Moberg, Vilhelm (vĭlˈhĕlm mōˈbĕryə) [key], 1898–1973, Swedish novelist and dramatist. Substantial recognition came with his partly autobiographical Knut Toring trilogy (1935–39; tr. The Earth is Ours, 1940). The historical novel Ride This Night! (1941, tr. 1943) was Moberg's impassioned argument against totalitarianism. His epic of Swedish emigration to the United States includes The Emigrants (1949, tr. 1951), Unto a Good Land (1952, tr. 1954), The Settlers (1956), and The Last Letter to Sweden (1959, tr. 1961). Two films, The Emigrants and The New Land, based on these novels and directed by Jan Troell, appeared in 1973. Among his plays are Our Unborn Son (1945) and Fulfillment (tr. 1953). Moberg also wrote A History of the Swedish People (2 vol., 1920–76, tr. 1972–73).
See study by P. Holmes (1980).
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