TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY IGOR GEDILAGHINE

TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY IGOR GEDILAGHINESwedish writer Per Olov Enquist poses on February 23, 2011 in his home in Stockholm. In one life, Enquist, 76, has been an oppressed child, an athlete, a journalist and a depressed and destructive alcoholic, but in another life -- the one that really counts in his eyes -- he is an author, a giant in the world of Swedish literature. Born in 1934 in Hjoggoele in Sweden's far-north, Enquist published his first novel, "Kristalloeget" ("The crystal eye"), in 1961. It was his writing, he says, that in the end finally pulled him out of the horrible "black hole" he unrelentingly remained plunged into for the first 56 years of his existence. AFP PHOTO / SOREN ANDERSSON (Photo credit should read SOREN ANDERSSON/AFP via Getty Images)