tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post2949806020640068885..comments2024-02-03T10:27:22.640+00:00Comments on Nordic Voices in Translation: Pia Tafdrup: Over the Water I Walk (II) - 3David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-26712948780251565492009-06-06T12:26:12.093+01:002009-06-06T12:26:12.093+01:00I think that if you did read Hölderlin, you would ...I think that if you did read Hölderlin, you would see why Pia groups him with the others. H's poetry was in many ways far in advance of its time, and it presages not only Rilke but also Celan. <br /><br />The concept of a literary "classic" may not be a very precise one, but it is in common use.David McDuffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-81305332920911628672009-06-06T12:20:36.127+01:002009-06-06T12:20:36.127+01:00I was maintaining a distinction between older, cla...I was maintaining a distinction between older, classical classics, such as Hölderlin (c.f. Goethe, Schiller, etc.) and the more Modernist classics, such as Rilke and especially Celan.<br /><br />But maybe I just haven't read enough Hölderlin to see why Tafdrup groups him with the rest.<br /><br />I find the word-group "classic", "classical", etc., rather problematical as Eric Dickenshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11473407452357469485noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-31770272240957536592009-06-04T18:25:38.853+01:002009-06-04T18:25:38.853+01:00Re the poets named: I don't see any contradict...Re the poets named: I don't see any contradiction - they are all nineteenth and twentieth century classics.David McDuffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-35212366976701819902009-06-04T15:49:27.205+01:002009-06-04T15:49:27.205+01:00I notice that the names Tafdrup mentions as classi...I notice that the names Tafdrup mentions as classical in the middle of the article are somewhat newer (except for Hölderlin) than what we think of in general as such poetry.<br /><br />One good point here is that you cannot, as an author, help being influenced by what you have read, what has gone before. Reïnvention, rereading, rewriting are all interesting in this context.Eric Dickenshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11473407452357469485noreply@blogger.com