Frank Heller
Frank Heller was the pen name of the Swedish writer Gunnar Serner (20 July 1886 - 14 October 1947), (aged 61). He wrote novels and short adventure stories in the genres crime fiction and science fiction.[1] His most well-known tales involve shady business transactions in an international milieu. His best known works concerned the recurring character Philip Collin, who was simultaneously a detective and a thief.
Personal life
[edit]Heller received a PhD in English literature at the age of 23 from the University of Lund. He accumulated a lot of debt which he attempted to cover with forged checks.[2] He was forced to flee Sweden in 1912 due to this role in bank fraud. Living abroad, he began writing novels to make a living, producing forty-three novels, short stories and travelogues before he died in 1947 in a bicycle accident.[3] Heller was the uncle of the actor Håkan Serner.
Reception
[edit]In the early decades of the 20th century, Heller was "one of Sweden’s most widely read and translated authors," translated most often into German, Finnish, English and Russian.[4][5]
In 1981, The Swedish newspaper Kvällsposten founded the Frank Heller Prize awarded to an author who produced a significant work in the spirit of Frank Heller that reflects his excitement, humor and sense of language.[6]
Bibliography
[edit]- The Spirits and Furustolpe (Swedish title: Andarna och Furustolpe), 1920
- The Emperor's Old Clothes, 1923 New York (also published as The Chinese Coats, London 1924) translated by Robert Emmons Lee (1888-1925)[7]
- The Marriage of Yussuf Khan, 1923, Crowell New York, Hutchinson & Co London 1924, translated by Robert Emmons Lee (1888-1925)
- The Grand Duke's Finances, translated by Robert Emmons Lee (1888-1925)
(on which Murnau's film The Grand Duke's Finances (German: Die Finanzen des Großherzogs) was based)
- The Perilous Transactions of Mr. Collin, 1924, likely the same as:
- The London Adventures of Mr. Collin, 1923, translated by Pauline Chary
- Collection of the following short stories:[8]
- The story of the absent-minded gentleman
- The sorrowful adventures of Mr. Isaacs
- The mystery of the lost bullion
- Mr. Collin becomes a landlord
- Mr. Collin's holiday agency
- The Blue-eyed lie
- Mr. Collin is Ruined, 1925
- The Strange Adventures of Mr. Collin, Crowell New York 1926
- The Thousand and Second Night, An Arabesque. Williams & Norgate, London, 1926, translated by Robert Emmons Lee (1888-1925)
- Lead Me into Temptation, Crowell New York 1927, translated by Robert Emmons Lee (1888-1925)
- Twilight of the Gladiators, 1944
References
[edit]- ^ Hedman, Dag. 2020. Playing With Esotericism. Frank Heller’s Novel Andarna och Furustolpe (The Spirits and Furustolpe) and His Short Stories on Séances. LIR. journal (12). 75–88.
- ^ Frank Heller and England. Anglo-Swedish Society. https://www.angloswedishsociety.org.uk/frank-heller-and-england/
- ^ Kabaty Press. About the Author. https://www.kabatypress.com/borj
- ^ Katarina Bernhardsson, "Nordic Studies:Swedish Literature". The Year's Work in Modern Language Studies, Vol. 75 (2015) p. 557.
- ^ Kerstin Bergman, 2014. Swedish Crime Fiction: The Making of Nordic Noir. Mimesis International.
- ^ Mitzi M. Brunsdale. Introduction. The Grand Duke's Last Chance: A Scandinavian Mystery Classic. By Frank Heller. 2022. Kabaty Press.
- ^ "EDWARD HOYT DIES; LEATHER PIONEER; Former President of Central Company Began His Career as a Tanner. A NATIVE NEW YORKER Served as Director of National Park Bank for 37 Years -- Member of Many Clubs". The New York Times.
- ^ https://www.worldcat.org/title/london-adventures-of-mr-collin/oclc/1455680 [bare URL]
