Halldén, Ruth 1927–

PERSONAL: Born 1927.

ADDRESSES: Agent—c/o Author Mail, Bokforlaget Prisma, Tryckerigatan 4, SE-103, Stockholm 12, Sweden.

CAREER: Uppsala Nya Tidning (newspaper), Uppsala, Sweden, freelance journalist; Dagens Nyheter, literary critic, 1967–.

WRITINGS:

Hus utan trädgård (poems), Bonnier (Stockholm, Sweden), 1959.

Landskap i gult och guld (poems), Norstedt (Stockholm, Sweden), 1963.

Esaias Tegnér och kritiken (essays), 1982.

En bra bok (essays), 1991.

Vid romanens rötter (essays), Bonnier (Stockholm, Sweden), 1997.

Tanker om kultur (essays), Prisma (Stockholm, Sweden), 1999.

SIDELIGHTS: Ruth Halldén has written two poetry collections, the second of which, Landskap i gult och guld, received a positive review from Margit Abenius in Svensk litteraturtidsskrift. Abenius found the tension in the poems to be interesting and compelling; she praised the poems' composition and style, particularly the works "Kuperat landskap" and "Erfarenhet," where themes of loneliness, bleakness, and loss of values are balanced against obstinate rebelliousness.

Halldén, a journalist and literary critic, has also published several essay collections. In Tanker om kultur, she criticizes late-twentieth-century popular culture and discusses why people should read Swedish literature. She bemoans the fact that reading books has become a status symbol, and that the pleasure of reading a good book is no longer in and of itself the object of reading. According to Maja Lundgren in Aftonbladet, Halldén mainly blames the readers, the "literary correct" who do not trust themselves enough to decide for themselves what constitutes quality writing. Halldén argues that the boundary between high and low literature, entertainment and avant garde must be opened.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Svensk Litteraturtidsskrift, Volume 27, number 1, 1964, Margit Abenius, "Tre lyriker," pp. 11-16.

ONLINE

Aftonbladet, http://www.aftonbladet.se/ (August 10, 2001), Maja Lundgren, review of Tanker om kultur.