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| VERNE MOBERG HONORED BY SWEDISH ACADEMY OF STOCKHOLM FOR WORK IN SCANDINAVIAN LITERATURE |
By Ulrika Brand |
| Verne Moberg, lecturer in Scandinavian Languages at Columbia University,
has been honored with a prize by the Swedish Academy of Stockholm, presented
in recognition of Moberg's work in making Swedish literature better known
and appreciated in the United States. The prize of 40,000 crowns (= app.
$5,000), rarely given to individuals outside of Sweden, was announced at
the annual meeting of the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study
at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in early May. Dr. Moberg, who has taught at Columbia since 1988, has earned praise for her translations of the prose and poetry of such Swedish authors as Victoria Benedictsson and Kristina Lugn. Her 1997 translation of Lugn's play "Aunt Blossom" was awarded the Inger Sjöberg Prize in Translation from the American-Scandinavian Foundation. |
| In addition, Moberg presents an ambitious program of literary, theatrical and film events at Deutsches Haus throughout the academic year open both to the Columbia and greater New York community. For example, in March she organized a two-day celebration of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Victoria Benedictsson, one of Sweden's leading19th century authors. |
| Approximately 150 individuals, both from on and off campus, attended the two-day event, which comprised lectures and two play readings. |
| Moberg said, "Victoria Benedictsson, sometimes known as "Sweden's George Eliot" and often identified as the inspiration for Strindberg's character Miss Julie and Ibsen's heroine Hedda Gabler, has long been acknowledged in Scandinavia as one of the most interesting writers of the Modern Breakthrough at the end of the 19th century. But whereas Ibsen and Strindberg won praise for their literary output, the works of this key woman author are still little known." |
| A Website created by Moberg for the event remains an important source for samples of Benedictsson's work in English (located at <www.columbia.edu/cu/swedish/vb/victorialives.html>). |
| Also in connection with the Benedictsson anniversary, Moberg delivered a paper at the University of Lund in Sweden entitled "Deciphering Victoria's Secret: An American Perspective." She will include Benedictsson as one of the authors she teaches in her fall 2000 course called "Sex and Gender in 19th Century Scandinavian Literature" (Swedish-Comp Lit W4740). |
| June 9, 2000 |
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Reprinted by Permission of Ulrika Brand and the Columbia RECORD. |
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