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Tomas Tranströmer
Tomas Tranströmer
	Tranströmer in 2012
Born	Tomas Gösta Tranströmer; 15 April 1931; Stockholm, Sweden
Died	26 March 2015 (aged 83); Stockholm, Sweden
Occupation	Poet; psychologist;
Alma mater	Stockholm University
Period	1954–2015
Notable works	The Half-Finished Heaven; Windows and Stones; Baltics; For the Living and the Dead; The Sorrow Gondola;
Notable awards	Nobel Prize in Literature ; 2011 ;
Spouse	Monika Bladh

Tomas Gösta Tranströmer (Swedish: [ˈtʊ̌mːas ˈjœ̂sːta ˈtrâːnˌstrœmːɛr]; 15 April 1931 – 26 March 2015) was a Swedish poet, psychologist and translator.^[1] His poems captured the long winters in Sweden, the rhythm of the seasons and the palpable, atmospheric beauty of nature.^[2] Tranströmer's work is also characterized by a sense of mystery and wonder underlying the routine of everyday life, a quality which often gives his poems a religious dimension.^[3] He has been described as a Christian poet.^[4]

Tranströmer is acclaimed as one of the most important Scandinavian writers since the Second World War. Critics praised his poetry for its accessibility, even in translation.^[2] His poetry has been translated into over 60 languages.^[2] He was the recipient of the 1990 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, the 2004 International Nonino Prize, and the 2011 Nobel Prize in Literature.^[5]

Life and work

Early life

Tranströmer was born in Stockholm in 1931 and raised by his mother Helmy, a schoolteacher, following her divorce from his father, Gösta Tranströmer, an editor.^[5]^[6] He received his secondary education at the Södra Latin Gymnasium in Stockholm, where he began writing poetry. In addition to selected journal publications, his first collection of poems, 17 Poems, was published in 1954. He continued his education at Stockholm University, graduating as a psychologist in 1956 with additional studies in history, religion and literature.^[7] Between 1960 and 1966, Tranströmer split his time between working as a psychologist at the Roxtuna centre for juvenile delinquents (sv) and writing poetry.^[5] He also worked as a psychologist at the Labor Market Institute in Västerås from 1965 to 1990.^[8]

Poetry

Tranströmer is considered to be one of the "most influential Scandinavian poet[s] of recent decades".^[5] Tranströmer published 15 collected works over his extensive career, which have been translated into over 60 languages.^[5] An English translation by Robin Fulton of his entire body of work, New Collected Poems, was published in the UK in 1987 and expanded in 1997. Following the publication of The Great Enigma, Fulton's edition was further expanded into The Great Enigma: New Collected Poems, published in the US in 2006 and as an updated edition of New Collected Poems^[9] in the UK in 2011. He published a short autobiography, Minnena ser mig (The Memories see me), in 1993.

By the mid-1960s, Tranströmer became close friends with poet Robert Bly. The two corresponded frequently, and Bly would translate Tranströmer's poems into English. In 2001 Bonniers, Tranströmer's publisher, released Air Mail, a work consisting of Tranströmer's and Bly's day-to-day correspondence on personal, contemporary and literary matters c. 1965–1991 – in a style that vividly conveyed how close friends the two had soon become.^[5] Bly also helped arrange readings for his fellow poet in America. The Syrian poet Adunis helped spread Tranströmer's fame in the Arab world, accompanying him on reading tours.^[10]

Tranströmer (right) with Iraqi-Swedish artist Modhir Ahmed, 2007

In the 1970s, other poets accused Tranströmer of being detached from his own age, since he did not deal overtly with social and political issues in his poems and novels. His work, though, lies within and further develops the Modernist and Expressionist/Surrealist language of 20th-century poetry; his clear, seemingly simple pictures from everyday life and nature, in particular, reveals a mystic insight to the universal aspects of the human mind. A poem of his was read at Anna Lindh's memorial service in 2003.^[11]

Tranströmer went to Bhopal immediately after the gas tragedy in 1984, and alongside Indian poets such as K. Satchidanandan, took part in a poetry reading session outside the plant.^[12]

Tranströmer suffered a stroke in 1990 that left him partially paralyzed and unable to speak; however, he continued to write and publish poetry through the early 2000s. One of his final original volumes of poetry, Den stora gåtan, was published in 2004, and translated into English in 2006 as The Great Enigma.

Music

Tranströmer played the piano throughout his life; after his stroke, which paralyzed the right side of his body, he taught himself to play only with his left hand. He often said that the playing was a way for him to continue living after the stroke.^[6]^[13]^[14]^[15]

Tranströmer's daughter Emma is a concert singer. In 2011 she released the album Dagsmeja, containing songs based on Tranströmer's poems.^[16]

Many composers and musicians have worked with his poems. Among these are Jan Garbarek, Ulf Grahn, Madeleine Isaksson, Margareta Hallin, Lars Edlund, Sven-David Sandström, Jan Sandström and Anders Eliasson.^[17]

Death

Tranströmer died in Stockholm on 26 March 2015 at 83.^[18]

List of works

Books of poetry

17 Poems (17 dikter), Bonniers, 1954
Secrets on the Way (Hemligheter på vägen), Bonnier, 1958
The Half-Finished Heaven (Den halvfärdiga himlen), Bonnier, 1962
Bells and Tracks (Klanger och spår), Bonnier, 1966
Seeing in the Dark (Mörkerseende), Författarförlaget, 1970
Paths (Stigar), Författarförlaget, 1973, ISBN 978-91-7054-110-0
Baltics (Östersjöar), Bonnier, 1974
The Truthbarrier (Sanningsbarriären), Bonnier, 1978, ISBN 978-91-0-043684-1
The Wild Market Square (Det vilda torget) Bonnier, 1983, ISBN 978-91-0-046048-8
For the Living and the Dead (För levande och döda), Bonnier, 1989
The Sorrow Gondola (Sorgegondolen), Bonnier, 1996, ISBN 978-91-0-056232-8
Prison (Fängelse), Edition Edda, 2001 (from 1959), ISBN 978-91-89352-10-0
The Great Enigma (Den stora gåtan), Bonnier, 2004, ISBN 978-91-0-010310-1

Other

Memories Look at Me (Minnena ser mig), Bonnier, 1993, prose memoir ISBN 978-91-0-055716-4
Air Mail: Brev 1964-1990, Bonnier, 2001, correspondence with Robert Bly ISBN 978-91-0-057384-3
Galleriet: Reflected in Vecka nr. II (2007), an artist book by Modhir Ahmed

Translations of his work

in English

Twenty Poems tr. Robert Bly, Seventies Press, 1970^[19]
Night Vision: Mörkerseende tr. Robert Bly, London Magazine Editions, 1972, SBN 900626 74 7
Windows and Stones tr. May Swenson & Leif Sjoberg, University of Pittsburgh Press, 1972; ISBN 978-0-8229-3241-3
Selected Poems, Tomas Tranströmer, tr. Robin Fulton, (included with Paavo Haavikko), Penguin Modern European Poets, 1974; ISBN 978-0140421576
Baltics: Östersjöar, tr. Samuel Charters, Oyez, Berkeley, 1975 ISBN 978-0-903375-51-1; new edition Tavern Books 2012, ISBN 978-1-935635-14-7
Baltics: Östersjöar, tr. Robin Fulton, Oasis Books, London, 1980; ISBN 0-903375-51-6
Selected Poems, translator Robin Fulton, Ardis Publishers, 1981, ISBN 978-0-88233-462-2
The Blue House: Prose Poems, Thunder City Press, 1983
The Wild Market Square: Det vilda torget tr. John F. Deane, Dedalus Press, Dublin, 1985; ISBN 0-948268-05-0
Collected Poems, Translator Robin Fulton, Bloodaxe Books, 1987, ISBN 978-1-85224-023-3
Tomas Tranströmer: Selected Poems, 1954–1986, Editor Robert Hass, Publisher Ecco Press, 1987 ISBN 978-0-88001-113-6
Sorrow Gondola: Sorgegondolen, tr. Robin Fulton, Dufour Editions, 1994, ISBN 978-1-873790-48-9; Dufour Editions, Incorporated, 1997, ISBN 978-0-8023-9070-7
For the Living and the Dead: För levande och döda, tr. John F. Deane; The Dedalus Press, Dublin, 1994; ISBN 1-873790-48-1
New Collected Poems tr. Robin Fulton, Bloodaxe Books, 1997, ISBN 978-1-85224-413-2
Selected Poems Transtromer, Translator May Swenson, Eric Sellin, HarperCollins, 1999, ISBN 978-0-88001-403-8
The Half-Finished Heaven tr. Robert Bly, Graywolf Press, 2001, ISBN 978-1-55597-351-3
The Deleted World tr. Robin Robertson, Enitharmon Press, 2006, ISBN 978-1-904634-48-5; Enitharmon Press, 2006, ISBN 978-1-904634-51-5
The Great Enigma: New Collected Poems. Translated by Robin Fulton. New Directions. 2006. ISBN 978-0-8112-1672-2.; republished 2011^[20]
The Sorrow Gondola tr. Michael McGriff and Mikaela Grassl, Green Integer, 2010, ISBN 978-1-933382-44-9
The Deleted World tr. Robin Robertson, Farrar, Straus and Giroux USA, Enitharmon Press UK, 2011; ISBN 978-0374533533
New Collected Poems tr. Robin Fulton, expanded edition Bloodaxe Books, 2011, ISBN 978-1-85224-413-2
Inspired Notes, tr. John F. Deane, Dedalus Press, Dublin, 2011 (combining his 1985 and 1994 translations above); ISBN 978-1906614539
Bright Scythe: Selected Poems by Tomas Tranströmer, tr. Patty Crane, Bilingual edition, Sarabande Books, 2015; ISBN 978-1941411216
The Blue House: Collected Works of Tomas Tranströmer, tr. Patty Crane, Bilingual edition, Copper Canyon Press, 2023; ISBN 978-1556596858

in other languages

Milan Richter has translated Tranströmer into Czech
J. Bernlef has translated Tranströmer's entire work of poetry into Dutch.
Jacques Outin translated them into French.
Hanns Grössel has translated several works of Tranströmer into German.
Galit Hasan-Rokem has translated Tranströmer's entire work of poetry into Hebrew.
Maria Cristina Lombardi translated some works of Tranströmer into Italian.
Eiko Duke-Soei has translated The Sorrow Gondola into Japanese.
Morteza Saghafian has translated Tranströmer's work into Persian.
Leonard Neuger has translated several of Tranströmer's anthologies into Polish.
Dan Shafran has translated A Page of the Night-Book (Nattboksblad) Pagini din cartea nopții: poeme (Polirom, 2003) and The Great Enigma (Den stora gåtan) Taina cea mare (Polirom, 2005) into Romanian.
Milan Richter has translated the collected poems of Tranströmer into Slovak (Medzi allegrom a lamentom, 2001)
Roberto Mascaró has translated Tranströmer's work into Spanish.