Carl Erik Martin Soya

Born Oct. 30, 1896, in Copenhagen. Danish writer.

Soya’s drama Parasites (1929; Russian translation, 1959) exposes the psychology of proprietorship. The experimental psychological drama Who Am I? (1932) and the play Lord Nelson Picks a Fig Leaf (1934) were influenced by Freudianism. In the satirical comedy Umbabumba (1935), Soya attacked fascism, and in the drama After (1947) he condemned collaborationism. The tetralogy Blindman’s Buff (1940–48) analyzed the correlation of chance and predictability in man’s life.

Soya was imprisoned for the satirical short story “A Guest” (1941), about the occupation of Denmark. He was arrested again in 1943 and escaped to Sweden in 1945. He censured the imperialist concept of war in the satirical “discussion play” Lion With a Corset (1950), but as a rule remained an ironical skeptic. Soya also wrote the autobiographical novel Grandmother’s House (1943), the erotic psychological novel Seventeen (vols. 1–3, 1953–54), and collections of humorous and satirical short stories.