Research
As with many other gifted artists who have died prematurely, Stig Dagerman’s life and writing has taken on mythic proportions, and continues to generate interest from readers and researchers alike. He continues to be the subject of research from multiple perspectives: philosophical, psychological, political, and journalistic. Researchers have also examined the relationship of his writing to film, and his spectacular success among contemporary audiences in France and Italy.
Dagerman as Myth
Dahl, Karin. La réception de l’œvre de Stig Dagerman en France – la consécration d’un écrivain étranger. L’Harmattan, Paris, 2010. ISBN:978-296-11974-1.
Dahl, Karin. La Mythification d’un ecrivain etranger. La reception de l’oeuvre de Stig Dagerman en France et en Italie. University of Gothenburg, 2008.
Perilleux, Georges: Stig Dagerman – Le mythe et l’oeuvre, 1993.
Dagerman’s Philosophy: “The keyword in Stig Dagerman’s writing is freedom.”
Lotass, Lotta. Freedom Conveyed. Studies in the writings of Stig Dagerman. University of Gothenburg, 2002. Read the abstract.
Perilleux, Georges. Stig Dagerman et l’existentialisme, Societe d’Edition Les Belles Lettres, Paris, 1982.
Writer’s Block & Creativity Crisis – Comparison to Strindberg
Cullberg, Johan. Skapar kriser – Strindbergs Inferno och Dagermans. Natur & Kultur, Stockholm, 1992.
I have chosen to study August Strindberg and Stig Dagerman is not only because I much like them as authors. My primary reason is that the former went through a difficult and well-documented midlife crisis that was followed by a powerful creative period, whereas the latter chose to end his life.—Johan Cullberg
Dagerman & Psychology
Ahlund, Claes. Fallets lag och jagets stjärna. En studie i Stig Dagermans författarskap. Gidlunds Förlag, Stockholm, 1998.
Laitinen, Kerstin. Begärets irrvägar. University of Umeå, Almquist & Wicksell, Stockholm, 1986.
Dahl, Hansen, Ljung: Ångestens hemliga förgreningar. Symposium Bokförlag, Stockholm, 1984.
Press, Natalya: (In Russian) Stig Dagerman and Escapism , includes prose extract “A Thousand Years with God”. Hektor, St. Petersburg, 2009.
Dagerman as Journalist
Palmquist Karin. Diktaren i verkligheten. Journalisten Stig Dagerman. Federativs, Stockholm, 1989.
Dagerman’s Politics/Anarchism
Karlsson, Tom. “Stig Dagerman – författaren som anarkist” in Arbetarförfattarna och syndikalismen, Federativs, Stockholm, 1999.
Sandberg, Hans: Den politiske Stig Dagerman. Federativs, Stockholm, 1979.
Dagerman and Theater
Dagerman, Lo and Pick, Nancy. Skuggorna vi bär. Norstedts, Stockholm, 2017.
In French and English translation:
L’ombre de Stig Dagerman, Éditions Maurice Nadeau, Paris 2018.
The Writer and the Refugee, Amazon, US, 2019
Dagerman and the Medium of Film
Werner, Gösta. De Grymma Skuggorna. Norstedts, Stockholm, 1986.
Dagerman and the World of Beasts
Ekman, Hans-Göran. Stig Dagermans bestarium: en essä. Gidlunds, Stockholm, 2018
Dagerman’s Letters
Sandberg, Hans. Stig Dagerman Brev. Norstedts, Stockholm, 2002.
Le Manchec, Claude. Stig Dagerman – Lettres choisies. Actes Sud, Paris, 2023.
Impressions by Those Who Met Him
Sandberg, Hans & Söderhäll, Bengt. Stig Dagerman i ögonblicksbilder. Stig Dagermansällskapet, Gävle, 2003.
Dagerman och Anita Björk
Dagerman, Lo. Himlen nära. Norstedts, Stockholm, 2023.
Dagerman, Lo. Heaven Is Near. Two Artists: Love, Loss and a Daughter’s Quest to Understand.
Forthcoming 2025.