Karin Boye - Kallocain

The name of the Swedish writer Karin Boye (1900-1941) is known worldwide as the one whose novel Kallocain (1940) preceded George Orwell's large-scale work, 1984 (1949), by a decade. The author, born in Gothenburg, was a member of the socialist Clarté movement until 1930, later he edited a magazine and wrote poems and prose works. After his marriage ran aground, he bravely accepted his attraction to his own sex, even though homosexuality was considered a crime in Sweden at the time - his stance has been a benchmark for the LGBTQI community ever since. He committed suicide in 1941.

His classic novel Kallocain was inspired by his trip to fascist Germany in the early 1930s. In the story, Leo Kall's chemical invention, the drug that makes suspects confess their most hidden feelings and thoughts, becomes the most terrifying weapon in a state dominated by military discipline based on anxiety and vulnerability. Thought crime can only be retaliated in one way: with death.

The work has not lost any of its relevance even in the 21st century, and served as an inspiration for the 2002 American film Equilibrium starring Christian Bale and Emily Watson.