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Есенен архипелаг
Winner of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Literature
Tomas Tranströmer published his groundbreaking collection Baltics (östersjöar) in 1974. In this book-length poem, Tranströmer creates a literal and figurative landscape where his family history becomes the psychological, perhaps even the spiritual, history of the poet himself. Time, geography, a family, an island, a country, the labor of seamanship - these elements, and so many more, show a voice whose multiplicities and conjunctions intertwine to resemble something like the layers of a symphony, a symphony of narrative, of the minimal, the liminal, the image, collisions, and fragments. Baltics, as its plural name suggests, is an experiment in the conflation of time, a theme that has come to define Tranströmer's career as a poet. Out of print for nearly 40 years, this new edition contains a revised translation by Samuel Charters, a new afterword and translator's note, a series of photographs by Ann Charters, and the original Swedish text en face.
Tomas Tranströmer published his groundbreaking collection Baltics (östersjöar) in 1974. In this book-length poem, Tranströmer creates a literal and figurative landscape where his family history becomes the psychological, perhaps even the spiritual, history of the poet himself. Time, geography, a family, an island, a country, the labor of seamanship - these elements, and so many more, show a voice whose multiplicities and conjunctions intertwine to resemble something like the layers of a symphony, a symphony of narrative, of the minimal, the liminal, the image, collisions, and fragments. Baltics, as its plural name suggests, is an experiment in the conflation of time, a theme that has come to define Tranströmer's career as a poet. Out of print for nearly 40 years, this new edition contains a revised translation by Samuel Charters, a new afterword and translator's note, a series of photographs by Ann Charters, and the original Swedish text en face.
106 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1974
About the author
Tomas Tranströmer
158 books400 followersHis poetry, building on Modernism, Expressionism, and Surrealism, contains powerful imagery concerned with issues of fragmentation and isolation. “He has perfected a particular kind of epiphanic lyric, often in quatrains, in which nature is the active, energizing subject, and the self (if the self is present at all) is the object,” notes critic Katie Peterson in the Boston Review.
Critic and poet Tom Sleigh observed, in his Interview with a Ghost (2006), that “Tranströmer’s poems imagine the spaces that the deep then inhabits, like ground water gushing up into a newly dug well.”
His honors include the Lifetime Recognition Award from the Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry, the Aftonbladets Literary Prize, the Bonnier Award for Poetry, the Neustadt International Prize for Literature, the Oevralids Prize, the Petrarch Prize in Germany, the Swedish Award from International Poetry Forum,the Swedish Academy’s Nordic Prize, and especially the 2011 Nobel Prize in literature. His work has been translated into more than 50 languages.
Tranströmer suffered a stroke in 1990, and after a six-year silence published his collection Sorgegondolen (Grief Gondola) (1996). Prior to his stroke, he worked as a psychologist, focusing on the juvenile prison population as well as the disabled, convicts, and drug addicts. He lives in Sweden.
On Thursday, 6th of October 2011 he was awarded the Nobel prize in Literature "because, through his condensed, translucent images, he gives us fresh access to reality".
Critic and poet Tom Sleigh observed, in his Interview with a Ghost (2006), that “Tranströmer’s poems imagine the spaces that the deep then inhabits, like ground water gushing up into a newly dug well.”
His honors include the Lifetime Recognition Award from the Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry, the Aftonbladets Literary Prize, the Bonnier Award for Poetry, the Neustadt International Prize for Literature, the Oevralids Prize, the Petrarch Prize in Germany, the Swedish Award from International Poetry Forum,the Swedish Academy’s Nordic Prize, and especially the 2011 Nobel Prize in literature. His work has been translated into more than 50 languages.
Tranströmer suffered a stroke in 1990, and after a six-year silence published his collection Sorgegondolen (Grief Gondola) (1996). Prior to his stroke, he worked as a psychologist, focusing on the juvenile prison population as well as the disabled, convicts, and drug addicts. He lives in Sweden.
On Thursday, 6th of October 2011 he was awarded the Nobel prize in Literature "because, through his condensed, translucent images, he gives us fresh access to reality".
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
September 13, 2020
Gah. Such a romantic part of the world. Years ago I ferried from Stockholm to Helsinki over a white night and watched the archipelago drift by. Literature from this part of the world (by which I mean this book and Tove Jansson's novels, because they're all I've read) share those small islands' sense of seclusion, autonomy, and quiet. Just like seeing those islands, this book sends me into a fantasy of solitude & contentment. It's a tourist's sentimentality, I know. But I'm happy to feel it on a 2020 Sunday morning.
March 4, 2025
Esta selección de poemas muestra la capacidad de Tranströmer para rescatar imágenes de su entorno (el paisaje, lo cotidiano, sus vivencias) y su enorme talento para revestirlas de metáforas que dejan un regusto persistente.
“Y paso en coche // ante la blanca iglesia cerrada — dentro hay un santo de madera / sonriente, desamparado, como si le hubieran quitado las gafas”.
Sin embargo, me costó conectar con gran parte de los poemas. Por momentos, lograba dejarme mecer por el oleaje de sus Bálticos, cargados de memoria e imágenes marítimas, aunque no conseguía sumergirme del todo. La falla es mía, por supuesto. Reconozco la maestría de Tranströmer, pero también que yo no estaba listo para apreciarla como se merece. Voy a probar de nuevo más adelante.
“Como cuando alguien apaga la luz en la escalera y la mano sigue —con confianza— el ciego pasamanos que encuentra el camino en la oscuridad”.
“Y paso en coche // ante la blanca iglesia cerrada — dentro hay un santo de madera / sonriente, desamparado, como si le hubieran quitado las gafas”.
Sin embargo, me costó conectar con gran parte de los poemas. Por momentos, lograba dejarme mecer por el oleaje de sus Bálticos, cargados de memoria e imágenes marítimas, aunque no conseguía sumergirme del todo. La falla es mía, por supuesto. Reconozco la maestría de Tranströmer, pero también que yo no estaba listo para apreciarla como se merece. Voy a probar de nuevo más adelante.
“Como cuando alguien apaga la luz en la escalera y la mano sigue —con confianza— el ciego pasamanos que encuentra el camino en la oscuridad”.
June 16, 2025
¡El rey de la metáfora!
March 29, 2018
Из "Есенен архипелаг"
Човекът е врата, открехната
към стая за всички други хора...
***
От планината имам изглед към фиорда.
Там корабчетата спят върху повърхността на лятото.
"Сомнамбули с мачти сме. Блуждаещи луни" –
така говорят белите платна...
***
Лежа, ще спя и аз. Но виждам тайнствени картини
и знаци, които сами се драскат зад моите клепачи
по зида на нощта. А в процепа между съня и будността
едно писмо голямо напразно прави опит да се пъхне...
Тумас Транстрьомер
(превод: Вера Ганчева, 1981)
Човекът е врата, открехната
към стая за всички други хора...
***
От планината имам изглед към фиорда.
Там корабчетата спят върху повърхността на лятото.
"Сомнамбули с мачти сме. Блуждаещи луни" –
така говорят белите платна...
***
Лежа, ще спя и аз. Но виждам тайнствени картини
и знаци, които сами се драскат зад моите клепачи
по зида на нощта. А в процепа между съня и будността
едно писмо голямо напразно прави опит да се пъхне...
Тумас Транстрьомер
(превод: Вера Ганчева, 1981)
April 11, 2020
Tal vez valoro el doble estos libros que leo durante el encierro. Poemas como “Sobre la historia”, “Expreso”; una mirada sobre la dicha de tomarse un café, “Sobre la historia”, “Carillón” o “Schubertiana” son grandes lecciones sobre el tiempo, la música, los espacios domésticos y la naturaleza. Poemas que ayudan a detener la tiranía del tiempo.
April 23, 2017
I won't lie and say that I'm any sort of expert in poetry. I also won't try to give any sort of critical, insightful analysis of this collection based on knowledge of poetry, of which I have very little. All I can say is that I immensely enjoyed reading this group of poems and the essays that accompany it in this tidy little volume.
My experience with poetry is quite limited, restricted almost exclusively to my poet wife's recommendations for me. In our years together, she has rightly predicted my enjoyment of the works of Phillip Levine, C.K. Williams, Seamus Heaney, and several others. I can't pretend to have nearly the vocabulary or erudition of poetry to explain exactly why I like these particular poets, beyond a sense of enjoying their use of imagery and the immense richness of their language usage. "Baltics" fits right in with her past suggestions for me.
I can also say that the introduction and essays included in this volume offer a nice bit of context for this work and poet Transtromer. I would imagine that anyone interested in his work would find this the definitive English translation.
My experience with poetry is quite limited, restricted almost exclusively to my poet wife's recommendations for me. In our years together, she has rightly predicted my enjoyment of the works of Phillip Levine, C.K. Williams, Seamus Heaney, and several others. I can't pretend to have nearly the vocabulary or erudition of poetry to explain exactly why I like these particular poets, beyond a sense of enjoying their use of imagery and the immense richness of their language usage. "Baltics" fits right in with her past suggestions for me.
I can also say that the introduction and essays included in this volume offer a nice bit of context for this work and poet Transtromer. I would imagine that anyone interested in his work would find this the definitive English translation.
October 8, 2011
So damn good.
April 14, 2015
Meget smuk lyrisk skildring af Transtrømer morfar. Men bliver nok nødt til at læse den igen.
February 22, 2026
Tomas Tranströmerin vuonna 1974 kirjoittama viisiosainen runoteos Östersjöar on melko lailla melankolinen runosikermä, joka nimensäkin perusteella sijoittuu pitkin poikin Itämerta ja sen Ruotsin-puoleista rannikkoseutua, jolloin myös meren tuulet elollistetaan.
Alkuun mennään Itämerelle ja luotsiveneen syövereihin ihan kuin pintaa syvemmälle, kun päästään aistimaan meren henkäyksiä ihmissydämen tapaan sykkivään konehuoneeseen.
Täältä kulkeudutaan saaristolaistunnelmiin tuulen humistessa ja kuiskiessa lyyrisen minän ja lukijan tajuntaan käyden dialogia niin elävien kuin kuolleiden kanssa. Kertomukset seuraavat toisiaan, ja hautausmaan portit narisevat ja ollaan ikään kuin skandinaavissa tunnelmissa Spoon Riverin melankolioiden tapaan.
Nyt onkin luontevaa siirtyä kalmistosta ristin ja alttaritaulun juurelle yön hämärissä, kun varjot seuraavat omia varjojaan, menneiden vuosisatojen ja taistelujen tauotessa niin Pohjolassa kuin Somaliassakin.
Menneisyyden painolastia tutkaillaan Leen puolelta, kun ollaankin ihan konkreettisesti luonnon äärellä, riekaleisen lipun liehuessa jossain silokallion perukoilla.
Toiseksi viimeinen osio olikin mielestäni mielenkiintoisin, sillä siinä lyyrinen minä kamppailee metatekstin eli oman kirjoittamisen vaikeuksiensa kanssa, ja pelottavana esimerkkinä on tuttu säveltäjä, jonka tarina päättyy surumielisesti aivoverenvuodon jälkiaallokossa minän kirjoittaessa runojaan.
Palataan miltei tuhannen vuoden taa ja jälleen nykyhetkeen, jolloin luovuuden ehtyminen ei saa enää kirjoituskoneen värinauhaakaan tottelemaan omaa tahtoa. Vastaavuus löytyy ilta-auringosta ja horisontissa siintävän pilvinauhan kadotessa ulottumattomiin – tyhjät sanat eivät tunnu tarttuvan enää mihinkään niin kuin ei säveltäjänkään sävelet pääse enää tämän mielen vankilasta.
Viimeinen sikermä sitoo jälleen teoksen ikään kuin yksiin kansiin, kun alkuun oltiin luotsiveneen ja sukulaisen kyydissä. Nyt allegorinen matka taittuu omaan menneisyyteen ja välähdykseen, kun isoäiti, palkaton piika, kyyristelee kuolinhetkenään ihan kuin hänen rapistunut aittansa meren äärellä jäkälien kirjaillessa tuntemattomin kirjaimin rosoista tiilikattoa…
Alkuun mennään Itämerelle ja luotsiveneen syövereihin ihan kuin pintaa syvemmälle, kun päästään aistimaan meren henkäyksiä ihmissydämen tapaan sykkivään konehuoneeseen.
Täältä kulkeudutaan saaristolaistunnelmiin tuulen humistessa ja kuiskiessa lyyrisen minän ja lukijan tajuntaan käyden dialogia niin elävien kuin kuolleiden kanssa. Kertomukset seuraavat toisiaan, ja hautausmaan portit narisevat ja ollaan ikään kuin skandinaavissa tunnelmissa Spoon Riverin melankolioiden tapaan.
Nyt onkin luontevaa siirtyä kalmistosta ristin ja alttaritaulun juurelle yön hämärissä, kun varjot seuraavat omia varjojaan, menneiden vuosisatojen ja taistelujen tauotessa niin Pohjolassa kuin Somaliassakin.
Menneisyyden painolastia tutkaillaan Leen puolelta, kun ollaankin ihan konkreettisesti luonnon äärellä, riekaleisen lipun liehuessa jossain silokallion perukoilla.
Toiseksi viimeinen osio olikin mielestäni mielenkiintoisin, sillä siinä lyyrinen minä kamppailee metatekstin eli oman kirjoittamisen vaikeuksiensa kanssa, ja pelottavana esimerkkinä on tuttu säveltäjä, jonka tarina päättyy surumielisesti aivoverenvuodon jälkiaallokossa minän kirjoittaessa runojaan.
Palataan miltei tuhannen vuoden taa ja jälleen nykyhetkeen, jolloin luovuuden ehtyminen ei saa enää kirjoituskoneen värinauhaakaan tottelemaan omaa tahtoa. Vastaavuus löytyy ilta-auringosta ja horisontissa siintävän pilvinauhan kadotessa ulottumattomiin – tyhjät sanat eivät tunnu tarttuvan enää mihinkään niin kuin ei säveltäjänkään sävelet pääse enää tämän mielen vankilasta.
Viimeinen sikermä sitoo jälleen teoksen ikään kuin yksiin kansiin, kun alkuun oltiin luotsiveneen ja sukulaisen kyydissä. Nyt allegorinen matka taittuu omaan menneisyyteen ja välähdykseen, kun isoäiti, palkaton piika, kyyristelee kuolinhetkenään ihan kuin hänen rapistunut aittansa meren äärellä jäkälien kirjaillessa tuntemattomin kirjaimin rosoista tiilikattoa…
August 20, 2026
(3.9) Caveat: If searching for his books, make sure you write Tranströmer(even if without the ö), and double-check that it didn’t auto-correct to Transformer. I was searching and kept getting stuff like Optimus Prime and Megatron toys!
However, this particular publication of the book is certainly 5 star worthy. It’s basically the ideal form and publication of a book of poetry. On one side there’s the English translation and the other side is the original Swedish. The translator and his wife were friends with the poet, and he worked with him to translate the poem, and there’s even a photo essay by the translator’s wife after the poem with photos of the translator and Tranströmer and a family get-together; there’s even photos of a few certain specific places mentioned in the poem itself. And an afterward. And an introduction or two. This is probably one of the most fortunate publications of a poem: imagine how wonderful it would be to have all those things with a book by your favorite poet or novelist. It would be wonderful. The problem is, I was probably more satisfied seeing the photos, and reading about the friendship with Tranströmer than I was with the actual poem. Probably because the poem didn’t sit on its own: there was all this other cool stuff alongside it.
It was a good poem overall. Shorter than I expected to be honest.
“And peace can come drop by drop, perhaps at night
when we don't know anything,
or as when we're taped to a drip in a hospital ward.”
“I don't know if we're in the beginning or in the final stage.
No conclusion can be made, no conclusion is possible.”
However, this particular publication of the book is certainly 5 star worthy. It’s basically the ideal form and publication of a book of poetry. On one side there’s the English translation and the other side is the original Swedish. The translator and his wife were friends with the poet, and he worked with him to translate the poem, and there’s even a photo essay by the translator’s wife after the poem with photos of the translator and Tranströmer and a family get-together; there’s even photos of a few certain specific places mentioned in the poem itself. And an afterward. And an introduction or two. This is probably one of the most fortunate publications of a poem: imagine how wonderful it would be to have all those things with a book by your favorite poet or novelist. It would be wonderful. The problem is, I was probably more satisfied seeing the photos, and reading about the friendship with Tranströmer than I was with the actual poem. Probably because the poem didn’t sit on its own: there was all this other cool stuff alongside it.
It was a good poem overall. Shorter than I expected to be honest.
“And peace can come drop by drop, perhaps at night
when we don't know anything,
or as when we're taped to a drip in a hospital ward.”
“I don't know if we're in the beginning or in the final stage.
No conclusion can be made, no conclusion is possible.”
July 10, 2018
Det er sjældent jeg læser nobelpristagere, uanset genre, og ikke forstår hvad de kan - uanset om jeg kan lide det eller ej. Men her tænker jeg "nå". Der er selvfølgelig digtenes hemmelige kode, der lover dybere mening for den, der analyserer til bunds - men der er intet der lokker til at ville vide mere. Sprogligt er der smukke billeder, men nå.
Måske er det ikke Den Store Kanoniserede Nobelprismodtagende Digters bedste? Måske er det en lidt for hurtig oversættelse? Måske er det smukt på Svensk? Måske stak de ham en Nobelpris fordi de i så mange år alle havde været enige om at han var verdenmester hjemme i Sverige?
Hvis du har svaret, eller kan anbefale et andet værk - så sig til!
Måske er det ikke Den Store Kanoniserede Nobelprismodtagende Digters bedste? Måske er det en lidt for hurtig oversættelse? Måske er det smukt på Svensk? Måske stak de ham en Nobelpris fordi de i så mange år alle havde været enige om at han var verdenmester hjemme i Sverige?
Hvis du har svaret, eller kan anbefale et andet værk - så sig til!
May 25, 2024
Pidempiä runoja kuin Tranströmerin siihen astisessa tuotannossa. Viides runo on mielenkiintoinen, siinä hän aivan kuin katsoisi tulevaisuuteen, kirjoittaa aivoinfarktin saavasta ihmisestä: ”Silloin hän saa aivoverenvuodon: oikeanpuoleinen halvaus ja afasia / hän ymmärtää vain lyhyitä fraaseja, sanoo vääriä sanoja”.
Itämeriä ei nouse minun asteikollani Tranströmerin kokoelmien parhaimmistoon, mutta kiehtova se sittenkin on.
(Luettu teoksesta Kootut teokset, Tammi 2011. Suom. Caj Westerberg.)
Itämeriä ei nouse minun asteikollani Tranströmerin kokoelmien parhaimmistoon, mutta kiehtova se sittenkin on.
(Luettu teoksesta Kootut teokset, Tammi 2011. Suom. Caj Westerberg.)
March 5, 2020
I Probably have to revisit this and read again, to get a bit more understanding and enjoyment from it, and see if the reading experience differentiates from listening to it.
It's certainly short enough to want to do that.
It's certainly short enough to want to do that.
April 23, 2022
Este libro tienen una poesía que contiene más metáforas a comparación de la antología poética de Szymborska, aún así me gustaron algunos poemas, sin embargo, con otros me fue necesario releerlos y analizarlos a profundidad para capturar su escencia.
August 20, 2025
Disfruté mucho leerlo, especialmente esos poemas que hablaban de los últimos días de acosto, donde "los grillos patean furiosamente en las máquinas de coser de sí mismos" porque afuera de mi ventana eso mismo escuché.
August 24, 2017
A decent long poem, but a bit flimsy as a book.
November 15, 2017
Vackert, gripande och fantastiskt att lyssna till.
May 3, 2019
Ljudutgåvan är lång som en lunchpromenad
May 11, 2019
Re-read. Still great. Still very touching, memorable, and moving.
January 19, 2021
Excelentes poemas
August 7, 2022
La música es una casa de cristal en la ladera
donde vuelan las piedras, ruedan las piedras.
Y las piedras atraviesan la casa rodando
pero todos los cristales quedan intactos.
donde vuelan las piedras, ruedan las piedras.
Y las piedras atraviesan la casa rodando
pero todos los cristales quedan intactos.
August 15, 2022
Estoy segura de qué hay gente a la que le gusto este poemario pero los poemas no son para mi
October 13, 2022
Lyssnade på författarens egen inläsning i Biblio. Det gjorde upplevelsen starkare. Som ett pussel av fina bilder sammanknutna av Östersjön.
February 5, 2022
Un bueno libro para iniciar en la poesía, Tranströmer hace un trabajo perfecto en la mostrarnos los pasajes que va describiendo.
May 6, 2012
A good introduction to Transtromer and his work that includes commentary by translator Sam Charters and a photo essay and commentary by Ann Charters, all in addition to the long poem "Baltics." The poem seems short because it encompasses so much of Transtromer in the fabric of several generations in relationship to "that wonderful labyrinth of islands and water" that give the Baltic region its flavor Even "in the middle of the forest, the Baltic also sighs." Thought condensed in simple language captures the ephemeral in the real. I read the 2012 copy.
February 10, 2013
Östersjöar o "Bálticos" merece por sí solo el Nobel de literatura y sobre todo, poniéndonos borgianos, estar dentro de la biblioteca universal de todos los grandes poemas que han sido escritos a través del tiempo.
June 28, 2013
Почти я преписах ... Красота и изящество!
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews