SCHÜCK, JOHAN HENRIK EMIL

SCHÜCK, JOHAN HENRIK EMIL (1855–1947), Swedish literary historian. Born in Stockholm, Schück was the child of a mixed marriage, his mother being a non-Jewess. From 1898 until 1920 he was professor of literature at the University of Uppsala, where he also served as rector (1905–18). His historical approach to literary research profoundly influenced later Swedish criticism and his gifted teaching produced several outstanding pupils, notably Oskar Ivar *Levertin and Martin *Lamm. In 1918, five years after his election to the Swedish Academy, Schück was honored with the post of president of the Nobel Foundation. After publishing an important study of Shakespeare (1883–84), he planned a large history of world literature, only two parts of which appeared: Antiken (1900) and Den israelitiska litteraturen (1906). Later, however, he produced a six-volume manual of general literature (1919–26); histories of the Swedish people (1913–15) and of the Swedish Academy (1935–39); and a history of the literatures and academies of antiquity (8 vols., 1932–44). His outstanding achievement was the monumental Illustrerad svensk litteraturhistoria (1895–97; 7 vols., 1926–33²), written in collaboration with Karl Johan *Warburg. Together with R.G. Berg and F. Böök he also published an immense anthology of Swedish literature from 1500 to 1900 (30 vols., 1921–22) and an anthology of world literature in Swedish translation (3 vols., 1932). As a critic, Schück always excelled in clear analysis of genres and literary periods.