New Swedish Books, Spring 2020 1
New Swedish Books 8 THE NIGHTMAN A love of nature
is usually cited when seeking to describe the Swedish temperament. Consequently, nature-based lyricism has a special place in the heart of Swedish poetry, and Ingela Strandberg is among those poets who are usually named in this context. However, with a couple of dozen books of differing kinds on her CV, she also knows how to surprise us – for instance, in the shape of this spring’s title The Nightman. Strandberg is inspired by the stories of the so-called men of the night that she heard about when she was a child. They were also derided as scoundrels, and in old Sweden it was they who did the work no one else wanted to: executions, child burials, horse skin pulling and other despised occupations. Strandberg turns the man of the night into a phantom who frightens and appeals. She is his servant and mistress, his pupil and toy. This is a collection of very specific, thematic poems with lashings of folklore and nocturnal romance. They are almost akin to very dark lullabies at times, as the man of the night asks for his sup in return for the awful work carried out: ‘One full dram glass to skin!/Two to kill!/Three to die!’ Ingela Strandberg Selected works Ett rum för natten, poetry, 1984 Bäste herr Thoreau, poetry, 2008 Att snara en fågel, 2018 Selected awards Doblougska priset 2009 Bellmanpriset 2014 De Nios Vinterpris 2019 Poetry, 58 p. Publisher Norstedts www.norstedts.se Ingela Strandberg (b. 1944) Rights Norstedts förlag Sofie Wallström sofie.wallstrom@norstedts.se Photo: Sara Mac Key