Slutten og begynnelsen : Utvalgte dikt 1945-1993

by Wisława Szymborska, Agnes Banach (Translator)

Wisława Szymborskas poesi kjennetegnes av en presis og tilsynelatende enkel stil. Hun skriver virkelighetsnært, men med et underliggjørende, bevissthetsutvidende perspektiv. Ofte tenker hun ut en ny utgave av verden og vier stor oppmerksomhet til det hun kaller «hverdagsundre». Til tross for hennes uanstrengte dialog med den vestlige kulturarven er det viktig å ha i mente at Szymborska utviklet sitt skarpe blikk og intellekt i et Polen bak jernteppet etter andre verdenskrig. Hennes poesi er et vitnesbyrd om en tid som ikke må glemmes.

Diktene i foreliggende utvalg spenner fra 1940- til 1990-tallet: fra Szymborskas tidligste dikt – skrevet i årene 1944–1948 og utgitt posthumt i Svart sang (2014) – til Slutten og begynnelsen (1993), Szymborskas første utgivelse etter Berlinmurens fall og den siste før hun ble tildelt Nobelprisen i 1996. Hovedvekten i utvalget er fra perioden 1957–1993, som regnes som den sterkeste i forfatterskapet. Utvalget gir norske lesere et mer fullstendig bilde av Szymborskas utvikling som poet, der den historiske konteksten er med som et bakteppe, uten å forminske diktningens universelle slagkraft.

Gjendiktet og med etterord av Agnes Banach.

Genres: Poetry

148 pages, Paperback

First published January 5, 2026

About the author

Wisława Szymborska (Polish pronunciation: [vʲisˈwava ʂɨmˈbɔrska], born July 2, 1923 in Kórnik, Poland) is a Polish poet, essayist, and translator. She was awarded the 1996 Nobel Prize in Literature. In Poland, her books reach sales rivaling prominent prose authors—although she once remarked in a poem entitled "Some like poetry" [Niektórzy lubią poezję] that no more than two out of a thousand people care for the art.

Szymborska frequently employs literary devices such as irony, paradox, contradiction, and understatement, to illuminate philosophical themes and obsessions. Szymborska's compact poems often conjure large existential puzzles, touching on issues of ethical import, and reflecting on the condition of people both as individuals and as members of human society. Szymborska's style is succinct and marked by introspection and wit.

Szymborska's reputation rests on a relatively small body of work: she has not published more than 250 poems to date. She is often described as modest to the point of shyness[citation needed]. She has long been cherished by Polish literary contemporaries (including Czesław Miłosz) and her poetry has been set to music by Zbigniew Preisner. Szymborska became better known internationally after she was awarded the 1996 Nobel Prize. Szymborska's work has been translated into many European languages, as well as into Arabic, Hebrew, Japanese and Chinese.

In 1931, Szymborska's family moved to Kraków. She has been linked with this city, where she studied, worked.

When World War II broke out in 1939, she continued her education in underground lessons. From 1943, she worked as a railroad employee and managed to avoid being deported to Germany as a forced labourer. It was during this time that her career as an artist began with illustrations for an English-language textbook. She also began writing stories and occasional poems.

Beginning in 1945, Szymborska took up studies of Polish language and literature before switching to sociology at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. There she soon became involved in the local writing scene, and met and was influenced by Czesław Miłosz. In March 1945, she published her first poem Szukam słowa ("I seek the word") in the daily paper Dziennik Polski; her poems continued to be published in various newspapers and periodicals for a number of years. In 1948 she quit her studies without a degree, due to her poor financial circumstances; the same year, she married poet Adam Włodek, whom she divorced in 1954. At that time, she was working as a secretary for an educational biweekly magazine as well as an illustrator.

During Stalinism in Poland in 1953 she participated in the defamation of Catholic priests from Kraków who were groundlessly condemned by the ruling Communists to death.[1] Her first book was to be published in 1949, but did not pass censorship as it "did not meet socialist requirements." Like many other intellectuals in post-war Poland, however, Szymborska remained loyal to the PRL official ideology early in her career, signing political petitions and praising Stalin, Lenin and the realities of socialism. This attitude is seen in her debut collection Dlatego żyjemy ("That is what we are living for"), containing the poems Lenin and Młodzieży budującej Nową Hutę ("For the Youth that Builds Nowa Huta"), about the construction of a Stalinist industrial town near Kraków. She also became a member of the ruling Polish United Workers' Party.

Like many Polish intellectuals initially close to the official party line, Szymborska gradually grew estranged from socialist ideology and renounced her earlier political work. Although she did not officially leave the party until 1966, she began to establish contacts with dissidents. As early as 1957, she befriended Jerzy Giedroyc, the editor of the influential Paris-based emigré journal Kultura, to which she also contributed. In 1964 s

Reviews

[Thea Trøen Bjertnes]

Slutten og begynnelsen : Utvalgte dikt 1945-1993 av Wisława Szymborska er er et utvalg dikt fra Szymborskas forfatterskap, gjendikta til norsk av Agnes Banach. Gjendiktningen er glitrende gjennomført. I Szymborskas univers er det flere overraskende koblinger mellom elementer, og dette vekker fascinasjon hos meg som leser. Jeg er ikke sikker på at jeg forsto alt ved første gjennomlesning, men jeg kjente likevel at jeg kom nærmere Szymborskas stoff i den undringa som traff meg da jeg leste. Liker du poesi, kan jeg anbefale denne samlingen av dikt fra Wisława Szymborska.

[Ane Ellasdatter]

Jeg kan ikke å lese dikt. Jeg skjønner det ikke. Men noen av disse treffer alikevel.

[Marit]

En gang kunne vi verden utenat:
– den var liten nok til å rommes i et håndtrykk,
enkel nok til å uttrykkes i et smil,
alminnelig, som et snev av sannhet i en bønn.

[Anne Bredrup]

Quote in Norwegian:

Åpner du hvert liv
som en bok
der du aldri blir klok
på skriften
eller forsiden?
Får du med deg alt
når du leser andre?