New Swedish Books. Spring 2016 1
SPRING 2016 The Songs of the Hermit Crab The poet
Magnus William-Olsson navigates untroubled through poetry. He’s neither intimidated by myth nor the everyday, nor by metric or free verse, nor the magisterial, the difficult or the slightly trivial. That’s what’s so special, what makes him unique amongst Swedish contemporary poets. In The Inger Sonnets from 2010, he wrote sonnets about his mother who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. In The Songs of the Hermit Crab, his tenth poetry collection since his debut in 1987, he kidnaps the Old Testament but instead of the usual suspects he throws in Crayfish, Crab, Shark and Octopus. Even archangel Gabriel makes an appearance now and again. And of course God, the object of constant speculation and talk. The Songs of the Hermit Crab is a playful existential study that benefits from being read aloud. Despite the religious origins of the text, the poems stand out even without expert knowledge, and the small hermit crab is an anti-hero who’s difficult not to like. MAGNUS WILLIAM-OLSSON THE SONGS OF THE HERMIT CRAB WAHLSTRÖM & WIDSTRAND RIGHTS: WAHLSTRÖM & WIDSTRAND “ the small hermit crab is an anti-hero who’s difficult not to like” there. there. Here. JOHAN JÖNSON THERE. THERE. HERE. ALBERT BONNIERS FÖRLAG RIGHTS: ALBERT BONNIERS FÖRLAG Reading the poet Johan Jönson is in some ways like standing in the midst of a whirlwind of all kinds of different texts. He has always enjoyed using the art of sampling and through it everything from Swedish proletarian poetry, political theory, and the poet himself are being dealt with, alternating with delicate nature poems and chewed over theoretical idioms. Somewhere in the middle this line flits past: “The question about purpose remains unsolved”. With this book, of a little over a thousand pages, Jönson finishes his poetical trilogy about poetry, the body, life, death, work, purpose and 11 value. It’s a piece of writing that resembles physical labour in its abundant outpouring. Towards the end a report from the factory floor is indeed interspersed with the labour of writing taking place in the writer’s shed. The poet is continuously reminded of the insignificance of his work, not to mention his life. It’s this existential state that Jönson depicts like no one else.