Elegies and Other Poems

by Lars Gustafsson, Christopher Middleton (Translator), Yvonne L. Sandstroem (Translator)

A companion volume to Gustfasson's popular collection, The Stillness of the Worldbefore Bach (New Directions, 1988). Lars Gustafsson is one of Sweden's leading and most prolific men of letters; a poet, philosopher, and fiction writer with dozens of books to his credit since his literary debut, at the age of twenty, in 1956. Although known in the English-speaking world primarily for his novels, Gustafsson is nevertheless one of the most frequently translated of contemporary Swedish poets. Elegies and Other Poems is a companion volume to The Stillness of the World before Bach (New Directions, 1988). As in that earlier volume, editor Christopher Middleton has made his selection from several of the poet's books and included his own translations as well as those of others, Yvonne Sandstroem, Bill Brookshire, and Philip Martin. Readers of Gustafsson's fiction will recognize in his verse the elegant mix of intellect and sheer play, the ruminations of a mind that apprehends humanity in the riddles of the universe.

Genres: Poetry

80 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2000

About the author

Lars Gustafsson was a Swedish poet, novelist and scholar. He completed his secondary education at the Västerås gymnasium and continued to Uppsala University; he received his Licentiate degree in 1960 and was awarded his Ph.D. in Theoretical Philosophy in 1978. He lived in Austin, Texas until 2003, and has recently returned to Sweden. From 1983 he served as a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, where he taught Philosophy and Creative Writing, until May 2006, when he retired. In 1981 Gustafsson converted to Judaism.

Reviews

[Edita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before some early departure. What does our time want
What do our winds want?
What do our lives want?
To go. And we want to stay.
Instants are so unlike each other.

[Tatyana · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The world, a labyrinth of objects
mislaid and forgotten"
-- from “Elegy On Objects Mislaid and Forgotten”

[Mills College Library]

839.7174 G9827e 2000