But one person who was most impressed was Verner von
Heidenstam, a poet senior to Tagore, renowned in Sweden and later awarded the Nobel in 1916.
5 million people, Sweden has produced many internationally acclaimed authors, no fewer than eight of whom have won the Nobel Prize in Literature; Selma Lagerlof (1909), Verner von
Heidenstam (1916), Erik Axel Karlfeldt (1931), Par Lagerkvist (1951), Nelly Sachs (1966; shared), Eyvind Johnson (1974; shared), Harry Martinson (1974; shared) and most recently, Tomas Transtromer (2011).
He joins Selma Lagerlf (1909), Verner von
Heidenstam (1916), Erik Axel Karlfeldt (1931), Pr Lagerkvist (1951), Eyvind Johnson and Harry Martinsson (1974, shared prize).
You'll notice that first names are unnecessary in that list, whereas a sample of last century's European Nobel winners - Heyse, Eucken, Mommsen, von
Heidenstam, Spitteler, Benavente and Karlfeldt - doesn't exactly ring a bell.
Body building and fitness guru Ken Heathcote was backstage at London's Victoria Palace the day Schwarzenegger won the Mr Universe competition in 1969, when he witnessed a memorable exchange between the bodybuilder and contest organiser, Oscar
Heidenstam.
Meeting with Harn Yawnghwe, Director, Euro-Burma Office, and James Mawdsley, Democracy Campaign, on the situation in Burma; Discussion with Commissioner Chris Patten on the Cotonou Agreement; Report by Miguel Angel Mart[inverted exclamation mark]nez Mart[inverted exclamation mark]nez (PES, E) on the work of the ACP-EU Joint Assembly in 2000; Meeting with HE Ambassador von
Heidenstam, in charge of human rights under the Swedish Presidency; Meeting with Professor Gentilini (French Red Cross) on the fight against AIDS in Africa by the Red CrossRegional Policy, Transport and Tourism: 5 Monday, 6 Tuesday.
But not all are contemporaries-Carl Jonas Love Almquist and Verner von
Heidenstam, for instance- and not all are Swedes: Joseph Brodsky, Herman Melville, William Faulkner, and many more have had their encounter with Claesson's pen.
Verner von
Heidenstam attended the exhumation of Charles XII's remains just to be as close as possible to the physical presence of the subject of his novel Karolinerna (The Charles Men).(52) Human experience is transient.
Heidenstam, Verner vonin full Carl Gustaf Verner von
Heidenstam (b.
The recipients have been: 1901, Rene Francois Armand Sully Prudhomme (Fr); 1902, Theodor Mommsen (Ger); 1903, Bj ornstjerne Bjornson (Norw); 1904, Frederic Mistral (Fr) and Jose Echegaray (Sp); 1905, Henryk Sienkiewicz (Pol); 1906, Giosue Carducci (Ital); 1907, Rudyard Kipling (Eng); 1908, Rudolf Eucken (Ger) 1909, Selma Lagerlof (Sw); 1910, Paul von Heyse (Ger); 1911, Maurice Maeterlinck (Belg); 1912, Gerhart Hauptmann (Ger); 1913, Rabindranath Tagore (India); 1914, none; 1915, Romain Rolland (Fr); 1916, Verner von
Heidenstam (Sw); 1917, Karl A.
This essay however, is an attempt so mediate some of its charms, mainly focusing on five great Swedish poets from the 19th century--Esaias Tegner, Erik Johan Stagnelius, Gustaf Froding, Verner von
Heidenstam and Erik Axel Karlfeldt.