From the ground and the earth came the words that traveled along the roads and became the stories of our settlement, our history.
Sven Edvin Salje & Harry Martinson
When our origins are to be interpreted and our history gives us insights and images of life in the past, our great writers give us an invaluable source to pour from. Here we can follow our grandparents' life and reality in a farmer and worker society that no longer exists. But a life that characterized the village we live in.
There were some books, some movies and a Nobel Prize in literature. A price that unfortunately became the beginning of the end for Harry Martinsson.
The easiest advice to give someone who is interested in learning more about our village's history is to read it as the sons of the village. Sven Edvin Salje and Harry Martinsson wrote. Read everything, every word and you are guaranteed new insights about both life then and life as it looks today. But it is easy to say, it´s more difficult to really read their entire author heritage.
Sven Edvin Salje
Common to both of these authors is their portrayals of workers, farmers, vagabonds and others who weren´t at the top of the society. Sven Edvin Salje also wrote some historical stories where description of the struggle of the Snapphanarna were a common theme. Harry Martinson's stories about life in the periphery of society and life along the roads are classic. But also environmental criticism, which you find in the space epos Aniara, was recurring in his work.
Södra Gillesnäs & Lovängsgården
But let's go back to how these writers can teach us more about the countryside we call home. In what we call Authors' Village there are, in addition to the library in Olofström, eight physical places related to Martinson and Salje. They are all very well preserved and are also available to the public. Most have links to Harry Martinson but it does not matter because it is about getting a close relationship with the time, to their origin, to what was their inspiration.
