Subject: The Dwarf: An Introduction to Swedish Literature (I)
From: The Laughing Man (the_laughing_man@hotmail.com)
Date: Wed Apr 12 2000 - 12:40:42 EDT
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.
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