Re: The Dwarf: An Introduction to Swedish Literature (I)


Subject: Re: The Dwarf: An Introduction to Swedish Literature (I)
From: LR Pearson, Arts 99 (lp9616@bristol.ac.uk)
Date: Wed Apr 12 2000 - 17:57:08 EDT


Thanks Laughing Man,

Always nice to get some more tips on what to read, even if, as now, I'm
too darn busy to read them, or to write to all you lovely fishes.

Love, Lucy-Ruth

On Wed, 12 Apr 2000 16:40:42 GMT The Laughing Man
<the_laughing_man@hotmail.com> wrote:

> Anguish
>
> Anguish, anguish is my heritage,
> the wound of my throat,
> the cry of my heart in the world.
> Now the lathered sky congeals
> in the coarse hand of night;
> now the forests
> and the rigid heights
> rise barrenly against
> the dwarfed vault of the sky.
> How hard everything is,
> how stiffened, black and silent!
>
> I grope about this darkened room,
> I feel the sharp edge of the cliff against my finger.
> I tear my sore and aching hands
> on the hills and darkened woods,
> on the black iron of sky
> and on the cold earth!
>
> Anguish, anguish is my heritage,
> the wound of my throat,
> the cry of my heart in the world.
>
> P. Lagerkvist
>
>
> A fish with a terrific taste, our Mr Miller, wrote a post a few days ago,
> recommending Par (or “Pär”, pronounced like: A *Pair* of trousers)
> Lagerkvist’s The Dwarf.
>
> Pär Lagerkvist is one of Sweden’s most famous writers. First there is
> Strindberg. He’s the greatest.
> Then there is nothing. Then, together with Stig Dagerman and a few more,
> there is Pär Lagerkvist.
>
> There is not a teenager in Sweden who hasn’t read – by force or by choice –
> the above translated poem by Lagerkvist.
>
> The Dwarf is his most famous novel. It is truly great. The Dwarf is the
> sharpest and most bitter of creatures. But I like “ Barabhas ”, a somewhat
> later novel, even more. It is a true masterpiece.
>
> Pär Lagerkvist is not a happy guy. Not in the superficial way, at least. If
> you only read Lagerkvist and Dagerman, and only watch Bergman movies, you
> might think all Swedes look at the world as in the Anguish poem. Sadly, this
> is not the fact. In an advertising poster just the other day I saw an offer
> in big letters “6 Bergman movies, 599 Swedish Crowns”. I kept reading. 599
> for six hole Bergman movies, a bargain! But reading on, I noticed they were
> only kidding: they were selling out cheap holiday travels. Bastards! If
> there is something about Sweden I’m truly proud about, it is some of the
> geniuses this land of 8 months of winter and 80 years of social democrats
> has produced. "People are bloody ignorant apes."
>
> Courtesy of Alta Vista, I have collected some information and a few short
> stories by Lagerkvist. Check them out!
>
> /Your Personal Swede
>
>
> http://www.lysator.liu.se/runeberg/authors/lagerkpa.html
> http://nobel.sdsc.edu/laureates/literature-1951-1-bio.html
> http://kirjasto.sci.fi/perlager.htm
>
> Two short stories by Lagerkvist:
>
> http://hem.passagen.se/iblis/lagrkvst.html
>
>
> ------------
>
> The Anguish-poem in original (for the Swedish interested):
>
> Ångest, ångest är min arvedel.
>
>
> Ångest, ångest är min arvedel,
>
> Min strupes sår, mitt hjärtas skri i världen.
>
> Nu styvnar löddrig sky i nattens grova hand, nu stiga skogarna och stela
> höjder så kargt mot himmelens förkrympta valv.
>
> Hur hårt är allt, hur stelnat, svart och stilla!
>
> Jag famlar kring i detta dunkla rum, jag känner klippans vassa kant mot mina
> fingrar, jag river mina uppåtsträckta händer till blods mot molnens frusna
> trasor.
>
> Ack, mina naglar sliter jag från fingrarna, mina händer river jag såriga och
> ömma mot berg och mörknad skog, mot himlens svarta järn och mot den kalla
> jorden!
>
> Ångest, ångest är min arvedel, min strupes sår, mitt hjärtas skri i världen.
>
> ______________________________________________________
> Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
>
> -
> * Unsubscribing? Mail majordomo@roughdraft.org with the message
> * UNSUBSCRIBE BANANAFISH

----------------------
LR Pearson, Arts 99
lp9616@bristol.ac.uk

-
* Unsubscribing? Mail majordomo@roughdraft.org with the message
* UNSUBSCRIBE BANANAFISH



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b25 : Mon May 01 2000 - 06:20:13 EDT