The mute by Lars Amund Vaage and translated by Kenneth Steven

This is poetry from Norway.

The mute by Lars Amund Vaage translated by Kenneth Steven is published by Shearsman Books. This is a Book originally written in Norwegian. This was published in 2013.0 and has the ISBN of 9.7818486126E12.

The Mute, by Lars Amund Vaage and translated by Kenneth Steven, is a Norwegian poetry collection that seems to begin from the problem of speech withheld. A mute figure in poetry is never merely silent. Silence can be disability, refusal, trauma, privacy, resistance, or a form of knowledge that language cannot reach. I would read this book for its attention to what expression costs. Vaage is also known as a novelist, and that narrative awareness may shape the poems’ sense of character and situation. Steven’s translation carries the Norwegian title into English with a starkness that leaves room around it. The collection seems valuable for readers interested in quietness that is not emptiness, and in poems that ask whether speaking is always the highest form of presence.

If you’d like to see international poetry continue and gain traction, consider requesting this work from your local library, or purchasing it from places like Open Books (a poetry only bookstore), Asterism Books (an independent press distributor), or bookshop.org to connect you with your local bookstores.

Check out more of the always in-progress translated poetry index here.