Through Naked Branches: Selected Poems of Tarjei Vesaas by Tarjei Vesaas; Roger Greenwald

Review by: Frankie Shackelford

Scandinavian Studies, Vol. 72, No. 3 (Fall 2000), pp. 376-377
Published by: University of Illinois Press on behalf of the Society for the Advancement of
Scandinavian Study
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376 Scandinavian Studies

entitledin thismanner,to implythatany collectioncould essentially

capturetheoft-proclaimed "fatherofexistentialism" seemspresumptuous
almostbeyondbelief.
Although the editor of this volume has adroitlyassertedthat
Kierkegaard's brandofexistentialism ismoreessence-friendly thanSartre's
(350), the supportingexample(The Sickness Unto Death) is, in some
sense thatmustbe acknowledged, Anti-Climacus's, not Kierkegaard's.
Kierkegaard's refusalto takeresponsibility forsucha textfundamentally
ironizessuchattempts at essentialization. Perhapsthistitleis merelyan
oversight occasionedby the marketing department or,perhaps,a final
ironicjab at theDanishmasterof irony.Eitherway,it evokesa slightly
whimsical complaintaboutan otherwise splendidvolume.
Ultimately, thisvolume excelsat what it purportsto be, a broadand
diverseintroductionto Kierkegaard.The contentsare such that it
would serve as an excellent(and relativelyinexpensive)classroom
text. For those unsure about purchasingor unable to affordthe
completecollectedworks,The EssentialKierkegaard providesa viable
(ifintroductory) substitute.
JasonFrancis
Bngham ToungUnverstty
■ Tarjei Vesaas. ThroughNaked Branches:SelectedPoemsof Tarjei Vesaas.
Trans.,Ed. Roger Greenwald.Princeton:Princetonup, 2000. Pp.
i-xlvii+ 149pp.
In RogerGreenwald's compellingcommentary andfine-tunedtranslations,
TarjeiVesaas has found a championwho understands not onlyhow to
readhim,buthowto writehimin anotherlanguage.The broadselection
fromall sixcollections thethematic
ofVesaas'spoetryillustrates latitude
and sonicrangeof thisremarkable Nynorsk poet.The introductoryessay
engagespreviousscholarship, muchof whichwas formerly inaccessible
to an English-speakingaudience,andpromotesan appreciation ofVesaas
auralimagistand ruralmodernist,
as a distinctively whosemutedvoice
and intermittent silencesdemanddeep listening.Greenwald's sustained
effortand talentas a poet in his own righthave produceda great
dealworthlistening to.
Well knownto Englishreadersforhis Rolf Jacobsenvolume,The
SilenceAfterwards, that
Greenwaldis neverguiltyoftheslavishliteralness
hobblesless experiencedtranslators.His sensitivereworkings neither
overspecify nor undulyobscureVesaas's opaque meanings,and he
copes well with technicalproblems.In his introduction, Greenwald
cans attentionto the interplayof the poet's consciousnesswith his

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 Reviews 377

surroundings, and thetranslations succeedin reproducing thespiritual

and psychologicalembeddednessof the poet in nature.The natural
worldspeaksthrough-andto- a disembodied voice.Thisis particularly
apparent in Vesaas'sabnormally frequent use of theimpersonalsubject
det.Greenwald to this
respondseffectively syntactic challengebyrecasting
verbphrasesor elidingthesubject,as inthetitle"Detrorcgror"rendered
"Endlessly Rowing."
Some of Vesaas'spoetryyieldsmeaningreluctantly, and the enface
layoutencouragesa mutuallyilluminating dialogue betweenthe two
languages(e.g."a jackknifedface"for"eitsamanstuptandlef'). Byshuffling
lines,alteringsyntax,reconstructing images,and compensating forlost
or
rhyme alliteration, Greenwald has tinkered and tuned hiswaytoward
perfection. however,
Inevitably, there is an occasional breach of the
original'saesthetic This
integrity. results partially from the generation
gap in sensibility
betweenpoet and translator, as whenGreenwaldveers
fromVesaas'scharacteristic repetitionof words.While this produces
sharpernuancesfortoday'sears,itdoes notretainthesometimes lulling,
sometimes percussiveeffectsoflexicalreiteration. In "OutsidetheWind
Whispers"forinstance, theconstantsighingof thewindis underscored
by the repetitionof the adjectivelag fourtimes,whichgoes missingin
the multipleequivalents"whispers," "softly," and "low."Similarlythe
rhythmof parallelsyntax(om einfrostsomsniker,
om eitfall somfrugar,om
eitfafengt
rop)disappearswiththe suppressionof the prepositionand
therelativeclauses("of a creepingfrost,an imminent fall,a futilecry").
In translatinga largebodyof poetry,particularly one withsuch a rich
acousticuniverse,it is extremely difficult
to preservethosekeywords
in the poet's lexiconthatformintertextual reverberations.The word
for
berg, example, resounds many times in "EndlesslyRowing,""The
Footprints,""In Thrall" and "The Mountain thatWept,"but thisexact
is
repetition sacrificedin favorofthemore specificrenderings"mountain,"
and "slope,"leavingEnglishreadersless awareof the semantic
"cliffj"
bedrockinVesaas'spoetry.
Outright errorsin thisvolumearenearlynon-existent. Anyshortcom-
ingsin rhythm and sonority aremorethanoffset bytheclearresonance
of"Journey," "Heat,""AndThenThereWastheDream,""The GlassWall,"
"A NamelessRing in the Wood,"and manyothers.Togetherwiththe
introduction and a closingcollageof prosequotations,theseforty-six
poemsprovidea complexportrait of Vesaas in English,whileoffering
furtherevidencethatGreenwaldmasters"theartoftheimpossible."
FrankieShackelford
AugsburgCollege

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