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Sara Maria Danius (5 April 1962 – 12 October 2019) was a Swedish literary critic and philosopher, and a scholar of literature and aesthetics. Danius was professor of aesthetics at Södertörn University, docent of literature at Uppsala University and professor in literary science at Stockholm University.
Danius was a member of the Swedish Academy and its first female permanent secretary. She was one of the central figures in the 2018 controversies resulting in the cancellation of the Nobel Prize in Literature that year and the following restructuring of the academy.
Danius graduated from Stockholm University in 1986. She received her Master of Arts in critical theory at the University of Nottingham in 1989. She lived in the United States for ten years and, in 1997, received a PhD from Duke University. In 1999 she received a PhD from Uppsala University. Sara Danius , profile at Södertörn University She published on the relationship between literature and society and wrote about Marcel Proust, Gustave Flaubert, and James Joyce.
In March 2013, Danius was elected to the Swedish Academy, succeeding Knut Ahnlund on chair 7. Danius was formally installed in the academy at a ceremony on 20 December 2013. She took over the post as permanent secretary of the academy from Peter Englund on 1 June 2015.
She played a central role in awarding the literature Nobel to Bob Dylan. This was the second time a songwriter won the Nobel Prize in Literature, the first since Rabindranath Tagore won it in 1913. The award caused some controversy, particularly among writers arguing that the literary merits of Dylan's work are not equal to those of some of his peers.
She was asked to resign from her position and left the academy on 12 April 2018, against the background of critique over the academy's handling of the Me Too-related Jean-Claude Arnault scandal. The scandal evolved into the 2018 controversies resulting in the cancellation of the Nobel Prize in Literature that year and the following restructuring of the academy.
Two former permanent secretaries, Sture Allén and Horace Engdahl, called Danius a weak leader in her handling of the affair. On 26 February 2019 she resigned from her seat at the Swedish Academy. Her move came after several academy members tried to sweep the scandal under the rug, prompting the resignation of three academy members "in disgust."
From 1989 to 2010, she was married to author Stefan Jonsson. They had a son named Leo.
Danius died on 12 October 2019, aged 57, after having suffered from breast cancer for several years.
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