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cover pictures in the 2001:2 issue are taken from the book Rosenbad.
Huset som spegel (also published in English as Rosenbad. The
Building as a Mirror) with kind permission of the author, Ulf
Sörenson, and the publishers, Stockholmia förlag. The book,
published in 2001, is No. 156 in the series of monographs commissioned
by the City of Stockholm through its Committee for Documentation on
Stockholm (Kommittén för Stockholmsforskning). Liberally
illustrated with an exceptionally fine array of photographs, it traces
the history of the complex of buildings known as Rosenbad, now the
home of the Swedish government offices. And a fascinating history
it is. The name comes from the days when part of its predecessor on
the site was a bath house, run by an enterprising immigrant from Germany
and his Swedish wife; but the main emphasis of the book is on the
design and construction of the present buildings at the end of the
19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. |
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As
the title of the book suggests, Rosenbad reflects not only the architects
who designed it, but also the unfolding history of Stockholm and indeed
the social history of Sweden. The original owners of the buildings
were banks — banks in the modern sense were new to Sweden as
the end of the 19th century approached, but their growing significance
in the modern capitalist era is reflected in their desire to outdo
each other in splendour and opulence.
Now Rosenbad is at the very heart of Swedish government, and the Prime
Minister occupies what was once the luxurious apartment of one of
Sweden's richest men. This history of Rosenbad is much more than the
story of a building, and deserves to be read by anyone with an interest
in Sweden and its capital city. The picture on our front cover shows
Ferdinand Boberg's original Rosenbad, painted in 1939; the back cover
is a photo of a similar view today. |
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Moomin
Magic - Tove Jansson
W Glyn Jones |
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| Tove
Jansson died on 27 June 2001 at the age of 86. Rarely has a
Scandinavian writer made such an impact world-wide as the Finland-Swedish
artist turned author — there can be few people alive today
who were not weaned on her Moomin books. W Glyn Jones, whose
book on Jansson was published by Twayne in 1984 and appeared
in Swedish translation the same year, considers the reasons
for her success. |
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Elsie
Johansson's Nancy trilogy
Sarah Death |
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| Elsie
Johansson was born in 1931 and was nearly fifty by the time
she made her literary debut. In recent years she has won widespread
readership and critical acclaim for a series of novels based
on her childhood in rural Uppland. She won both the Ivar Lo-Johansson
Prize and the Moa Martinson Prize for her Nancy books. Sarah
Death introduces Johansson's work and presents her translations
of extracts from Mosippan (The Pasque Flower, 1999) and
Nancy (2001). |
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Björn
Ranelid
transl. Laurie Thompson |
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| Björn
Ranelid was born in Malmö in 1949, and lived there for
the first 26 years of his life; he has been based in Stockholm
since 1989. He published his first novel in 1983, and has written
over a dozen books since then, several of them being awarded
prestigious prizes. Ranelid's Swedish style is unmistakable
— often poetic and adventurous, lyrical and imaginative
yet precise and accurate, evoking associations and stimulating
new visions. Laurie Thompson introduces Ranelid's work and presents
his translation of an extract from Tusen kvinnor och
en sorg (A Thousand Women and One Sorrow). |
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Per
Gunnar Evander
Rick McGregor |
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| Per
Gunnar Evander was born in Ovansjö near Sandviken (350
km NW of Stockholm) in 1933 and now lives in Stockholm. He
made his literary debut with a volume of short stories, Tjocka
släckten (Close Relations) in 1965, and published
his breakthrough novel Uppkomlingarna: en personundersökning
(The Upstarts: A Private Investivation) in 1969. Rick McGregor
introduces the author's work and presents his translation
of an extract from Samma sol som vår (The same
sun as ours, 2000). |
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Europe
versus San Francisco at the Poetry Festival
Barbro S Osher |
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April this year a meeting of Titans was staged in San Francisco:
some of the best European poets met with resident counterparts
for a five-day festival dedicated to contemporary poetry in
all its facets, languages and voices. Barbro S Osher reports
in detail on the festival. |
Barbro S Osher, Europe
versus San Francisco at the Poetry Festival |
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Johanna
Ekström
transl. Sarah Death |
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present a selection of Johanna Ekström's poems that were
translated for the San Francisco Festival, by kind permission
of the author and translator. The poems are taken from a collection
entitled En annan åder (Another Vein), which
has not yet been published. |
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| This
is Tom Geddes' running bibliography of Swedish books published
in English translation, and books about Sweden in English.
The Fiction, Poetry, Drama and Fiction for Children
and Adolescents sections can now be searched online (see
the Sweden in English box on the right hand side of
every page on this site). |
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