Johannes Edfelt

John Edfelt ( born December 21, 1904 in Kyrkefalla, community Tibro, † 27 August 1997 ) was a Swedish poet and critic who, among other things with his translations and essays tried to Sweden almost bring the German literature.

Life and literature

Bo John Edfelt attended high school in Skara and then studied German, Nordic philology and literary history at Uppsala University and Stockholm University. For a short time he taught at a high school, and later he lived not far from Stockholm as a freelance writer. He was a staunch opponent of National Socialism. From 1957 to 1967 he was chairman of the Swedish PEN Club and since 1969 a member of the Swedish Academy, where he held the seat No. 17. He was also a member of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts.

Edfelt wrote poetry - he was known for his 1934 published work Högmässa ( High Mass ) - and worked as a translator. So he translated as T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Georg Trakl, Novalis and Andreas Gryphius. " Is unmistakable in his poetry the affinity to the German lyric of Kästner, Trakl, Heym and Loerke. " His poetry acts bitter, concentrated and illusions. Högmässa is constructed according to the ritual of Christian worship, his statements dry and factual. For example, the work contains the poem Kalla koraler ( Cold chorales ), which is modeled on a spiritual nursery rhyme, but the author conveys is no assurance of faith, but feelings of uncertainty, threat and fear.

Edfelt was a critic and has written essays in which he presented his country's European and especially the German poetry of the last centuries, among other things, he wrote two books on Heinrich Heine. He was convinced of the importance of the poetry of Nelly Sachs. " It is hard to fail in the presumption that he one of the driving forces behind the Nobel Prize was in the Swedish Academy for her, as well as Heinrich Böll and Elias Canetti. "

Awards

Works

Swedish first publications

Poetry

  • Gryningsröster 1923
  • Unga dagar 1925
  • Ansikten 1929
  • Aftonunderhållning 1932
  • Högmässa 1934
  • I Denna natt 1936
  • Järnålder 1937
  • Vinternal är lång 1939
  • Sång promote reskamrater 1941
  • Elden och klyftan 1943
  • Bråddjupt eko 1947
  • Hemliga slagfält 1952
  • Under Saturnus 1956
  • Utblick 1958
  • Insyn 1962
  • Ådernät 1968
  • Dagar och nätter 1983
  • Följeslagare 1989
  • Mötesplatser 1992
  • Brännpunkter 1996
  • Dikter 2004

Prose

  • Dostojevski 1936
  • Strövtåg 1941
  • Heinrich Heine 1955
  • Arens spegel 1963
  • Birger Sjöberg 1971
  • Profiler och episoder 1973

German -language editions

  • The shadow fishermen. Selected poems. From Swedish by Nelly Sachs Buchner Verlag, Dusseldorf and Darmstadt 1960
  • Poems. From Swedish by Erich Furreg. Bergland, Vienna 1964

Quote

" [ Edfelts ] concentrated, solid shaped poetry achieved with the simplest means largest effects. The suggestive imagery has a dark tone of alienation and cold. "

German -language secondary literature

  • Jessen, Henry, John Edfelt. Support of Henrik Steffens Prize 1967 In: . Views. Newsletter of the German foreign company. No. 18 (May 1967), H. 1/2, pp. 9-12.
  • Gustav Korlen: Our last poet. On the death of John Edfelt. In: . Yearbook 1997 German Academy for Language and Literature, Darmstadt, ISBN 3-89244-285-1.
  • Edfelt, John. In: Gero von Wilpert (ed.): Encyclopedia of World Literature A- K. German Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-423-59050-5.
  • Artur Bethke, Horst Bien include: North European literatures. VEB Bibliographic Institute Leipzig, 1980.
Tibro Municipality PEN International T. S. Eliot Georg Heym Carl Michael Bellman Nils Ferlin Integrated Authority File
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