KOCH, MARTIN

born Dec. 23, 1882, Stockholm died June 22, 1940, Hedemora, Swed. Swedish novelist who was first among the proletarian authors to make a deep impression on Swedish readers. Koch came from a lower middle-class family, which his father deserted when the children were very young. The young Koch worked as a labourer's helper, studied art, and became active in the Good Templars Lodge. His first publication was the novelette Ellen (1911). For more than a decade after that, he produced a steady stream of books, the most important of which are his three central novels, Arbetare, en historia om hat (1912; Workers, A Story of Hatred), Timmerdalen, en historia om kultur (1913; The Timber Valley, A Story of Culture), and Guds vackra vrld, en historia om rtt och Ortt, 2 vol. (1916; God's Beautiful World, A Story of Right and Wrong). Just before his death a collection of autobiographical tales, Mauritz (1939), was published.