Poet in the spotlight: Tomas Transtromer's Nobel win
(CBS) Eighty-year-old Tomas Transtromer may have suffered a stroke that left him half-paralyzed and unable to speak, but he was still able to communicate volumes through his poetry. The Swedish Academy decided to honor the poet with the 2011 Novel Prize in literature.
Transtromer was given the honor "because, through his condensed, translucent images, he gives us fresh access to reality," the Swedish Academy said.
This isn't the first time that Transtromer has won a top literature prize. According the Finnish website "Books and Writers" and Poets.org, he won the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 1990, as well as Bonner Award for Poetry, Germany's Petrarch Prize, Bellman Prize, The Swedish Academy's Nordic Prize, The Swedish Award from the International Poetry Forum, the Oevralids Prize, and August Prize.
Scottish poet Robin Fulton, who translated Transtromer's 2006 work "The Great Enigma: New Collected Poems" as well as "New Collected Poems," told the Guardian that he wasn't surprised by the poet's win. "In some sense the win was expected -- it's looking back on a life's work," he told the British publication.
Transtromer was born on April 15, 1931 in Stockholm, Sweden to a journalist father and elementary school teacher mother, according to "Books and Writers." His parents divorced, and he was raised by his single mother. At the age of 23, he published his first book of poetry called, "17 dikter," ("Seventeen Poems") which featured many poems written in blank verse.
After that, Transtromer began to experiment with meter, but mostly wrote poems in free verse. "Books and Writers" explained that his next two collections, "Hemligheter på vägen" ("Secrets on the Way") and "Klanger och spår" ("Windows and Stones") were strongly influenced by his travels around the world. High critical acclaim and positive reception from the public of these two works helped cement him as one of the most important poets of his generation. "Klanger och spår" was also an International Poetry Forum Selection in 1972 and a runner-up for the National Book Award for translation, according to Poetry.org.
Since then, his works have sold thousands of copies in Sweden, and have been translated into over 50 languages. Earlier this year, Bloodaxe Books released an updated collection of his pieces published between 1954 and 2004 to celebrate the poet's 80th birthday titled "New Collected Poems."
In 1990, Transtromer suffered a stroke, which left him half paralyzed and unable to speak. That hasn't stopped the Nobel laureate from continuing to write and work. The Guardian reports that at a recent appearance in London, England his pieces were read by others while Transtromer played pieces on the piano specially composed for him since he could only use his left hand. He also published "Sorgegondolen" ("The Sorrow Gondola") and "Den stora gåtan" ("The Big Riddle") after he was dealt the debilitating blow.
Transtromer did more than write, however. He was also an established psychologist who graduated from the University of Stockholm in 1956, according to "Books and Writers."
He worked at the school's Psychotechnological Institute before holding positions at the Arbetsmarknadsinstitutet, a labor organization institute, and Roxtuna, an institution for juvenile offenders. Transtromer split his time between his literary career and his psychology career since the mid-1960s.
Neil Astley, the editor of Bloodaxe Books in Britain, called Transtromer "a metaphysical visionary poet" to the New York Times.
"His poetry is both universal and particular," Astley said. "It's complex but very direct at the same time. He's worked for much of his life as a psychologist, and the work is characterized by very strong psychological insight into humanity."
