Away from introspection

An interesting and thought-provoking interview with Estonian poet Elo Viiding in the current issue of ELM (Estonian Literary Magazine), with reflections on poetry and the poet's task that times have echoes of earlier Nordic voices including, perhaps, Ekelöf, and even Tranströmer:

Recently I've been distancing more and more from introspection as beneficial. Instead of psychoanalysis, I'm more interested in how a person can realistically act for the good of someone with fewer opportunities, be those spiritual, intellectual or material. Not society -- that's too narrow a concept; society is made up of kindred thinkers who generally thumb their nose at others -- but rather to do good for those who suffer from abandonment, socially in a certain sense, instead of delving into yourself (and even into ideas). I'm striving to do that in this phase of my life.

In general, a varied and colourful issue of the magazine -- it's now one of the best English-language literary journals in the Nordic region, at times reminiscent of the now sadly dormant Books from Finland, but more often with a viewpoint and energy of its own, and quite unlike anything currently around in the U.K. or America. There's also a quiet tribute to the life and work of Estonian literary translator Eric Dickens.

Elo Viiding: "Mothers' Day"

Here is the poem Mothers' Day by Elo Viiding, which takes an ironic look at the way mothers are treated politically and socially by public figures full of assumptions and expectations, and is also about the physical side of bringing up children. It was first published in this translated version in an occasional English issue of the Swedish literary magazine 00-tal.

Viiding is just old enough to have have consciously experienced both Soviet and post-Soviet life. But even in post-Soviet Estonia, things are not perfect. Viiding is very much a poet of social comment and observation, whatever the political system of the country. Maybe this poem can be regarded as a kind of anti-Whitmanic rant:

Mothers' Day

On Mothers' Day every child should sing
and give its mother flowers and prime ministers think
that every mother wants to be honoured
and all prime ministers dream
that all women who aren't mothers
will feel simply feel rotten
more rotten than ever before
so the government gives mothers
special advantages
and passes a law on parental salaries

all teachers believe that every mother can be bothered
on Sunday morning at ten o'clock
to come to the Mothers' Day Concert
and every mother regards herself as part of
the social group "mothers"
and every mother is childishly insulted if no one sings for her
or people get annoyed at brutal selfishness of her children
more than about the beautiful two-facedness of society
so that you should be nervous on stage in front of all those mothers
in front of page-boy styled mothers and mothers in hats
and mothers with metallic finish cars
and mothers with nylon handbags and mothers with carrier bags
and mothers with Saint Laurent shadowed eyes
enterprising hawk-eyed single mothers and ostrich housewives
and the few clever fathers who stand at the back of the hall
because they're not allowed to sit they are men and today the mothers are sitting

because it's so nice so nice to sing to complete strangers
do you know your mother's heart
on Sunday morning ten o'clock in the stuffy hall to the gurgle of gastric juices
because if we don't sing to the mothers
they will all die off
not from a lack of sleep or hunger for sex
but because we ruined Mothers' Day for them
and we will have a bad conscience
so bad that we can never return to society

the prime minister thinks
that every mother has a heart of gold
on a chain around her neck
that every mother has read child psychology
that every mother is well acquainted with gender release and with the child's father
that every mother lives in a centrally-heated flat with hot and cold running water
that every mother is a Hansa Bank customer and dreams of obtaining a loan
that every mother wears tracksuit bottoms at home and is slimming
that every mother is happy and every mother ready for motherhood
that postnatal depression is a mere trifle compared with the greater joy
which will come in twenty years' time when life has become six times more expensive

that every mother is healthy and strong and can manage life without moonshine
that every mother has a stable nervous system and avoids injections
that every mother knows at least in the sixth month that she is pregnant
that every mother is older than eighteen years of age
that every mother loves little children
that every mother is a good boss to her children
that every mother sticks her children on the front page of Women's Own
at the first opportunity
that every mother takes her children to some children's activity
don't let them fucking-well play with those young criminals in that sand-pit
that every mother gives her children vegetables and boiled beef for lunch
that every mother has got on damned well in life
and has not been warped by police thrillers on TV
that every mother has a retired grandfather and a grandmother who dandles the children on her knee
so that she doesn't ever have to put it in the crèche as people usually do

that every mother is in fact a human being and every mother is a woman

and that every mother dreams of nothing else but becoming a mother
that every mother takes part in the family forum on the net
that every mother has something to give her child
that every woman regards her offspring as her primary duty
that every woman lives for others and never for herself
that every woman wants to serve her country and her people
that every woman wants to get up early in the morning
that every woman can be bothered to wake up six times a night
that every woman has a bad conscience if she can't produce enough milk
so necessary for the immune system take a look at the scientific research
which divides children up into breast-fed ones and sick ones
that every woman conceives naturally and that every woman is fertile
that every woman wants to give birth in a maternity home
that every woman manages to combine a career with motherhood
that every childless woman regards her life as empty and incomplete
that every woman rushes headlong to buy a pregnancy test
when the right time comes when the biological clock rings relentlessly
she grabs the first best reasonably suitable father
that every woman only wants to talk about her pregnancy
that every woman afterwards wants to teach the non-pregnant
that birth is a special experience not especially unbearable pain
that the three months after birth need to be got used to
that pregnancy isn't an illness, just simply a natural state of affairs
that hormonal changes don't affect our psyche that much
that hormonal changes are sometimes even enjoyable

that every woman likes her primary biological function
that every woman's behaviour is governed by her primary biological function
that every woman's existence is governed by her primary biological function

that every woman thinks of this as a trifling problem
if anyone makes a big thing about motherhood
which is so natural
then every problem is, believe you me,
easy to solve by the government and the mothers themselves

that every supermarket wants
that children honour their mothers
make your mother happy and give her something cheap
something which costs less than 500 crowns
because your mother deserves it
because of you dear child don't buy wrinkle cream
but load some yoghurt, cornflakes or muesli
into your shopping basket
go and ask her for those 300 crowns gift money
and buy her a nice rejuvenation emulsion
every mother enjoys the bargain prices around Mothers' Day
and doesn't pay the January rent because of Christmas presents

and every child wants to say thank you
for its existence
a childishly guilty thank-you
and wants say
to the prime minister
thank you that I'm alive

every mother wants to be sublime and noble
and feel that a child's life depends on her
every mother wants to be selfless and not to belly-ache
every mother manages to cope
whenever she wants don't forget whenever she wants
and every mother believes that those who aren't mothers
should be obliged to feel bad about it
because they have nobody simply nobody who in their old age
will treat them as well as they do now
in a word to pay them back for their trouble
you should always live with recompense in mind
you should always expect recompense

thanks to mothers

as soon as every woman reads women's literature and dreamy prose
as a time of peace arrives dear people
as no one has claims any more
as we are many and we have plenty of serotonin and endorphine
as we all get under one another's feet and jump for joy thanking god
as no one gets irritated any longer or drive people to despair
then our dear mothers will have fulfilled their mission

and even women writers will get their just rewards
when they have children and when when they are nicely buried
when their creative endeavours are good beautiful and safe
and when they agree nicely with their readers
or when they suddenly become children's writers
when they are finally steered onto the right way
when they are translated into several languages
and invited to attend seminars
in whose breaks you can eat a sausage roll
and drink coffee from a plastic cup

even the prime-minister knows
that no woman any longer reads poetry
especially that which is inhuman and subversive to society
and for which no prizes or medals are given
and especially if it is written by quasi-women
and especially when they do it well
yet no one of us can admit it, let's be honest
better write or do something useful

what, let them think for themselves, come on, time to guess yourself

On Mothers' Day every child should sing
and give their mothers flowers and prime-ministers know
that mothers are the only ones who listen to their speeches
because they are mothers

***
Translated from Estonian by Eric Dickens

Lyrikvännen - Tema: Estland

In 2007, the Swedish poetry magazine Lyrikvännen published an issue devoted to Estonian writing. This issue contains poems by a large number of contemporary and older Estonian authors translated into Swedish. It was produced in conjunction with the Göteborg Book Fair Guest of Honour that year: Estonia.

Poets represented include: Betti Alver, Hella Wuolijoki, Jaan Kaplinski, Doris Kareva, Elo Viiding, Hasso Krull, Jürgen Rooste, Asko Künnap, Kalju Kruusa, fs, Kristiina Ehin, Ilmar Laaban, Aare Pilv, Karl Martin Sinijärv, Andres Ehin, Ly Seppel-Ehin, plus other non-theme-issue poetry and articles. One author whose poetry is published here sits on the cusp between Estonia and Sweden: Mare Kandre. Although she was born and bred in Sweden (and lived in Canada as a small child) she is a Swedish author. But her mother is Estonian. Another important author and translator is the Swede of Latvian parentage, Juris Kronbergs, who has almost single-handedly been responsible for introducing Latvian poetry and prose to Sweden over the past 30 years, and is a poet in his own right.

Two Estonian-born translators who have lived for decades in Sweden were responsible for the bulk of the translations: Enel Melberg and Peeter Puide. And Ilmar Laaban, an Estonian exile, translated his own poem included here, years ago. Kalli Klement and Jaan Seim dealt with poetry by some of the Ehin family, represented here by mother, father and daughter.

Elo Viiding

One of the most interesting contemporary Estonian poets is Elo Viiding (born 1974). Viiding comes from a literary dynasty. Her grandfather Paul Viiding (1904-1962) was a short-story writer. Her grandmother Linda Viiding (1906-2003) was a translator of Finnish literature. Her father was the major Estonian poet Juhan Viiding (1948-1995).

But despite all this, Elo Viiding stands out as an important poet in her own right.

Elo Viiding's poetry is often zany with strange jumps of associations, as you can even see from the titles of her collections below. Nevertheless, the subject matter of her poetry is commitment to society and its changes. She is often tongue-in-cheek, introducing a healthy dose of humour into her poetry. And, indeed, into her stories. She is not living in the ivory tower of æstheticism. She is pro-women's rights, but has a complex relationship with feminism. Indeed one of the articles on her blog from October 2008 is entitled "Conservative Feminism", where she discusses her attitudes to that phenomenon. One of her most amusing poems, which I myself have translated into English, is entitled "Mothers' Day". In it, Viiding mocks the rather patronising attitude of the Prime Minister who comes to open some Mothers' Day event. She also mocks the expectations of people who expect mothers to fit into a number of neat, rather twee, categories, plus being biologically programmed for the charms of motherhood.

Elo Viiding published her first collections under the pseudonym "Elo Vee". On her father's death, she took back the family name. Her first publication was the chapbook "Telg" (Axis; 1990) which formed part of what are known as "cassettes", i.e. groups of four or five chapbooks by different poets in a cardboard wrapper. After that, she published "Laeka lähedus (roughly: Proximity to Treasure; 1993), "Võlavalgel" (roughly: "In the Light of Debt"; 1995); "V" (idem; 1998, now as Elo Viiding); "Esimene tahe" (roughly: First Volition; 2002); "Teatud erandid" (Certain Exceptions; 2003) and "Selge jälg" (A Clear Trace; 2005). She has also published two collections of short-stories.

Those of you who read Estonian can consult her blog.

Elo Viiding has been translated into several languages, perhaps most of all by the exile Estonian Peeter Puide who, for instance, published translations of Elo Viiding's poetry in two recent issues of the Finland-Swedish cultural weekly "Ny Tid", a periodical which is examined in two other threads of this blog. Puide also translated a selection of her poems into Swedish. This is entitled "För en stämma" and appeared with the Ariel publishing house in 2004, a press that also produces the literary periodical "Ariel".

I myself published the English translation of the poem "Mothers' Day" in an English-language issue of the Swedish literary magazine 00TAL, and a few more of her poems in the Canadian Nordic and Baltic poetry anthology "The Baltic Quintet". I have also sent a short-story of hers to the Dalkey Archive Press in Illinois, for one of their occasional publications. This story mocks how patronising, well-off women used to come over from Sweden and used to lecture their Estonian "sisters" during Soviet times on how to be liberated from their husbands, while not understanding a thing about the material circumstances that governed the role of women in Soviet society - especially those married to poets. Elo Viiding saw this all at first hand as a teenager, when women translators and others visited her poet father, no doubt to name-drop back in Sweden, in the same way that exile Estonians from Sweden used to boast about having met poet Jaan Kaplinski.

Suffice it to say that for all their complexity, and occasional obscurity, most of Elo Viiding's works, with their zany commitment, are eminently translatable.

Ny Tid & Kontur revisited

Issue 12-13 of the Finland-Swedish cultural weekly "Ny Tid" is a double one, plus 1/09 of the occasional insert or supplement "Kontur". There is an exceptional amount of literary material this time round.

Ny Tid

- Two items about the Swedish Nordic Council nominee Johan Jönson and his mammoth 800-page mixed genre work entitled Efter arbetsschema. Article by Lorna Bertram; review by poet Heidi von Wright.

- A review by Otso Harju of the first volume of Hjalmar Bergman's letters.

- An excerpt from Finland-Swede Kira Nalin's first novel Bultar som ett bläckfiskhjärta.

- An article by Claes Andersson entitled 'Navelskådning à la Norén', in effect a review of Lars Norén's En dramatikers dagbok.

- A review, entitled ' "Zur Judenfrage" - Randanmärkningar till ett filosemitiskt livsprojekt', of a book of essays by Mikael Enckell called Om konsten att älska skriften.

- A review by Kristina Rotkirch [pronounced: ROOT-cheerk] of Russian author Olga Slavnikova's prizewinning novel 2017.

- Irmelin Sandman Lilius writes an essay about King Arthur, Merlin and Guinevere.

- Emma Strömberg discusses a poetry forum on the internet.

- A review by Emelie Enckell of the poetry collection Muntliga dikter by Swedish author Andreas Björsten.

- Poems by Finland-Swede Torsten Pettersson.

- Two theatre reviews by Isabella Rothberg of the plays Blaue Frau by Mia Hafrén and Villans hemlighet by several women author-actors: Freja Appelgren, Kontur editor Malin Kivelä, Åsa Nybo and novelist Hannele Mikaela Taivassalo. The latter play is described as a "tvärkonstnärlig föreställning", and as Rothberg says, is full of absurd humour, mysterious women, with the smell of coffee all around. There is Gothic, Sylvia Plath and Jane Eyre among the associations raised.

- A debate article by regular contributor Trygve Söderling (who doubles up as editor of the Finland-Swedish literary periodical 'Nya Argus') about repressive legitimacy in the Finland-Swedish press and Merete Mazzarella's blog.

- A review by former editor, Peter Lodenius, of Czech author Jáchym Topol's new novel in Swedish translation Den gyllene huvudet.

Kontur

- Malin Kivelä discusses a new Swedish translation of Proust.

- An essay-article by Sven-Erik Klinkmann about death and Johnny Cash.

- Poetry by the Estonian author Elo Viiding in Peeter Puide's Swedish translation.

***

Baltic-Russian literature today

While young Russian people are being manipulated to demonstrate and foment unrest in peaceful Helsinki, there is more fruitful literary communication between young authors writing in Russian and living, variously, in the three Baltic countries, plus Saint Petersburg, the Kaliningrad oblast, and Finland.

There have, in the past, been two Russian-language literary periodicals published in Tallinn, Estonia. I think both are now defunct, but they were, firstly, Raduga, which was an occasional addition, in Russian, to the popular Estonian literary monthly Vikerkaar; and a periodical centred around Russian culture in Estonia, including the exploits of Yuri Lotman and the Moscow-Tartu school of semiotics, called Vyshgorod, the name echoing the Upper Town of Tallinn.

Nowadays, there is an initiative, part print, part internet, called Vozdushny Zmei (implying, perhaps, a dragon-shaped kite, or similar), which is published in the Estonian university city of Tartu. In 2/2006, for instance, an issue I happen to have a copy of, there were poems, prose-poetry and short-stories from Riga (Semën Khanin), Vilnius (Yelena Eltang), Saint Petersburg (Aleksandr Skidan), Helsinki (Polina Kopylova), Tallinn (P.I. Filimonov) and Kaliningrad (Igor' Belov),

One leading poet in these circles is Igor' Kotyukh (Igor Kotjuh, in Estonian transliteration), who publishes in both Russian and Estonian. His Estonian collection, containing some translations of his own poems and some originals, appeared in 2007, under the title Teises keeles (In a/the Second Language).

In the 2/2007 issue of Vozdushny Zmei, several Estonian poets were translated into Russian: Doris Kareva, Mathura, Aare Pilv, Triin Soomets, fs, Jürgen Rooste, Kivisildnik and Elo Viiding. The poems were published in parallel text.

Other Baltic-Russian authors include, for example, Aleksei Purin and Vadim Keilin (Saint Petersburg), Denis Kuzmin, Dmitri Krasnov, Ligia Tenina and Nikita Dubrovin (Tallinn), Doxie and Irina Melyakova (Tartu), Tatyana Pertseva (Helsinki), Natalya Antonova, Pavel Nastin and Irina Maksimova (Kaliningrad), Artur Punte and Erika Drungyte (Vilnius), Sergei Timofeev (Riga). Names to look out for, though the quality of what they write can only be judged internationally, once they have been more widely translated.

And one further author to note: the Finland-Swedish author Zinaïda Lindén is, as you can see from her forename, originally Russian.

I cannot deny that the names of all these Baltic-Russian authors, mostly born between 1960 and 1984, were totally unknown to me before receiving some material, sent to me by Igor Kotjuh. Given the fraught nature of Russian-Baltic relations around the Baltic littoral, it is nice to see the occasional glimmer of hope that Balts and Russian-speakers can cooperate at a literary level.

Ny Tid

If you want to keep abreast of cultural events in what is termed "Svenskfinland", i.e. the areas of Finland where Swedish is still spoken as a first language, the magazine Ny Tid still exists. I say "still" because it first appeared back in 1944, when it was a mouthpiece for left-wing politics.

Nowadays, it is much more focused on the arts. The latest issue that I have received through the post is 10/2009. This contains articles on, for instance, the sculptor Angela Oker-Blom, the bilingual Viirus theatre group, a review of the Swedish translation of Irène Némirovsky's Châleur du sang, a review of Charlotte Svensson's book Pli på pojkar, which discusses the role of men and masculine role models in children's literature, and other items from Sweden.

Every now and again, Ny Tid publishes a supplement entitled Kontur which is wholly devoted to literature as such. The Finland-Swedish publishing houses such as Schildts and Söderströms advertise new Finland-Swedish books there, and articles vary from ones about Finland-Swedish literature to ones about, for instance, Doris Lessing or a review of Le Clézio. In the latest issue, there are a number of poems by the Estonian poet Elo Viiding in Peeter Puide's Swedish translation.

Another interesting occasional supplement is Ikaros, which contains academic articles by people attached to the university Åbo Akademi. These supplements tend to have a wide range of themes from psychology to philosophy, art to science.

Specifically literary articles in the main Ny Tid paper over the past few months have included a large double one about Victoria Benedictsson; a review of Merete Mazzarella's "essäroman"about Zacharias Topelius Ingen saknad, ingen sorg; poems by Claes Andersson; a review of Robert Åsbacka's latest novel Orgelbyggaren.

Their website is at: http://www.nytid.fi/start/