Editing Horace Engdahl

{{Short description|Swedish literary historian, Permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy}}
{{Infobox person
| name       = Horace Engdahl
| image      = Horace Engdahl-press conference Dec 06th, 2008-3.jpg
| caption    = Horace Engdahl in 2008
| birth_date  = {{Birth date and age|1948|12|30|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Karlskrona]], [[Sweden]]
| occupation = Professor of Scandinavian Literature 
| alma mater = {{unbulleted list|[[Stockholm University]]|[[University of Aarhus]]}}
| known_for  =  
| height     = 
| spouse = [[Ebba Witt-Brattström]] (1989–2014)
| module = {{Infobox officeholder |embed=yes
| office              = [[Swedish Academy|Member of the Swedish Academy]]<br> (Seat No. 17)
| termstart           = 20 December 1997
| termend             = 
| predecessor         = [[Johannes Edfelt]]
| successor           = 
| name                = 
| office2             = [[Swedish Academy|Permanent Secretary<br> of the Swedish Academy]]
| termstart2          = June 1999
| termend2            = June 2009
| predecessor2        = [[Sture Allén]]
| successor2          = [[Peter Englund]]
}}
}}

'''Horace Oscar Axel Engdahl''' (born 30 December 1948) is a [[Sweden|Swedish]] literary historian and critic, and has been a member of the [[Swedish Academy]] since 1997. He was the permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy from 1999 to June 2009, when he was succeeded by Swedish author and historian [[Peter Englund]].

==Biography==
Engdahl was born in [[Karlskrona]], [[Blekinge]], Sweden. He earned his B.A. in 1970 at [[Stockholm University]];<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.svenskaakademien.se/web/Horace_Engdahl_1.aspx |title=Presentation |access-date=2008-12-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081219230411/http://www.svenskaakademien.se/web/Horace_Engdahl_1.aspx |archive-date=2008-12-19 }}</ref> he earned his doctoral degree ([[PhD]]) in 1987, with a study on Swedish [[romanticism]], but had meanwhile been active as a literary critic, translator and journal editor, and was one of the introducers of the continental tradition of literary scholarship in Sweden. He is adjunct professor of [[Scandinavian Literature]] at the [[University of Aarhus]] in [[Denmark]]. He speaks [[Swedish language|Swedish]], [[English language|English]], [[German language|German]], [[French language|French]] and [[Russian language|Russian]] fluently.

Engdahl was member of the ''[[Kris (magazine)|Kris]]'' editorial staff.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.svenskaakademien.se/svenska-akademien/de-aderton/stol-nr-17-horace-engdahl|title=Stol nr 17 - Horace Engdahl {{!}} Svenska Akademien|website=www.svenskaakademien.se|language=sv|access-date=2018-02-11}}</ref>

On 16 October 1997, Engdahl became a member of the [[Swedish Academy]], elected to seat number 17 vacated by the death of [[Johannes Edfelt]]; on 1 June 1999, he succeeded [[Sture Allén]] as the Academy's permanent secretary, i.e. its executive member and spokesperson. As such, he had the annual task of announcing the recipient of the [[Nobel Prize in Literature]] to the public. On 20 December 2008 it was announced that after ten years Engdahl would step down as the Academy's permanent secretary on 1 June 2009.<ref>{{cite news
|url=http://www.svd.se/nyheter/inrikes/artikel_2230811.svd
|title=Fattade beslutet i maj
|newspaper=[[Svenska Dagbladet]] 
|date=2008-12-20
|access-date=2008-12-20 
|last=Nilsson
|first=Dan
}} 
</ref>

Between 1989 and 2014 he was married to [[Ebba Witt-Brattström]], professor of literature at [[Södertörn University]] outside [[Stockholm]]. They have three sons.

==Controversy==
In October 2008, Engdahl told the ''[[Associated Press]]'' that the [[United States]] is "too isolated, too insular" to challenge Europe as "the center of the literary world"<ref name="guardian1">[https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/oct/02/nobelprize.usa "No Nobel prizes for American writers: they're too parochial"] by Suzanne Goldenberg, [[The Guardian]], Thursday 2 October 2008</ref> and that "they don't translate enough and don't really participate in the big dialogue of literature ...That ignorance is restraining." At the time of the interview, no American author had received a Nobel Prize in Literature since 1993.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/weekinreview/05mcgrath.html "Lost in Translation? A Swede’s Snub of U.S. Lit"]; New York Times, October 4, 2008, by Charles McGrath</ref> His comments generated controversy across the Atlantic, with [[Harold Augenbraum]], head of the U.S. [[National Book Foundation]] offering to send him a reading list.<ref name="guardian1"/> 

In April 2018, the ''New York Times'' reported that Engdahl had railed against former Academy members who left following allegations of sexual abuse by [[Jean-Claude Arnault]].<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/11/world/europe/swedish-academy-sex-nobel.html "Sex Abuse Scandal Casts Shadow Over Nobel Prize for Literature"]; ''The New York Times'', April 11, 2018</ref>

==Bibliography==
* Om det utopiska tänkesättet : föreläsning i Stockholm (1982)
* Swedish ballet and dance : a contemporary view (1984)
* Den romantiska texten : en essä i nio avsnitt (1986)
* Om uppmärksamheten (1988)
* Stilen och lyckan : essäer om litteratur (1992)
* Beröringens ABC : en essä om rösten i litteraturen (1994)
* Stagnelius Kärleken (1996)
* Meteorer (1999)
* Ärret efter drömmen (2009)
* Cigaretten efteråt (2011)
* Den sista grisen (2016)
* Nattens mänsklighet (2019)
* De obekymrade (2019)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*[https://www.svenskaakademien.se/en/the-academy/chair-no-17-horace-engdahl Presentation at the official website] of the [[Swedish Academy]]

{{Swedish Academy}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Engdahl, Horace}}
[[Category:1948 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from Karlskrona]]
[[Category:Members of the Swedish Academy]]
[[Category:Stockholm University alumni]]
[[Category:Swedish literary scholars]]
[[Category:Swedish literary critics]]
[[Category:Swedish translators]]
[[Category:Translators to Swedish]]