (My Son and I)
Med fem diamanter, 1964. (With Five Diamonds), 1971.
Samtal i Hanoi, 1966, Reporting. (Conversations in Hanoi), 1967.
Gruva, 1968, Interviews. (Mine) [Note 1]
Marta, Marta, 1970, Drama.
Din tjänare hör, 1977. (Thy Servant Is Listening)
Vredens barn, 1979. (Wrath’s Children)
Nabots sten, 1981. (Naboth’s Stone)
Den underbare mannen, 1983. (The wonderfull man)
Järnkronan, 1985. (The Iron Crown)
Lifsens rot, 1996. (The Root of Life)
Oskuldens minut, 1999. (Innocence’s Minute)
Kropp och själ, 2003. (Body And Soul)
