Ralf Parland


Ralf Thomas Friedrich Parland was a Finland-Swedish writer, translator, and music critic. He wrote short stories, poetry, and essays, and is associated with the second wave of Finland-Swedish modernism. He was the younger brother of Henry Parland and Oscar Parland.
Parland was the son of physician Oswald Frank Parland and Ida Maria Sesemann. He completed his matriculation examination at in 1932. Early in his career he also worked as a journalist and music critic.
Parland made his debut in 1934 with Dusch, a collection of prose pieces characterized by fantasy and linguistic delight. Although he published further prose works, it was as a modernist poet that he became most prominent. Parland ceased publishing after 1973.
From 1948 onward he lived in Sweden. He was first married to Eva Wichman, with whom he had a son, then to Heli Gestrin, and later to Helga Henschen.

Selected translations

  • Valeriu Marcu: Machiavelli: renässansmänniskan och maktfilosofen
  • Illés Kaczér: Svart blir aldrig vitt . Published in Finland as Svart erotik
  • Antti W. Heikkinen: En vagabond
  • Olavi Paavolainen: Finlandia i moll: Dagboksblad från åren 1941–1944
  • Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Den unge Werthers lidanden
  • Carl Pidoll: Sista symfonin: roman om Beethoven
  • Robert Musil: Tre kvinnor
  • Norbert Kunze: Den sista bron
  • Esther Vilar: Den dresserade mannen
  • Eeva Kilpi: Tamara
  • Reima Kampman: Du är inte ensam: en undersökning av människans sidopersoner
  • Daniel Katz: Orvar Kleins död
  • Peter Rosei: Utanför
  • Eeva Kilpi: Tamara

Awards and Honors

  • 1953 – Finnish State Prize for Literature
  • 1956 – Finnish State Prize for Literature
  • 1960 – Prize
  • 1966 – Swedish Radio Poetry Prize
  • 1989 – Ferlin Prize