Ralf Parland

Biography

Ralf Thomas Friedrich Parland (21 June 1914 – 22 May 1995) was a Swedish-speaking Finn 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 Grankulla samskola 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.