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For the Living and the Dead

by Tomas Tranströmer, Daniel Halpern, Joanna Bankier

3.76 of 5 stars 3.76 · rating details · 33 ratings · 4 reviews

With this new volume of poetry, Tomas Transtromer once again demonstrates his gift for capturing and grounding the elusive, luminous details of our modern world. As its title suggests, For the Living and the Dead works to bridge the space between those real and unreal elements of life, suggesting that a surprising, redemptive cohesion can exist within a universe of opposin...more

Hardcover, 71 pages

Published September 1st 1995 by Ecco Press (first published 1989)

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Feb 06, 2012 K.D. Oliveros rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Veronica

Recommended to K.D. by: Angus Miranda

Shelves: nobel, poetry, memoirs

Tomas Transtromer (born 1931), a Swedish writer, poet and translator, won the Nobel Prize for Literature last year, 2011. He is the 108th winner of the award and the first Swede to win since 1974. It was also revealed that he had been nominated every single year since 1993. We won the award for “his condensed, translucent images that give us fresh access to reality.” Half of his body is paralyzed due to stroke in 1990 that also affected his speech. However, at the age of 81, he can still write p...more Tomas Transtromer (born 1931), a Swedish writer, poet and translator, won the Nobel Prize for Literature last year, 2011. He is the 108th winner of the award and the first Swede to win since 1974. It was also revealed that he had been nominated every single year since 1993. We won the award for “his condensed, translucent images that give us fresh access to reality.” Half of his body is paralyzed due to stroke in 1990 that also affected his speech. However, at the age of 81, he can still write poems and play the piano. He finds both activities helpful in coping up with the condition of his body.

This book, For the Living and the Dead (Swedish: För levande och döda) is not his latest work but it came out a year prior to his stroke. First published in 1989, this is a collection of his poetry and it won Nordic Council Literature Prize for that year. It is divided into three parts: Poems-Memoir-Poems. The first set of poems was about things that probably people in Sweden or Scandinavian countries would observe in their everyday living. However, I could not relate to many of them since they are about snow, winters, the middle ages. My favorite however is the poem Silence translated by Robin Fulton. Short but touching as it creates simple images that anybody could relate to.

The second part is his boyhood memoir. Very interesting life he had. Like George Orwell (recent read), his parents got divorced and he felt that despite his mother being able to support him and his siblings, he missed having a father while growing up. Probably he turned his attention to insects and he began to be fascinated by them. He spent hours and hours in the Museum of Natural History where no one normally went to visit except him. So, the owner of the museum took fancy of him and taught him so many things. He began collecting insects that was a fad with young boys during his time. Even up to now, some of those collections are still with him. From insects, he studied psychology as a profession with writing poetry as his passion since he was a boy.

The third part is another set of poems that they are mostly about his childhood. It was a nice smooth shift from reading his poignant and interesting childhood memoir. It’s like listening to a song with a narration at the start and then followed by a heartfelt rendition of a sweet song. In fact the title of the first poem is As When You Were a Child translated by Joana Bankier and I copied the poem here just to give you a sample of the poetry of Transtromer:

AS WHEN YOU WERE A CHILD

As when you were a child and some tremendous hurt
Was pulled over your head like a sack –
Glints of sunshine through the mesh
And the hum of the cherry trees.

But it doesn’t help, the great hurt
Covers head and torso and knees
And though you are able to move sometimes
Spring brings no happiness.

Yes, shimmering wool cap, pull it down over your face
Stare through the mesh.
Out on the bay, the rings of water multiply soundlessly.
Green leaves darken the earth.

I don’t know about you but I liked it. I am not really into poetry reading but if you read it aloud and really let the words grow on you, you will feel nostalgic and miss your younger years.

For his sweet poetry and what he went through in life, I feel that Tomas Transtromer richfully deserved the 2011 Nobel Prize for Literature and all the awards he is getting for his beautiful works.

God bless you, sir.
(less)

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May 10, 2013 Debra Lowman rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

If you're reading this book of poetry, you most likely already know about the man Transtromer. This is not his first book of poetry, nor his most recent. This is a collection of translated poems selected specifically for their quality in translation.

The book is organized into three parts, poems, memoir, and poems. One of my favorites in the book were Romanesque Arches.."vaults open endlessly behind vaults." Epigram was another.

I took these in small chunks over a period of a month or so. Since...more

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Apr 01, 2012 Ivette rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: poetry

Something is always lost in translation, even more so with poetry I think. The images are often stunning, but the poems just didn't speak to me. In part I only Grief Gondola No.2 touched me. The childhood memoir that is part II was very moving. Part III contained a few more poems with which I connected--A Sketch From 1844, Vermeer, Within The Walls Is Endlessness.

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Sep 18, 2012 Hafidha rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012-reading-list, poetry, paused-reading

Phenomenal. Loved his essays on his childhood.

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May 08, 2013 Jessica marked it as to-read

Shelves: poetry

Apr 27, 2013 Chloé Cheng marked it as to-read

Apr 26, 2013 Ariel rated it 5 of 5 stars

Apr 05, 2013 Sarah marked it as wish-list · review of another edition

Shelves: nobel-laureates

Mar 17, 2013 Colleen marked it as to-read · review of another edition

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Mar 11, 2013 Février rated it 3 of 5 stars

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Mar 04, 2013 Rob rated it 2 of 5 stars

Feb 26, 2013 Gary Cummiskey rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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Jan 23, 2013 Charlie O'Hay rated it 4 of 5 stars

Oct 15, 2012 Michelle marked it as to-read · review of another edition

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Shelves: nobel-winners

Oct 27, 2012 Megan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: poetry, nobel-prize-in-literature

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About Tomas Tranströmer

His 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.

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in its black case” — 16 people liked it

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