| Airmail: The Letters of Robert Bly and Tomas Transtromer Contributor(s): Bly, Robert (Author), Transtromer, Tomas (Author) |
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ISBN: 1555976395 ISBN-13: 9781555976392 Publisher: Graywolf Press OUR PRICE: $31.50 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: April 2013 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Literary Collections | Letters - Poetry |
| Dewey: B |
| LCCN: 2012953983 |
| Physical Information: 1.44" H x 5.47" W x 9.95" (1.91 lbs) 476 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: The illuminating letters of the National Book Award winning poet Robert Bly and the Nobel Prize winning poet Tomas Transtr mer 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 Transtr mer. When Bly returned home that evening with a copy of Transtr mer'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 Transtr mer 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 Transtr mer's poetry into English and Transtr mer 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 Transtr mer have been made available in the United States. |
Contributor Bio(s): Bly, Robert: - Robert Bly is an American poet, author, activist and leader of the mythopoetic men's movement. His book Iron John: A Book About Men was a key text of the movement, and spent 62 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list. He won the 1968 National Book Award for poetry for his book The Light Around the Body. He lives in Minneapolis, MN.Transtromer, Tomas: - Tomas Tranströmer (1933-2015) received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2011. His books of poetry, which have been translated into sixty languages, include The Deleted World and The Half-Finished Heaven, and he received numerous international honors during his lifetime. Tranströmer, a trained Swedish psychologist, worked for years in state institutions with juveniles and the disabled, and his work was often praised for the inventive ways in which it examined the mind. When he was awarded the Nobel Prize, the Swedish Academy stated that "through his condensed, translucent images, he gave us fresh access to reality." |