Modern Woman
Forthcoming from World Poetry Books
Translated from Swedish
The trailblazing debut collection of Edith Södergran, a modernist visionary and one of the most influential poets to write in Swedish.
Södergran’s daring, avant-garde work outraged many of her Finland-Swedish contemporaries who clung to traditional literary sensibilities. Through dynamic symbolism and fluid logic, the poems comprising her first collection fundamentally questioned early twentieth-century notions of what poetry is and what it can do. “Something like this has never been heard before,” noted critic and fellow Finland-Swedish poet Hagar Olsson about her work. During her short life, Södergran enacted the poet’s ultimate task of imagining previously unexplored possibilities for language, ushering literary modernism into Swedish-language writing and inspiring generations of writers since.
Praise for Modern Woman
“Like Ungaretti’s Il porto sepolto, published the same year, Södergran’s Dikter announced a radically new ‘outsider’ lyric—formally groundbreaking, unflinchingly subjective, and destined to alter the course of European poetry. With Modern Woman, poet and translator CD Eskilson brings that audacious debut into exquisitely tuned English, and their translator’s introduction offers an insightful guide to her multilingual, avant-garde influences and the enduring force of her poetic ‘leap to freedom.’”
—Geoffrey Brock, National Translation Award in Poetry Winner; editor of The FSG Book of 20th-Century Italian Poetry
“I love these poems and this book. The pairing of Eskilson with Södergran shows how much great poetic collaborations can achieve, across languages, cultures, and time. Eskilson’s care, attention, and respect for Södergran’s unique vision and style will bring so much joy and fascination to so many readers.”