A gentle reader requested to know a bit more about Torgny Lindgren. And so ever one to oblige those seeking knowledge about my favorite writers, you all shall be punished for his curiosity. I have only five books, I don't know how many are available in translation: The Way of a Serpent , Light , Sweetness , Bathsheba , and Merab's Beauty . The first three that remain most vividly in my mind--the first a story about a wicked landlord who collects the rent from a family in rural Sweden and when the money runs out begins to exploit the women of the household. The title is taken from proverbs 30:19 the way of a serpent upon a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a maid. (KJV) And though my recollection is at something of a distance now, at least two, and possibly all three of these is developed in the course of a very short novel. Perhaps the best description of the book is gritty and realistic. I...
Thanks for the link to the review.
ReplyDeleteBasho is my favorite, but Issa and Buson are up there also.
Just simply alive,
Both of us, I
And the poppy.
-- Issa --
Morning-misted street
With white ink an artist
A dream of people.
-- Buson --
Dear Fred,
ReplyDeleteI'd be hard-pressed to have a favorite given the likes of Issa, Buson, Saigyo, and other very fine Japanese poets. Basho is certainly prominent amongst them--my great regret is that while I can admire and to some extent decipher the calligraphy, I have an insufficient command of the language (read virtually none) to read these in their original.
Thank you for taking the time to comment.
shalom,
Steven
Steven,
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I can't read Japanese, so I can't really judge them in their native language. But, translations are better than nothing.