REVIEWS

"Pär Lagerkvist is an artist of such classic stature that he can felicitously blend in a short space an extraordinarily absorbing story; poetry's haunting quality of old, unhappy, far-off things; shattering dramatic effects; a protagonist of great warmth, charm and power...In short, for those whose faith in the novel as a living art form needs quickening....The Sibyl is unreservedly recommended."—Commonweal

“A work of manifold meanings and unmistakable profundity, one that can neither be easily understood nor easily forgotten."—New Leader

"This is a remarkable book...Lagerkvist has written a disturbing and fearful fable about human and divine love, and about the glories and disasters of both."—Paul Engle, Chicago Tribune

"Pär Lagerkvist has written another mythic tale somewhat after the pattern and dimension of Barabbas, but one in which spare narrative style rises to a heightened, surging lyricism."—Saturday Review

"On each page of Pär Lagerkvist's work are words and ideas which, in their profound and fearful tenderness, carry at the very heart of their purity a message of terror. Their origin is in a simple, rustic life, laborious and frugal of words. But these words, these thoughts, handled by a master, have been placed at the service of other designs and have been given a greater purpose, that of raising to the level of art an interpretation of the time, the world, and man's eternal condition."—Anders Österling, permanent secretary, The Swedish Academy, from the 1951 Nobel Prize presentation speech

PÄR FABIAN LAGERKVIST (1891-1974) was celebrated in his time for his versatility as a poet, dramatist, essayist, and novelist. He was elected to the Swedish Academy in 1940 and in 1951 was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature.