Söderberg, Hjalmar, 1869-1941, Swedish writer. He is known for a lyrical but melancholic and disillusioned mood. Söderberg's first novel, Martin Birck's Youth (1901, tr. 1930), is the story of a dreamer living a drab middle-class existence. His novels are unsurpassed at evoking Stockholm life at the turn of the century; major examples include Doctor Glas (1905, tr. 1963) and the semidocumentary The Serious Game (1912). Söderberg's play Gertrud (1906) was made into a film by Carl Dreyer. Selections of the his short stories, mocking complacency and deceit, have been translated by C. W. Stork (1935) and Carl Lofmark (1987).

Bergman, Hjalmar, 1883-1931, Swedish novelist, dramatist, and short-story writer. A popular and prolific writer, Bergman wrote from the background of an unhappy childhood and chronic mental depression. His works are characterized by insight into the ambivalence of human emotions. Bergman's individual style combines a basically pessimistic view with ironic humor, as in the play Swedenhielms [the Swedenhielm family] (1925) and the novels God's Orchid (1919, tr. 1924) and The Head of the Firm (1924, tr. 1936).

Branting, Hjalmar, 1860-1925, Swedish premier. A leader of the Social Democratic party, he was finance minister in 1917. As premier (1920, 1921-23, 1924-25) he was responsible for social reforms and for welfare legislation. Branting supported the League of Nations and shared the 1921 Nobel Peace Prize with Christian Louis Lange.

See Hjalmar and Ingeborg