Baltics Paperback – March 27, 2012

I ordered this volume as a gift for my professor, and now I want a copy for myself! I am finishing up my master's thesis on Tranströmer and I worked extensively with this poem. Samuel Charters' translation is a good one, and I absolutely love the side-by-side Swedish and English text for students and enthusiasts alike. The photo essay by Ann Charters (the translator's wife) was really gorgeous and charming, but I would have loved for it to be on more glossy photo paper so that the image quality would have been better. All the same, there are some really striking photos of Tranströmer in the collection and it definitely adds character to the volume.In addition to the poem and photos (stunning on their own), I really enjoyed each of the Charters' introductions/commentary. It adds a nice touch that they know the Tranströmers personally and visited them as part of this project. Plus, who can resist the allure of a husband/wife project executed so elegantly? Not I.A must-have for Tranströmer lovers!

At last the great Samuel Charters translation of Tomas Tranströmer`s poem, Baltics has been republished. All Hail Tavern Books for issuing this superlative revised translation with the original Swedish en face some 35+ years since it was first published. Baltics, long considered last year's Nobel Prize winner's greatest single poem uses the poet's family history to examine many sides of his own life (it seems to me) on turning the age of 40. Adding to the pleasure of this edition is the inclusion of many photographs by Ann Charters, noted author and photographer and wife of the translator, both of whom are good friends of the poet and his family, taken while Charters and Tranströmer were working on the translation at the Tranströmer's summer home. Tavern Books has also recently published three other volumes of Tranströmer's work several of which have never appeared in English. This edition of Baltics, is an essential and belongs in everyone's poetry collection.

Wonderful book to read and 'see' in the film, where Tranströmer reads his poem. We have a bilingual poem, and a very interesting afterword with photos by Ann Charles.