Background
Carl Hindrik Sven Rudolphsson Lidman (June 30, 1882 – February 14, 1960)—military officer, poet, writer, and preacher, grandson of the priest Sven Lidman—was born in Karlskrona, became a sublieutenant in the Swedish royal army reserve in 1903, and studied law at Uppsala University.
Career
He then began a promising career as a celebrated poet with Pasiphaë (1904), Primavera (1905), Källorna (1906), and Elden och altaret (1907). He also wrote the dramas Imperia (1907) and Härskare (1908), before starting to write novels: Stensborg (1910), Thure Gabriel Silfverstååhl (1910), Carl Silfverstååhls upplevelser (2nd edition, 1912), Köpmän och krigare (3rd edition, 1911), Tvedräktens barn (1913), and Det levande fäderneshuset (1916). In 1917 he went through a religious revival, which came out in his novels Huset medical de gamla fröknarna (5th edition, 1919), Såsom genom eld (5th edition, 1920), Bryggan håller (1923), and Personlig frälsning (1924).
Lidman"s autobiography was published in four parts: Gossen i grottan (1952), Lågan och lindansaren (1952), Mandoms möda (1954), and Vällust och vedergällning (1957).
A biography was written by Knut Ahnlund, Sven Lidman: ett livsdrama (1996, ). Biographic and historic details also appear in Per Olov Enquist"s 2001 novel Lewis Resa ("Levi"s journey"), and in autobiographies by the younger Sven Lidman.
Membership
Lidman was a member of the Geatish Society, using the pseudonym Sigurd Jorsalefarer.