Pär Lagerkvist (1891-1974), Swedish writer and Nobel laureate; regarded as a highly creative writer, he was concerned with political and social issues and, above all, with the problem of good and evil in humans. Lagerkvist was born in Växjö and educated at the University of Uppsala. His first works, including some poetry, were published in 1912. The following year he went to Paris, where he was influenced by Expressionism in modern art. In 1917 he wrote his first play and two years later became the theatre critic for a Stockholm newspaper. He had profound influence on modern Swedish poetry; in 1940 he was elected to the Swedish Academy. He received the 1951 Nobel Prize for literature. His work speaks out against brutality and violence in the world.

In spite of Lagerkvist's productivity, little of his writing has been published in English. This is especially true of his plays and poetry. Two dramatic works, with the dates of their publication in English, are The Man Without a Soul (1944) and Let Man Live (1951). Among his novels are The Dwarf (1945) and Barabbas (1951); Barabbas was translated into ten languages and adapted as a film in 1962. Three of his stories, originally written in 1934 and 1936, appeared in English in The Eternal Smile (1971).