Jan Myrdal – A Brief introduction

Jan Myrdal – A Brief introduction

Jan Myrdal (born 19 July 1927 in Stockholm) is a Swedish author, leftist-political writer and columnist. He is the son of the Social Democrats and Nobel Laureates Alva Myrdal and Gunnar Myrdal. He is an honorary doctor of literature at Upsala College in New Jersey, USA, and a Ph.D. at Nankai University in Tianjin in China. He has lived at various times in the United States, Afghanistan, Iran and India. He was married to Gun Kessle, a photographer, graphic artist and writer, until her death in 2007. She illustrated many of his works.

He got his international breakthrough in 1963 with the book Report from a Chinese Village, an uncritical report from Mao's China. Subsequently he has written many similar "reports" and travel notes from Asian countries, including India (India Waits, 1980), Afghanistan and the then-Soviet Central Asian republics, in collaboration with his life partner, Gun Kessle. His 1968 book Confessions of a Disloyal European was chosen by the New York Times as one of that year's 'ten books of particular significance and excellence'.

In 1982 Myrdal went back to the Chinese village he reported on in 1962 and recorded his observations in Return to a Chinese Village (1984), in which he expressed his disappointment at the changes that had occurred, and his continued support of Mao's programs, including the Cultural Revolution.

Jan Myrdal is one of few still living who met and discussed with personalities like Mao Zedong and Chou En-lai.

Politically, Myrdal belongs to Marxism and Maoism and he has been a fervent advocate of anti-colonialist and anti-imperialist causes. His influence on the cultural and political life in Sweden was most prominent during the 1970s, when he was one of the main intellectuals of the radical left of the time, which culminated in the Vietnam war protest movement, of which he was a central figure. However, unlike many of his former supporters, he has maintained his views up to this day. Today he remains a notable figure in political and cultural debate and a popular author.

He travelled recently to the jungles of Central India, and engaged in conversations with the Maoist leadership and talked at length with com. Ganpati, the General Secretary of CPI (Maoist). His second book on India, The Red Star over India, is going to publish very soon. This is a authentic account and critical analysis of the Maoist movement in India.