Gunnar Ekelöf (1907–1968) has probably had more significance than any other poet for the development of Swedish poetry from the middle of the last century to the present day. In 2015, the Swedish Academy published all 14 of Ekelöf's poetry collections in a critical edition in two volumes in its classics series. Now the edition is being completed with two more volumes, one containing the independent poems that Ekelöf published in newspapers and magazines, the other with poems that have never before been published.
Under the title Samlade dikter I−IV, we encounter the poetic work in its entirety, with everything from occasional verses and conscious pechorals to sublime drafts of the Diwan poetry. Ekelöf was able to create poetry from everything he came across, for example from what he came to call “the area of the great scrapyard” during a transformative visit to Istanbul in 1965. Samlade dikter I−IV will thus combine the rigor of the critical edition with the generosity that allows us to take part in all that has been written in one and the same gesture.
The edition's editors Anders Mortensen and Daniel Möller talk about the exciting work on the new volumes and how they can be expected to change our perceptions of Gunnar Ekelöf's work and significance in our culture.
Anders Mortensen is a teacher and Ekelöff researcher at Lund University, where he also leads the activities at the Centre for Scandinavian Studies.
Photographer: Håkan Röjder.
Daniel Möller is a professor of literary studies at Halmstad University and, together with Niklas Schiöler, editor of the anthology Svensk poesi.
Photographer: Gustav Bergman.
Free entry, no pre-registration required.