Tomas Transtromer - Nobel Prize in Literature, 2011 (6 books)

TOMAS TRANSTRÖMER (1931-2015) was a Swedish poet, psychologist and translator who won the 2011 Nobel Prize in Literature "because," in the words of the Swedish Academy, "through his condensed, translucent images, he gives us fresh access to reality."

Tranströmer was recognized not just as one of Sweden's most important poets, but as a writer of international stature whose work speaks to us now with undiminished clarity and resonance. Long celebrated as a master of the arresting, suggestive image, he is a poet of the liminal: drawn again and again to thresholds of light and of water, the boundaries between man and nature, wakefulness and dream. A deeply spiritual but secular writer, his skepticism about humanity is continually challenged by the implacable renewing power of the natural world. Tranströmer's work is characterized by a sense of mystery and wonder underlying the routine of everyday life, a quality which often gives his poems a religious dimension.

THE GREAT ENIGMA (2006) gathers all the poems Tranströmer published between 1954 and 2004: from his distinctive first collection in "17 Poems" through his epic poem "Baltics" ("my most consistent attempt to write music"), and "The Sad Gondola", published six years after he suffered a debilitating stroke in 1990 ("I am carried in my shadow / like a violin / in its black case."), to "The Great Enigma", published in Sweden in 2004. Also included is his prose-memoir MEMORIES LOOK AT ME (1993), containing keys into his intensely spiritual, metaphysical poetry.

THE DELETED WORLD (2011) presents new translations by Scottish poet Robin Robertson of 15 poems from throughout Tranströmer's career.

AIRMAIL (2013) collects the day-to-day correspondence of Tranströmer and his close friend and translator Robert Bly on a variety of personal, contemporary and literary matters ca. 1965-1991.

Finally, two early selections of Tranströmer's poetry in English are also included here in translations by Robin Fulton and May Swenson.


The following books are in ePUB format unless otherwise indicated:

* AIRMAIL: The Letters of Robert Bly and Tomas Tranströmer (Graywolf, 2013). Edited by Thomas R. Smith.

* THE DELETED WORLD (FSG, 2011). Versions by Robin Robertson.

* THE GREAT ENIGMA: New Collected Poems (New Directions, 2006). Translated by Robin Fulton.

* MEMORIES LOOK AT ME: A Memoir (New Directions, 2011). Translated by Robin Fulton.

* PAAVO HAAVIKKO and TOMAS TRANSTRÖMER: SELECTED POEMS (Penguin, 1974). Translated by Anselm Hollo (Haavikko) and Robin Fulton (Tranströmer). -- PDF

* WINDOWS AND STONES: Selected Poems (University of Pittsburgh, 1972). Translated by May Swenson with Leif Sjoberg. -- PDF