HEDBERG, OLLE

born May 31, 1899, Norrkping, Swed. died 1974 Swedish novelist whose stylistic precision and elegant craftsmanship served to satirize the conventional world of the middle classes. Beginning with Rymmare och fasttagare (1930; Prisoner's Base, 1932), Hedberg produced a full-length novel almost every year for several decades. In Hedberg's works of the 1940s, a search for moral and religious values, as in Beknna frg (1947; "Confess Colour"), takes the place of his otherwise more satiric attitude. Hedberg apparently did not find much comfort in this search. In his Dockan dansar klockan slr (1955; "The Doll Dances, the Clock Strikes") and Djur i bur (1959; Animals in Cages, 1962), he is strongly disillusioned and mercilessly castigates the hypocrisy and sterility of middle-class society. His first novel, Tank att ha hela livet frmfr sig ("Imagine Having Your Entire Life Ahead of You"), was published the year he died.