Airmail: The Letters of Robert Bly and Tomas Transtromer

by Robert Bly, Tomas Tranströmer

Overview

The illuminating letters of the National Book Award winning poet Robert Bly and the Nobel Prize winning poet Tomas Tranströmer

One day in spring 1964, the young American poet Robert Bly left his rural farmhouse and drove 150 miles to the University of Minnesota library in Minneapolis to obtain the latest book by the young Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer. When Bly returned home that evening with a copy of Tranströmer's The Half-Finished Heaven, he found a letter waiting for him from its author.

With this remarkable coincidence as its beginning, what followed was a vibrant correspondence between two poets who would become essential contributors to global literature. Airmail collects more than 290 letters, written from 1964 until 1990, when Tranströmer suffered a stroke that has left him partially paralyzed and diminished his capacity to write.

Across their correspondence, the two poets are profoundly engaged with each other and with the larger world: the Vietnam War, European and American elections, and the struggles of affording a life as a writer. Airmail also illuminates the work of translation as Bly began to render Tranströmer's poetry into English and Tranströmer began to translate Bly's poetry into Swedish. Their collaboration quickly turned into a friendship that has lasted fifty years.

Insightful, brilliant, and often funny, Airmail provides a rare portrait of two artists who have become integral to each other's particular genius. This publication marks the first time letters by Bly and Tranströmer have been made available in the United States.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781555976392
Publisher:	Graywolf Press
Publication date:	04/02/2013
Pages:	476
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Robert Bly received the 1968 National Book Award in poetry. Tomas Tranströmer received the 2011 Nobel Prize in Literature. They have been friends for fifty years. Graywolf Press published The Half-Finished Heaven: The Best Poems of Tomas Tranströmer, selected and translated by Robert Bly.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Crossways: Pages from a Literary Friendship vii

A Note on the Translations and Their Presentation xxiii

The Letters 3

Appendix 1 Letters 415

Appendix 2 Poems 421

Notes 427

Index 453

Editorial Reviews

Lusciously readable.” —Booklist

“[Airmail] is a superior exemplar of what a correspondence can be. . . . Rich in observational detail and charisma.” —The New Republic

“[A] delectable book. . . . Whether or not one is grateful for the speed and ease of electronic messaging, this marvelous collection, both entertaining and edifying, provides one opportunity to measure what has been lost.” —Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

“Readers will find amusing, even touching, the attempts of each poet to explain linguistic nuances. . . . The love of language, poetry, family and friends, all on display in eloquent handwritten or typed letters redolent of a bygone era.” —Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

In 1964, distinguished American poet Bly (Talking into the Ear of a Donkey) drove from his farm in rural Minnesota to the university library to obtain a copy of Swedish poet and Nobel Laureate Tranströmer’s latest book. When Bly returned home, a letter from the young writer was waiting for him. Thus began an enlightening correspondence that lasted more than two decades, until 1990 when Tranströmer suffered a stroke. In addition to their shared political and poetic ideas, the men showed a keen interest in translating each other’s work. Their enduring friendship is at times most reflected in their back-and-forth humor. The Swedish edition was originally published in 2001; however, a resurgence of interest in the poets’ relationship has been spurred by this first English edition.

Verdict This collection will be of interest not only to readers of Bly and Tranströmer but of particular value to those who enjoy the history and politics of the Sixties and those drawn to the process of translation.—Audrey Snowden, Orrington P.L., ME
(c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Library Journal

Nearly 50 years of trans-Atlantic correspondence between two titans of contemporary poetry. Bly (Talking into the Ear of a Donkey, 2011, etc.), the much-honored American poet, and Tranströmer (The Great Enigma, 2004, etc.), the Swedish 2011 Nobel Laureate, began corresponding in 1964. Both can write the language of the other, so much of their correspondence deals with the intricacies of translation (each was translating the other's work). Readers will find amusing, even touching, the attempts of each poet to explain linguistic nuances, both sometimes employing rough drawings to clarify. Evident throughout, too, is a profound mutual respect. There is also something quaint about the correspondence. Both men complain about their typewriters, about snail mail and about letters crossing—or arriving late. The two men share political leanings, as well—evident in their mutual love for Joan Baez and their opposition to a procession of American presidents—especially Nixon, Ford and Reagan. Another shared attitude is their disdain for critics. Lack of money for poets and poetry bothers both, and personal matters occupy more space as the years progress. Bly's infidelity and divorce occasion a small crack in the relationship. They talk of other poets, as well. James Wright and Donald Hall come off well. May Swenson does not—though there is an amusing story about her literally popping Hall's balloon. The burden of the correspondence shifts back and forth, one writing more than the other, and the letters gradually diminish in number as the digital age asserts itself. There's playfulness, too. Bly signs some letters "Coleridge"—and "Your faithful blockhead." The love of language, poetry, family and friends, all on display in eloquent handwritten or typed letters redolent of a bygone era.

Kirkus Reviews