High praise indeed, thank you Dian. Definitely a mark of depth, richness, and texture - interpretability - especially but not only in poetry. I lived in Sweden for a while and picked up a few words here and there. About Schjerfbeck, I have to say it didn't ring a bell at first but then I looked her up and realized I'd seen the name before. More familiar with Hilma af Klint, but I'm certainly going to take a look at Schjerfbeck. Too, there's a modernist Finnish writer named Paavo Haavikko who has, in fact, been paired with Transtromer by Penguin Books sometime in the 70's, you might like him as well (though the quality of the English translations might be questionable).
Excellent commentary, as beautiful as the poem. Bravo.
I interpret the poem differently and that is the power of good poetry.
How do you know Swedish so well?
Do you know the artist, Helen Schjerfbeck? She is Finnish. She pairs well with Transtromer.
High praise indeed, thank you Dian. Definitely a mark of depth, richness, and texture - interpretability - especially but not only in poetry. I lived in Sweden for a while and picked up a few words here and there. About Schjerfbeck, I have to say it didn't ring a bell at first but then I looked her up and realized I'd seen the name before. More familiar with Hilma af Klint, but I'm certainly going to take a look at Schjerfbeck. Too, there's a modernist Finnish writer named Paavo Haavikko who has, in fact, been paired with Transtromer by Penguin Books sometime in the 70's, you might like him as well (though the quality of the English translations might be questionable).
Go see Schjerfbeck at the Met in NY if you can. A spectacular exhibit. Blew me away.
How could you pick up a few Swedish words here and there and translate Transtromer?!?
Haha. With lots of theory of mind - it practically translates itself.
I'm working on a helpful bit about (what I believe to be) the art of translating poetry, hope to finish it at some point and put it out.
Love to read it!