By Aggeliki Dimopoulou.
The Anthology of Young Norwegian Poets (En antologi med ung norsk poesi), translated by Giorgos Goumas, is available in the book market from May 2020. This is the 24th -bilingual- book of the series “Anthologies of Young Poets” of Vakxikon Publishing Group, which collect contemporary poetic voices by country, thus giving the reading audience the opportunity to meet and enjoy poetry from around the world.
In the Anthology, the young poets “are almost invariably set against their own inner demons, and this has been imposed on them because of their place in history and the reflected image of their own mirror, a mirror whose form is digital and hideous” (from the preface by Jose Manuel Romero Santos). The ten young Norwegian poets participating in the anthology, with their own unique aesthetics, raise issues such as the impact of new technologies on our lives, the lack of communication, the failure of spiritual connection, the pressure of the modern age, the consequences of everyday life in the individual.
Six of them talk about the book, poetry and contemporary issues that affect it. Let’s meet them.
- How do you feel that you can now address the greek reading audience through the volume “Anthology of young Norwegian poets”?
NORA ASCHIM: Addressing a Greek audience feels, to me, bizarre. I never picture having an audience at all. I never think about the reader when working on my poems, nor after. It is impossible for me to consider what it means that something I have written is out in the world. Will someone read it? Will it have an impact? I think most likely no, it is just a lyric in a large picture of lyrics. But in the case, someone read my poems and found a sense of meaning or help in reading it, I suppose I would feel gratitude. But I do not see this happening in any way. Still, I do wish upon all readers, Greek or not, whether they read my poems or not, to find literature that brings meaning to them. Otherwise, what should be the point of reading?
AUDUN MORTENSEN: I’m very happy and grateful to be included in this collection of translated poetry. Some years ago I spent a month in Athens and Sifnos with my wife and a fellow American writer. At that time I never thought some of my writing would be available for the Greeks. Efharisto poli (Thank you).
THEA TRØEN BJERTNES: I notice that more people follow me on social media and try to do my best with having both English and Norwegian captions for what I post on social media.
UNNVEIG AAS: It is an honor to be translated into another language, and especially the language of so many classic literary works that I have studied and admired (well, I guess the Greek language in e.gSapphos time was a little different, but still). I am not sure, though, if the Greek readers will understand the Norwegian cultural references that I have in two of my poems. I was a bit unsure if I should have included them.But whenever there is a reference in a book that I don´t understand I always look it up and then I learn something new. Even fictional books can make you smarter, you know! Let´s hope that’s the case here too.
FREDRIK HAGEN: I welcome all new readers, hoping they will find something of interest in these poems. I find the idea of translating moving, to be able to talk, in some abstract sense, to people I will never meet. Though I fear it might seem I have little to say in these short poems, it is not so, these poems are trying to say that we are struggling to understand this world together. Writing is always a personal experience and reading an act of enormous intimacy. All my readers, for however brief they stay with my texts, I am forever grateful for.
ATLE HALAND: It is a great pleasure to reach out to Greek readers with my poems. When I got the anthology in my hand, I was quite proud of myself and my fellow poets.
- Are there, in your opinion, current socio-political issues that particularly affect contemporary Norwegian poetry?
NORA ASCHIM: Just like every other place, Norwegian poetry (and literature in general) is affected by literary trends. Whether this is caused by socio-political issues, I do not know if I can say with certainty. For instance has there been a wave of “motherhood literature” or literature about having, or not having, children, which has been a part of the Norwegian literary scene for a few years, and I find this quite typical for Norwegian literature, that Norwegian authors often write about human relations with a political angle. Not trying to make the personal life into politics but understanding that aspects of the personal life is related to the political scene whether one wishes it or not.
AUDUN MORTENSEN: Short poems posted on Instagram, often referred to as Instapoetry, seems to sum up the currentness of contemporary Norwegian poetry. These poems often address a “you” and play around with contrasts such as me/you, dark/light, love/hate, all/nothing, never/always, and so on. This formula produces a seemingly paradoxical effect in the Instapoem’s conclusive line, often ending on a predictable consolidating note, in which the “you” somehow makes the narrator/poet whole/happy again. The reader may feel inclined to identify with the Instapoem’s “you”, as the Instapoet’s voice and wording often come across as persistently caressing. The publishing platform itself, Instagram, empowers and incentivizes the Instapoet to trigger and stimulate their reader’s identification with the “you” of the Instapoem. This kind of digitally facilitated experience of intimate, immediate and enduring proximity or interaction, between poet and reader, seems historically new. Thus a somewhat interesting phenomenon, I guess, regardless of whether you like the poems or not.
THEA TRØEN BJERTNES: That is a good question! I believe the topics of loneliness and protecting nature are the ones that are more frequently used. This year, 2021, it is also ten years since the terrorist attacks on July 22nd 2011. There is one poetry collection coming up in February, from poet Kristian Bergquist, Over alt på jord (More Than Anything on Earth), which is inspired by the text messages that the youths on the Utøya island sent on 22nd of July.
UNNVEIG AAS: There area lot of second-generation immigrants telling their stories in their poetry and novels now. And often they describe how they feel trapped between two cultures. I think it is important that their voices are heard. I hope that their books can help remove stigma and predjuces many in our country has towards immigrants.
FREDRIK HAGEN: I do believe Norwegian poetry has a tendency to think of itself as a-political, to imagine itself only being concerned with the intimate spirit and the inner world of the poet. This is of course not true. At least not in the simplest way. It is true that much Norwegian poetry is concerned with the self, or rather the gap between the self and the world around it. But this is not a-political. The poetry is concerned with alienation, which in my mind at least is a socio-political issue and a result of both the capitalist economy and our unhinged willingness to dwell in the fantasy worlds of Netflix and the internet.
ATLE HALAND: The poetry is and will always be free. There are many poets who engage in different socio-political issues. The refugee crisis, and climate changes are some examples, another example is the deportation of Mustafa Hasan, an eighteen-year-old boy who has lived in Norway almost his entire life who is now being expelled from the country. Many artists engage, but it does not affect Norwegian poetry, I do not see our poetry as particularly “political”. You can of course discuss what it means to write politically.
- What is the driving cause of your poetry?
NORA ASCHIM: What else should I be doing? On a more serious note: One must find a meaning, as I was talking about earlier, and to me writing gives meaning. I would be lost without it. It is writing that keeps me grounded, keeps me calm (although in the act of writing I may often discover myself in crisis). I do not write for my writing to be read, but for the purpose of writing.
AUDUN MORTENSEN: My drive is to figure out the most personally satisfying way to convey fleeting, seemingly insignificant moments of life. My aim is to learn something I don’t already know and wouldn’t have learned from other sources or activities.
THEA TRØEN BJERTNES: It is an exploration of growing up after having experienced sexual assaults.
UNNVEIG AAS: I write because I feel that I have to. Not in a forced way or anything, it´s fully voluntary. But I just have to, I don´t know what else to put my energy into or how else to say what I want to say. I am rewarded when people tell me that that they have felt moved by my works, just as I have felt moved by others works.
FREDRIK HAGEN: There is no other cause than the act of creating itself. For me that is enough. Yet, after having written I have hopes for my poetry. I hope they will remain, at least for a while, as ideas or images in the minds of my readers.
ATLE HALAND: It began with a curiosity, something I wanted to explore, but I must honestly admit that I at the moment have no particular impetus to write poems, instead I write prose, maybe it has extinguished the glow.
- The covid-19 crisis is particularly affecting arts and artists around the world. Perhaps writers were the first that had the opportunity to express themselves about this crisis because of the terms of the lockdowns. Does it affect your writing (directly or indirectly) as well?
NORA ASCHIM: I see writing as a privilege. I am thankful for the ability to write although there is a pandemic roaming the world. Does my artistic work bring in much money during the pandemic? No. Nor did it do so before covid-19, but things has gotten worse the last year. But in a time where the world is struggling my writing seems of little importance. My poems will not help anyone or change anything during a pandemic. Therefor I decide to write what I can, for myself, and find another way to contribute to society and make a livelihood. I don’t think you can be an artist if you’re in it for the money.
AUDUN MORTENSEN: I had covid some months ago. I was isolated in the basement for 10 days and tried to work on my forthcoming novel. It seems too early to say how the pandemic will influence my writing. It has probably made me even more family oriented, and even more happy about moving from Oslo and back to my hometown, closer to my parents.
THEA TRØEN BJERTNES: I notice that I have had more time to delve into my new plot ideas. Last year I finished a first draft of a new manuscript and also finished revising 75% of another project. The downside of the crisis is the isolation, not knowing when you can see your friends again.
UNNVEIG AAS: I am a musician as well as a poet,and going on the road to do concerts is one of my main sources to inspiration. I have definitely had to work to find a new source of inspiration for writing this year. I must admit it took some time. For a while I did take up running to get the feeling of moving somewhere.
FREDRIK HAGEN: Yes, I believe it does. However, I do not know how. My writing habits are the same now as they have been for the last ten years: I write at least one hour every day, no matter what happens. It seems to me my texts are always changing, regardless of what is happing outside the room where I write. But of course, when we are looking back at this writing in ten- or fifteen-years’ time, I believe it will be obvious how the pandemic shaped our poetry.
ATLE HALAND: I myself write nothing about the pandemic, but I am influenced to the extent that I also create many literary events that I now have to adapt to the updated infection control considerations at all times. Sitting down to write about the pandemic in addition would make me depressed. But the pandemic probably has something to do with the fact that I’ve started writing fiction instead.
- Is today’s poetry more introspective – possibly given the individuality and isolation, both characteristics of today ‘s world – or is it a means of real communication of emotions when this has been lost. Or, in other words what is the role poetry can / you wish it could play in this era?
NORA ASCHIM: This question makes me think about how poetry is different to other artforms, and why we need poetry. I think that poetry can change the world, but it is up to the poet and the readers to determine. A person can have something important to say about the world and choose to express this through poetry. And there are people ready to change the world, but do not know how before they have read the right poem. That makes poetry important, not all poetry, but the existence of poetry. We do not know which poem or which reader will be motivated to do this change, so all those who are inclined to write or read poems should do so in the case that the right poem might appear.
AUDUN MORTENSEN: Generally I would like to see more poetry that don’t try to look like poetry.
THEA TRØEN BJERTNES: I believe there are more authors sharing their poetry on social media. Quite many unpublished poets have their own Instagram accounts where they share poems. And some poets who have published several books the traditional way in Norway have Instagram accounts too. I have read that literary critics describe Norwegian poetry published after 2000 as simpler than what was published prior to 2000. So I would say the introspection has always been a part of poetry but maybe it used to be more enigmatic in its expression.
UNNVEIG AAS: I am not sure if we can already see the effects covid-19 has had on literature yet. I think for most writers it´s going to take some years to process. But, in general, for me reading has always been a comfort. And I hope poetry, well, all art forms can be a comfort to people in these strange times. It would be fun if in like 600 years there is a classic book, studied by historians, by a group of people telling each other stories via Zoom in 2020. Like The Decameron which came about during the plague in the 1300s. Oh, how I wish I had a time machine.
FREDRIK HAGEN: It seems to me that poetry has no role in our era. It reaches so few people, that even though it might be very important to some people, it does nothing to change the world. But I believe there is something positive about this as well: It creates freedom for poetry to become whatever it wants. Between individuals I believe writing and reading to be the most honest and intimate dialogue possible. And therefore, for me, it is the most important way to speak, about any topic.
ATLE HALAND: My experience is the opposite, literature and poetry look more outward than ever before. It may also well be it’s just me, and what I’m looking for, the introspecting literature bores me.
The promotion was carried out with the support of NORLA.