Chorell, Walentin

(1912-1983)

   A Finland-Swedish novelist and dramatist, Chorell started his career as a writer with two undistinguished volumes of poetry, after which he produced two novels, the mystery story Lektion fordoden (1947; Lesson for Death) and the more serious Jorgen Hemmelinks stora augusti (1947; Jorgen Hemmelink's Great August). The protagonist in the latter is the son of a Finland-Swedish mother and a Polish-Jewish father; he is the first of a large number of social misfits created by Chorell. The novels Calibans dag (1948; Caliban's Day), Blindtrappan (1949; The Dead End Staircase), and Intim journal (1951; Secret Diary) all offer portraits of characters with truly horrible lives. There is more hope in Strav gryning (1952; Harsh Dawn), in which a killer serves his sentence and manages to adjust to life outside of prison. A trilogy comprising the novels Mirjam (1954), Främlingen (1956; The Stranger), and Kvinnan (1958; The Woman), tells about a girl who grows to womanhood and decides to raise her baby without marrying its father; she is a character with self-confidence and hope for the future.

   Starting in the 1960s, Chorell created more miserable characters. The novels Stoälden (1960; The Theft), De barmhaärtiga (1962; Those with Mercy), Saltkaret (1963; The Salt Shaker), Grodan (1966; The Frog), Agneta och lumpsamlaren (1968; Agneta and the Rag Collector), and Sista leken (1970; The Last Game) all feature thieves, abusers, arsonists, and killers of various stripes who only have their lack of sanity in common.

   Äggskalet (1972; The Egg Shell), Knappen (1974; The Button), and Livstycket (1976; The Bodice) is a trilogy about two young people from different social backgrounds who get married in the first volume. Predictably, the marriage deteriorates in the second volume and ends in divorce in the third. In the trilogy Dockorna (1978; The Dolls), Rävsaxen (1980; The Fox Trap), and Lekhagen (1981; The Playpen), an alcoholic writer and his wife, who is partly disabled from polio, are utterly miserable together. Kvarteret barmhaärtighet (1982; The Block Named Mercy) is centered on an imagined mercy killing.

   Chorell also wrote a very large number of plays for stage, television, and radio. Quite successful in their day, they are set in the same types ofhopeless environments as his novels and have the same types of characters. Some of his better dramas are Systrarna (1955; tr. The Sisters, 1971), which tells about hateful siblings, and Kattorna (1963; tr. The Cats, 1978), in which a group of women employees unite in opposition to a woman supervisor.

   See also Theater.