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cover pictures in the 1999:2 issue are taken from the book The
Magic Horse, published by BOOX, Stockholm, earlier this
year in both English and Swedish. The text is by Chris Mosey,
who traces the history of dalahästar, the wooden
horses made traditionally in the central Swedish province of
Dalecarlia and painted, originally mainly in red, with floral
motifs from the kurbits paintings typical of the area.
The horse has now become a national symbol, but according to
Mosey's theory it was once associated with the Devil, and condemned
from the pulpit in 1624 by Bishop Rudbeckius. |
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| Dalecarlian
craftsmen started to whittle model horses in the 19th century
from offcuts of wood used to make furniture, and local artists
evolved characteristic techniques for painting them. Originally
toys of little value, the horses rapidly became miniature works
of art, and Mosey features a large number of skilled carvers,
whittlers and artists who supplied the entrepreneurs, who in
turn built up what has become a major industry attracting large
numbers of tourists to the showrooms and workshops in Dalecarlia. |
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| The
book is richly illustrated with outstanding colour photographs
by Michel Hjorth (as well as older photos supplied by such sources
as the families of craftsmen featured). It makes an excellent
gift, as well as being appropriate for the shelves of all libraries,
studies and coffee tables with a Scandinavian collection. The
book costs SEK 375 (p&p extra) and can be ordered through
bookshops, or direct from BOOKS, Kammakargatan 35, 111 60
Stockholm, e-mail boox@transbooks.se. |
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 Merete
Mazzarella: The Allure of Adultery
In
The Allure of Adultery: A Book about Marriage, Merete
Mazzarella discusses the treatment of infidelity in modern literature.
Mazzarella is not only extremely widely-read, she has clearly
read with ironic sensibility and total recall. To the kaleidoscope
of literary analysis, she adds her inimitable mixture of reflections
and aphorisms. We present two extracts from The Allure of
Adultery, translated by Anna Paterson.
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 Tua
Forsström : Four Poems
Tua
Forsström was born in 1947 and made her poetic debut in 1972
with En dikt om kärlek och annat (A Poem about Love
and Other Things). She is widely regarded as one of the leading
Finland-Swedish poets. We reprint and translate four poems taken
from Efter att ha tillbringat en natt bland hästar (After
Having Spent a Night Among Horses).
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Marianne
Backlén: Across the Gulf of Finland
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 Bo
Carpelan: Benjamin's Book
Bo
Carpelan was born in Helsingfors in 1926. He made his debut as a
lyric poet in 1946, and soon made his name as a poet and literary
critic. Carpelan is also a leading prose writer and a prolific translator
of poetry from Finnish to Swedish. Benjamins bok (1997) is
about a retired translator who looks back over incidents in his
life and speculates on the human tragi-comedy.
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Finland-Swedish
Publishing Houses
The
two major Finland-Swedish publishing houses are Söderströms
and Schildts, and articles by Marianne Bargum and Helen Svensson
respectively describe the origins, development and current
output of the two houses. Marianne Bargum also contributes
a piece about interaction between Finland-Swedish publishers
and the rest of Scandinavia, as well as between Swedish-language
and Finnish-language publishing houses in Finland.
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Sweden
in English
This
is the latest contribution to Tom Geddes' running bibliography of
Swedish books published in English translation, and books about
Sweden in English. The previous update was published in SBR
issue 1998:2.
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Gothenburg
Book Fair 1999
 Sarah
Death provides a detailed report on the fifteenth Gothenburg
Book Fair, which took place on 16-19 September, 1999. Major
themes included IT, "Bible2000", tying in with the
new Swedish Bible translation project, and "The New Writer
Generation", for which the organizers had assembed an
array of young writers. The next Gothenburg Book Fair will
take place on 14-17 September 2000.
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Runar
Schildt: The Weaker One
