Dan Andersson

"Black Jim" redirects here and should not be confused with: Jim Black.

Dan Andersson
Born	Daniel Andersson 6 April 1888(1888-04-06) Ludvika, Sweden
Died	16 September 1920(1920-09-16) (aged 32) Stockholm, Sweden
Occupation	poet, author
Literary movement	Naturalism

Daniel "Dan" Andersson (born 6 April 1888 in Skattlösberg, Grangärde parish (in present-day Ludvika Municipality), Dalarna, Sweden, died 16 September 1920 in Stockholm) was a Swedish author and poet. He also set some of his own poems to music. Andersson married primary school teacher Olga Turesson, the sister of artist Gunnar Turesson, in 1918. A nom de plume he sometimes used was Black Jim. Andersson is counted among the Swedish proletarian authors, but his works are not limited to that genre.

Biography

Early life

Andersson grew up under poor conditions in the village of Skattlösberg where his father, primary school teacher Adolf Andersson and his wife Augusta Scherp (herself previously a teacher), worked in the school. The village is located in the so-called "Finn Woods" of southern Dalarna, where Forest Finns immigrated to cultivate new land. On his father's side, Andersson descended from these Finnish settlers. Andersson took odd jobs during the first years of his life, for instance as a forestry worker and school teacher. It was difficult to make a living. The family had considered trying to find a better life in America, and Andersson was sent there as a 14-year old in 1902 to see if it would be possible for the family to join him. But in a letter from the U.S. he wrote that there were no better opportunities for the family there than in Sweden, upon which his father asked Andersson to return to Sweden. The family moved from Skattlösberg in 1905, but Andersson returned there to live with his parents and siblings 1911-1915. During this period, he wrote a number of stories and poems. Large parts of his Kolarhistorier and Kolvaktarens visor were probably created during this time.

Brunnsvik

During the years 1914-1915, Andersson studied at the Brunnsvik folk high school, with, among others, future authors Harry Blomberg and Ragnar Jändel. He was also a good friend of Karl Lärka, who would become a well-known documentary photographer. From this time onwards he was to become active as an author, writing poems and songs about his home region, which are read and sung almost a century later in Swedish homes. Gunde Johansson and Thorstein Bergman are among his most well-known interpreters, but he also put some of his own songs to music - perhaps the most famous are Till min syster ("To My Sister") and Jungman Jansson ("Sailor Jansson"). He was able to play the accordion and the violin. He was a co-worker at the Social Democratic newspaper Ny Tid in Gothenburg 1917-1918 and he also translated texts by Rudyard Kipling and Charles Baudelaire into Swedish. Despite his simple upbringing, Andersson was highly educated.

Death

Dan Andersson died in room 11 at Hotel Hellman in Stockholm on 16 September 1920, where he had gone to look for a job at the newspaper Social-Demokraten. The hotel staff had used hydrogen cyanide against bedbugs and hadn't cleared the room as prescribed. At 3 pm Andersson was found dead. At the same time, insurance inspector Elliott Eriksson from Bollnäs also died. The hotel was located at Bryggaregatan 5 in Stockholm, but was demolished in the 1960s.

Andersson is buried at Lyviken Cemetery in Ludvika.

Legacy

Dan Andersson bust in Gothenburg.

Dan Andersson's poetry enjoys a broad popularity among the Swedish people because of its naturalist mysticism and searching for God. In 2005, Sofia Karlsson recorded a new interpretation of Andersson's songs, which was awarded with a Grammy both in Sweden and in Denmark, but before then his poems had been sung by a number of artists, including the Hootenanny Singers and Fred Åkerström. In 1988, at the centenary of Andersson's birth, Posten, the Swedish postal service, published two stamps in his honour. In Ludvika, a Dan Andersson week is celebrated the first week of every August. In Ludvika there is also a Dan Andersson museum, and a statue of him. A bust is also to be found at Järntorget in Gothenburg.

This article is mainly a translation of the equivalent article at Swedish Wikipedia.

His works in English

• Modern Swedish Poetry Part 1 - C.D. Locock (1929) England
• Modern Swedish Short Stories - Madeleine Ekenberg (1934) England
• Charcoal Burner’s Ballad & Other Poems - Caroline Schleef (1943) USA
• Scandinavian Songs And Ballads - Martin S. Allwood (1950) Sweden
• The Last Night in Paindalen - Caroline Schleef (1958) USA
• LP: Swedish Songs - Fred Lane (1975) Sweden
• Dan Andersson In English - Åke Helgesson (1994) Sweden
• Poems by Dan Andersson - Mike McArthur (2003) England

Magazine pieces by Caroline Schleef 1953-1964

POEMS

• To Huck Finn’s Memory
• The Charcoal Tender
• The Poacher
• Canada Memories
• Jungman Jansson
• To Love

SHORT STORY

• The Needle-Maker’s Son

ARTICLE

• Dan Anderson: Charcoal-Burner and Poet

His life in English

• A History Of Swedish Literature - Alrik Gustafson (1961) USA
• A History Of Swedish Literature - Ingemar Algulin (1989) Sweden
• A History Of Swedish Literature - Lars G. Warme (1996) USA

A Musician's Last Journey

Ere the rosy morning brightens over Himmelmora's crest, See a dead man faring forth from Berga By: And silent o'er the hillside they bear him to his rest, Beneath the dawning grey, the chilly sky. And their boots go heavy-heeled through the rose-bespattered field, And heavy heads are bowed as tho' in prayer. From the desert spaces' Need comes a Dreamer who is dead, Through dewy meads that shine with flowers fair. "He was strange and he was lonely," say the four dark bearing men, "And often lacked he resting place and bread." "Lo, a King!" say the roses and are trodden down again. "Lo, a King, and a Dreamer that is dead!" "We are slow," say the bearers, "and mile on mile it seems, Ever sultrier grows the day this morning tide." "Walk ye warily, speak softly," sigh the willows by the streams, "Maybe it is some flow'ret that has died." But when thro' green Spring woodlands the pitch-black coffin swings, Runs a silence through the morn-awakened fields, And the West Wind stays to listen who it is such escort brings, Mid the roses, with such footsteps heavy-heeled. "T'is but Olle, the musician,'" sigh the whispering forest trees, "For ended is his homeless day." "Oh, would I were a hurricane," replies the gentle breeze, "I would pipe him on his journey all the way!" Over ling and yellow marshes sway the dead man's stiffening bones, Sway wearily the sun's pale rays beneath: But when evening's lovely coolness falls on bilberries and stones Sounds the tramp again on Himmelmora Heath: Tramp of four tired men, who in grief march home again, With their heads bowed low as if in prayer. But deep upon their track see the roses trampled back, Through the dewy meads that shine with flowers fair. "He is gone," say the bearers, "and his mother bides forlorn In Torberga behind the poorhouse bars." "We are trampled 'neath your footsteps, with your heavy shoes are torn," Cry the rose-buds, pointing to their scars. "It is Death that has gone dancing over Himmelmora Heath," Each thistle by the clover pasture moans: "He has ground you all to garbage his clumsy boots beneath, While he danced with the Dreamer's bones." O'er the grass and the grey roof-tops like a whisper comes the night, With her few pale stars' wretched fire: And East across the moor land to the tarn goes down a light, Goes a song through the lily-sprinkled mire. Far and wide the black storm thunders, and round the islet there Chant the waves of the desert spaces' Need: O'er the dark and angry waters, lo, the night sounds call to prayer, For a Dreamer, a Musician, lies dead. Dan Andersson Black Ballads 1917 English translation by C.D. Locock

External links

• Works by Dan Andersson at Project Gutenberg
• Dan Andersson page at Project Runeberg
• Dan Andersson page at Kuusankoski Public Library
• The Seven Seas at the Internet Archive. Translated into Swedish by Dan Andersson in 1918.

Persondata
Name	Andersson, Dan
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	6 April 1888
Place of birth	Ludvika, Sweden
Date of death	16 September 1920
Place of death	Stockholm, Sweden