Anguish is the key word of the Swedish literature in the 1940s. Stig Dagerman (1923-54) is the Master. The serenity of human existence is a main theme. Relativism of values lead to a renewed focus on moral issues. What the 40-talists share in common is the fear of illusions and false notions. This drives through a reduction of the image of the human being and the harder scrutinized, the larger the chance to find the real, but this also increases the anxiety.
The literary 1940s end in 1954 when Stig Dagerman commit suicide and the last volume of lyrics from Erik Lindegren is published. Lars Ahlin finishes off the classic modernism by claiming that literature is language, not a medium. He is experimenting with the prose in a way that will be picked up by the constructivists later on in the 1960s.
