Aftonland

by Pär Lagerkvist

Translated from the Swedish by Anthony Barnett. Par Lagerkvist (1891-1974) was one of Sweden's greatest, most prolific, twentieth-century novelists and short story writers. Evening Land is the first complete translation of Lagerkvist's ninth and final volume of poetry, the deceptively simple Aftonland (1953). An intensely private man who refused to court publicity, the author was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1951. Barnett's translation (his translation of Robert Giroux's Blank from the French is also available at SPD) sets straight an earlier, unfinished and otherwise compromised version by W. H. Auden and Leif Sj berg. "All things exist, only I exist no more,/ everything remains, the fragrance of rain in the grass/ as I remember it and the sough of the wind through the trees,/ the flight of clouds and the human heart's disquiet.// Only my heart's disquiet no longer exists"-(from "The Dead")

Genres: Poetry, Sweden, Nobel Prize, Fiction

93 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1953

About the author

Lagerkvist was born in 1891 in southern Sweden. In 1910 he went to Uppsala as a student and in 1913 he left for Paris, where he was exposed to the work of Pablo Picasso. He studied Middle Age Art, as well as Indian and Chinese literature, to prepare himself for becoming a poet. His first collection of poetry was published in 1916. In 1940 Lagerkvist was chosen as one of the "aderton" (the eighteen) of the Swedish Academy.

Lagerkvist wrote poetry, novels, plays, short stories and essays. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1951 "for the artistic vigour and true independence of mind with which he endeavours in his poetry to find answers to the eternal questions confronting mankind."

Reviews

[notgettingenough · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poetry continued. It is hard not to notice the fashion-driven nature of goodreads. I wrote the following in late 2009, so four years ago, and it has yet to receive a vote. I have, I might add, over the years, got many votes for writing crap about the right books. Be rude about Harry Potter, rake them in. Poetry, in particular, is shunned, but for a couple of poets like Plath with whose private lives non-poetry readers are obsessed. Arrgghhhhhhhhh!! It drives me crazy. It is such a shame that poetry was taken over by people who don’t like it and turned it into something unreadable and inaccessible. It is not what poetry is supposed to be. By all means do that to long-writing and call it something snobby – ‘literature’, let’s say. But to do that to poetry is a cruel act of deprivation. The odd thing is that although obtuse literature has some fans, the same can’t be said of difficult poetry.

http://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpres...

[Vehêl · Rating 3 out of 5]

ئێوارستان
کۆمەکا هەلبەستان یا پێر لاگەرکڤیست، من چ جاران ئەڤ ناڤە نەبهیستیە، لێ ناڤرۆکا پرسێن وی و نالینێن وی یێن هەلبەستکی بەریا نها ناخێ هەر مرۆڤەکی ب رەنگەک ژ رەنگان هەژاندییە. د ڤێ ئێڤارستانێ دا لێگەریان ل مرۆڤی دگەل خودێ، لێگەریان رەشبینیێ دگەل رۆهنیێ تێکهەل دبیت، مرۆڤ دبیتە بیرەکا ئاڤا گەماربووی وەسا تاری بەلێ پا ستێر خوە تێدا دبینن:

ئای ئەی مرۆڤ، ئەی ئەو بیرەی ئەستێران خۆیانی تێدا دەبینن.
چەند جاران بەسەرتەوە نەوەستام، تەماشای قوولاییەکەتم
نەکرد و نەگەڕام بۆ مانای دوولایەنەی ڕاز.

موناجات و لاڤەیێن ناخێ هەلبەستڤانی تێکهەلدبن دگەل قێرینێن ناڤا وێنەیێن هەلبەستێ یێن نازک، ب رەنگێ گەریان ل هێزێن میتافیزیکی هەلبەسڤان ل مرۆڤی دگەریت:
تۆ ئەی ئەوەی پێش چیا و هەورەکان
پێش با و زەریاکان
هەبوویت.
.
.
.
تۆ کە پێش تەنیایی تەنیا بوویت و
دڵیشت لێوانلێو بوو لە ترس، زۆر پێش هەبوونی دڵی مرۆڤ
لەبیرم مەکە.

لڤێرە رەنگە وەسا بهێتە دیتن کو هەلبەستڤان داخوازا دلۆڤانیێ ژ ڤێ هێزا ئاسمانی بکەت، بەلێ پا دشێت دناڤ رێزکن دا بهێتە خواندن کو دلێ مرۆڤی نەهند دلەکێ کەڤنە و دیارە ژی ئێدی هەلبەستڤان نەشێت خوە د ناڤ دلێ مرۆڤان دا ببینیت. رشبینی رۆژانێن وی دئافرینن. لەوما ژی پەناگەها وی دبیتە خوەزا:

لێگەرێ با سیبەرەکم لە سێبەرەکەی تۆدا ون بێت.
لێگەڕێ با خۆم بدۆرێنم
لەژێر درەختە گەورەکاندا.

[Marcus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marvelous poetry. His last collection written by an author confronting his own mortality and his connection to an elusive god.

[Anders Alvunger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aftonland är Pär Lagerkvists (1891-1974) sista diktsamling och hans bästa verk enligt mig.

Genom det långa författarskapet har vi fått se olika sidor av Lagerkvist. Det är dock det bibliska temat som genomsyrar i stort sett alla hans verk och som för många, inklusive mig, har gjort honom till den unika diktaren han var.

Pär Lagerkvist var uppvuxen under djupt bibeltrogna förhållanden i en tid då samhället genomgick stora reformer. På sina håll började man inse att livets stora frågor hade andra svar än endast en stark tro på Gud. Jag har nog svårt att på riktigt förstå vad Lagerkvist kände inombords i sina mest grubblande stunder. Säkert en stor saknad efter någon som hela livet stått honom så nära. Förmodligen också ilska emellanåt.
Det finns de som anser att Aftonland representerar Pär Lagerkvists förlorade barnatro. Jag håller inte med. För mig är Lagerkvist en tvivlare men likväl en troende. En agnostiker, kanske. Man kan argumentera för den saken bland annat från dikten ”spjutkastaren”. Här tilltalas för ovanlighetens skull en tredje person: ”Varför talar du om en spjutkastare? Du trodde ju inte ens på spjutet förrän det träffade dig, du såg aldrig dess heliga båge i mörkret. Du trodde inte på det som du flydde ifrån. Spjutkastaren känner ingen. Men hans eld känner du. Varför är det inte nog för dig?”

När jag läser dikterna i Aftonland ser jag framför mig Pär Lagerkvist som ställer sitt livs stora motfrågor.
”Vem är du som uppfyller mitt hjärta med din frånvaro?”

”Vad upplevde jag den kvällen?”

”Vem gick förbi min barndoms fönster, gjorde ett tecken på den immiga rutan, gick vidare och lämnade mig övergiven för evigt. Hur skulle jag kunna tyda tecknet?”

För den som är intresserad av vidare läsning rekommenderar jag starkt romanen Bödeln. Här får vi ta del av ett annat intressant perspektiv. Varför be till en Gud som ändå tiger? Mer än så vill jag inte avslöja…
Tror jag på Gud? Nej, jag tror på Lagerkvist!

[Cloglover · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a desert island book. I checked it out from my library and kept reading the same poems over and over and over and over again. I had to buy myself a copy.

I first read Lagervist’s poetry when I was a teenager, in a very intensive Swedish language immersion program summer camp where I spoke no English for four weeks straight, for a grade. I had a great teacher who had us translate song lyrics and poems. I translated Anguish, perhaps the most well known poem by Lagerkvist, and did a mediocre job. It wasn’t until this year when I was reminded of his work that I reread this poem and realized what I was missing. I have since read every Lagerkvist book available at my library and loved every minute of it.

While Aftonland doesn’t have the poem that made me love his work in it, it is a beautiful representation of Lagerkvist’s mastery of his craft. Not one word is out of place, he writes so precisely and so sparsely it would be impossible.

I wish I could read this for the first time again.

[Bohemian Book Lover · Rating 4 out of 5]

If Rilke has THE BOOK OF HOURS, Lagerkvist has EVENING LAND. Both books of poetry wrestle with that mysterious, ineffable, personal, agnostic/atheistic experience of religious belief and doubt in a deity that may or may not exist. However, the latter delves (in curt, starkly Zen-like, accessible, poignant and powerful poems) into existential themes at the very edge of existence... In the evening of a life near or already at its inevitable end. I was moved and impressed more by the older Lagerkvist's mature and calloused, non-elaborate verse than that of the younger Rilke's naïve and Bildungsroman lyrics. This bilingual edition gets a 4 star rating from me (2 more than THE BOOK OF HOURS unsurprisingly).

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

I decided to pick up this collection on a whim at the local library because I had been reading Lagerkvist’s fiction. It turned out to be one of the best collections of poetry I’ve read in a long time. Auden’s translations are stark and haunting. Lagerkvist’s existential poems touch on the acceptance of approaching death with the simple understanding of God’s nonexistence. That knowledge represents not a lack but a comfort -- that the love of God is really a love of the self and of Nature and of the world, and that such a love doesn’t have to be an unrequited relationship with an absent god. Absence is a recurring theme, with Lagerkvist suggesting that death is not the beginning of absence, but the end.

Both Lagerkvist and Auden would not live to see the release of this book, lending to the poems an even greater sense of immediacy, like the final breaths of one who is at peace with the unknown -- not the unknown of death, but the unknown of the self. In the stark darkness of these poems is the life-affirming truth that our existence prepares us for death not in the knowledge that we gain during our time alive, but in the mysteries that are forever left unknowable to us. In that comfort with the uncertainty of our world lies the path to a peaceful acceptance of both death and life.

This is a collection to return to again and again as the years roll forward.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Into me he breathed his spirit.
That is why everything is so difficult for me.
The stars wander over my sky and give me no peace, and the dark clouds of creation whirl through my soul.
My day is full of light, my night is without limits.
I am Man. To me the dreadful thing happened, namely, that he breathed his own soul into me.”

[Ames · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75 - väldigt melodisk och generellt en perfekt bok att läsa under en eftermiddag :)

[Zana Wahid · Rating 5 out of 5]

وێنەیێن جوان یێن شعری یێن پر ژ بەخت رەشی و هند جاران پڕ ژ خوشبەختیێ، من وێنەیێن ڤی هەلبەستڤانی گەلەک عەجباندن

[Ba · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rich, moving, beautiful

[Cc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rich, moving, beautiful

[Luke Pete · Rating 4 out of 5]

*aftonland* is Par Lagerkvist's poetry collection translated and championed by W.H. Auden. It's beautiful, and like Lagerkvist's books *Barabbas* and *The Dwarf* his writing is economical and crystal clear, even in translation. It triggers images so sharply, that the tonal shifts in scene or emotion are always jarring and revelatory. His overarching concern is the nature of a higher being and the silence associated with it. The balance of worship or sacrifice to such symbols or beliefs. Lagerkivst is pleading and questioning both with the higher power in such intense ways that the questions always, inevitably, bend back upon himself:

"My friend is a stranger, someone I do not know.
A stranger far, far away.
For his sake my heart is full of disquiet
because he is not with me.
Because, perhaps, after all he does not exist?

Who are you who so fill my heart with your absence?
Who fill the entire world with your absence?"

-----------

"May my heart's disquiet never vanish.
May I never be at peace.
May I never be reconciled to life, nor to death either.
May my path be unending, with death its unknowable goal."

-----------

"I listen to the wind that obliterates my traces. The wind that
remembers nothing,
understands nothing nor cares what it does,
but is so lovely to listen to.
The soft wind,
soft like oblivion.

When the new morning breaks
I shall wander further,
in the windless dawn begin my wandering afresh
with my very first step
in the wonderfully untouched sand."

-----------

"I should like to be somebody else,
but I don't know who.
A stranger stands with his back to me, his forehead
facing the burning home of the stars.
I shall never meet his eyes,
never see his features.

I should like to be somebody else,
a stranger, other than myself."

[Mark Bellerophon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a collection of Lagerkvist's poems as part of a joint translation project by Auden and Sjoeberg. Most of the translations never went through a final revision but the original Swedish is on the opposing page (if you can read Swedish) and the poetry, going by the translation, of course, does not seem very difficult to read and understand. (This is helped by Sjoeberg's introduction which includes a section on the poems' reoccurring themes.) In contrast with his fiction prose, Lagerkvist's poems are expressionistic (expressionism) in content and form. (I personally enjoy expressionism but, in comparison with his fiction prose, the poems do seem a level down from his full capabilities.) However, many of the themes from his novels are also present in his poems. The poems range in content and mood and often, as the Sjoeberg mentions, it is not clear what Lagerkvist's final position may have been as the authorial voice seems to juggle between atheist, agnostic, and theist. If you enjoy the works of Lagerkvist and wish for more insight, this is a book which you will not regret picking up.

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Den är Awesome. Men lite mycket Gud. Lagerkvist berör mig.

"Att hjärtats oro aldrig må vika.
Att jag aldrig må frid.
Att jag aldrig må försona mig med livet, inte heller
med döden.
Att min väg må vara oändlig, med ett okänt mål."

[Frank Ashe · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely beautiful evocation of feeling as we approach our end, or someone near dies.

This book deserves multiple readings.

[Donald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Topnotch Existential poetry. Very moving; resonates deep within the soul.

[Bawanbahadin · Rating 5 out of 5]

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