What could have been an ephemeral and gimmicky work of public service fiction became perhaps the greatest short short story in the history of Swedish letters, for in this tale Dagerman took the simple redressing of a particular social problem as the starting point rather than as an end in itself and out of these mundane materials created a poignant tale of choice, chance, and human loss that rises to the highest levels of art, literary balance, and philosophical concision.

Stig Dagerman was commissioned by the Swedish government to write a piece designed to educate the public about the hazards of speeding, which was becoming a problem for the country in the 1950s. Dagerman delivered. To Kill a Child by Stig Dagerman