[New-Poetry] . Best NonAmerican Poetry (Suzanne Baran) (David Graham): Thoma Transtromer

[elemenope at icubed.com]

There is a difference between what a man and poet (Mr. Transtromer) said
word for word and what he came across as saying or how the force of his
expression impressed me.  What was unusual, out of the ordinary, was that
he was so fulsome and expansive in what was after all a very large
cocktail party.  He had just giving a major public reading with Bill
Merwin, who was standing across the room receiving many friendly
inquiries.  Transtromer was quite different.  It was as if I was
encountering someone in another type of setting, maybe a park bench, maybe
an insane asylum, and he was just letting me know what was going on in his
head at that moment regardless of whatever, whoever, was going on around
him.  I didn't know at that moment whether to be flattered or to be
alarmed.  (There was a secondary reason to be alarmed which I will get to
in a future post.)  I am usually quite sedate at gatherings of this kind,
seeing them as professional events.  But, there is a sub sub sub type of
poet, Transtromer, Corso, who emerge anew in such passages.  Today the
term is: Living Large.  Anyway, Mr. Transtromer covered quite a lot of
ground including certain problems he was having with a woman.  Remember,
in the part of the world he comes from, men and women are still getting
involved with each other in the old fashioned way.  It was this cross
cultural area we were evaluating.

RD

> Message: 12
> Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2006 17:20:35 -0800
> From: "Suzanne Baran" <screwzbaran at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [New-Poetry] . Best NonAmerican Poetry (David Graham):
> 	Thomas	Transtromer
>

>
> Message: 15
> Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2006 22:36:24 -0600
> From: David Graham <grahamd at ripon.edu>
> Subject: [New-Poetry] Transtromer encounters
>
>
> I met Transtromer once, too--must have been close to 30 years ago.
> I'm pretty sure I posted the poem I wrote about that encounter at
> some point.  I was thoroughly impressed with the man--was then, am
> now.  If anyone deserves the Nobel Prize. . . . I hear he's been on
> the short list for a while, and every year I hope to hear his name
> announced.
>
> Sadly, his recent output has been sparse--due I think to the massive
> stroke he suffered back in 1990.  The most recent stuff in the new
> collected is a haiku sequence from 2004.
>
>
>
>
> On Dec 13, 2006, at 7:17 PM, elemenope at icubed.com wrote:
>
>> I met Transtromer.  Sat with him on a bench along a wall during a big
>> literary party.  He had trouble with "reality" and discussed this
>> issue
>> thoroughly, without letup.  I listened, as I have ended up doing
>> with the
>> poets, attentively.  He was a man of sweeping insights.  I have
>> more to
>> say, but let it wait for another moment.
>>
>> R.D.
>>
>> Message: 16
> Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2006 06:31:23 -0500
> From: "Bob Grumman" <bobgrumman at nut-n-but.net>
> Subject: Re: [New-Poetry] Transtromer
>
> What have you read by Transtromer, Bob?
>
>   What makes him not just another mainstreamer, David?  Whether he is or
> not has nothing to do with whether or not I've read anything by him.  In
> fact, simply the fact that you think he's a superior poet makes it
> impossible for him NOT to be just another mainstreamer.  Like Heaney.
> But I would make that, "just another quite good mainstreamer."
>
>   I would add that I think it possible that the best American or
> Americanized (by translation) poet might be a mainstream.  But he'd have
> to be a mainstreamer doing more than the other good mainstreamers, or
> writing consistently at some higher level.  Wilbur would be in the
> running.  He does not seem to me just another mainstreamer.
>
>   To answer your question, I've only read the sample poem you submitted,
> and a few other translations that have shown up on the web.  If I were
> doing a critique of his work, I'd read a few more, probably.  The
> opinion I advanced was not intended as some kind of final judgement,
> just an offhand opinion.
>
>   --Bob G.

>
> Message: 17
> Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2006 08:31:28 -0600
> From: David Graham <grahamd at ripon.edu>
> Subject: [New-Poetry] Re: Transtromer
> T"
>
> Thanks for the clarification, Bob.  It must save a lot of time not to
> read any of the books one has opinions about.  I'll have to try it
> sometime.
>
>
> On Dec 14, 2006, at 5:31 AM, Bob Grumman wrote:
>
>> What have you read by Transtromer, Bob?
>>
>> What makes him not just another mainstreamer, David?  Whether he is
>> or not has nothing to do with whether or not I've read anything by
>> him.  In fact, simply the fact that you think he's a superior poet
>> makes it impossible for him NOT to be just another mainstreamer.
>> Like Heaney.  But I would make that, "just another quite good
>> mainstreamer."
>>
>> I would add that I think it possible that the best American or
>> Americanized (by translation) poet might be a mainstream.  But he'd
>> have to be a mainstreamer doing more than the other good
>> mainstreamers, or writing consistently at some higher level.
>> Wilbur would be in the running.  He does not seem to me just
>> another mainstreamer.
>>
>> To answer your question, I've only read the sample poem you
>> submitted, and a few other translations that have shown up on the
>> web.  If I were doing a critique of his work, I'd read a few more,
>> probably.  The opinion I advanced was not intended as some kind of
>> final judgement, just an offhand opinion.
>>
>> --Bob G.
>>