Coincidentally, I have just been reading a book about Karin Boye's life, since a line of her poetry was quoted a few days ago in the official statement of government policy by our newly elected prime minister. That doesn't happen often and it made me quite happy.
When I heard his quote, I remembered some unread books by K.B so I hauled them out and have been reading. I have in actual fact been personally acquainted with people (all now dead) who knew Karin Boye. It may be because I know (or think I know) circumstances of her life and death that this poem moves me.
Marion, who is fluent in Swedish, discerns a difference between the source language and its rendering. I can't say I'm recognizing discrepancies, but these are sure to be itemized later. Birthe hasn't yet weighed in.
I read the poem as dealing with K.B.s complicated inner life as a young talented avantgarde bisexual who was involved in both political and intellectual enterprises and was interested in Freud's school of psychoanalysis. She spent many years going from one analyst to another and her metaphors reflect her inner strife in Freudian terms.
One should remember that in the thirties homosexuality was still criminalized in Sweden as was propagation of birth control methods.
It is true that half of the first line is missing and that mars the rendition. Otherwise it seems to be an interesting choice and I'm glad to see a Swedish poem again in the discussion. Like Marion, I'm guessing the translator is a woman, but in this company, one never knows.
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