Gösta Ågren

[Eric]

I'm at present re-acquainting myself with the poetry of G?sta ?gren (born 1936).

?gren is available in English online at:

Contents

These three books of poetry are translated by the Scots translator David McDuff (who also, incidentally, translates Dostoevsky). Unfortunately, these collections have never made it into print in English.

But a selection of his poetry A Valley in the Midst of Violence - Selected Poems 1955-1985 did appear with Bloodaxe Books, also in McDuff's translation, in 1992:

Amazon.co.uk: A Valley in the Midst of Violence: Selected Poems, 1955-85: Gosta Agren, David McDuff: Books

G?sta ?gren was born in a suburb of the small town of Nykarleby, near the west coast of Finland, and has lived there for much of his life, except for when he worked as an editor and librarian in Helsinki, and studies in Stockholm. He comes from a literary family; both his brothers were writers as well.

?gren's poems are straightforward at first glance, but contain a good deal of metaphysical observation. As can be seen from McDuff's English translations on the website referred to above, ?gren uses a simple vocabulary for the most, and his poems are rarely long. The autobiographical trilogy was published during the early 1990s, when ?gren had already been publishing for several decades. There is little available on ?gren in English, but a brief biography can be found in Swedish at:

G?sta ?gren

This lists all his collections of poetry over the years, from 1960 to 2006.

[Eric]

I will write more here about paradox in G?sta ?gren's poetry. I've finished reading the collection (the one available with Bloodaxe) and I checked with the translator to make sure that there wasn't more of his poetry available in English. There wasn't: three collections online, plus on selection by Bloodaxe.

I'll try to explain, soon, what it is that makes me like his poetry.

[Eric]

A typical G?sta ?gren poem from the collection A Valley in the Midst of Violence. I haven't got David McDuff's translation handy, so I've translated the poem myself. I think it is typical for the paradoxes and oxymorons with which ?gren's poetry is strewn:

Identity

Hamlet acts mad
because he is.
By being someone
else a spy is
himself. Identity
exists in that it
is lacking. The actor
himself is only one
of his roles. They
wander from person
to person. From this, slowly,
humanity is shaped.
Just now I'm writing
with this hand.

This was a very easy poem to translate: no rhyme, alliteration etc., and several words that resemble the English, as Swedish is quite close to English in the Germanic family of languages. The original:

Identitet

Hamlet spelar galen
d?rf?r att han ?r det.
Genom att vara n?gon
annan ?r spionen
sig sj?lv. Identiteten
best?r i att den
saknas. Sk?despelaren
sj?lv ?r bara en
av sina roller. De
vandrar fr?n m?nniska
till m?nniska. Ur detta danas,
l?ngsamt, m?nskligheten.
Just nu skriver jag
med denna hand.

All I had to do was occasionally re-arrange the word order. And the word "danas" sounds slightly poetic; sticks out from the rest. So I used the verb "to shape", rather than "create" or "make".

[Eric]

I read as few of Gösta Ågren's poems in a little poetry evening two weekends ago here in Uppsala. His poetry is beginning to grow on me.