Erik Mesterton

Erik Mesterton

Erik Mesterton (4 October 1903 – 10 January 2004) was a Swedish writer, literary critic and translator.

Together with poet Karin Boye he was editor for the influential culture magazine Spektrum in the 1930s (Modernist (T. S. Eliot was a favourite) and Freudian readings of literature were introduced. Mesterton lived in Gothenburg where he also did research on literature with scholars from the University of Gothenburg.<ref name="A">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Mesterton, Erik</ref><ref>Major translations into English</ref><ref>"Det öde landet." 1932.</ref>

Mesterton's translation of Eliot's The Waste Land ("Det öde landet", 1932), made in collaboration with Karin Boye, and his essays in Spektrum was widely influential on Swedish 20th century literature.<ref name="A" />

Mesterton also translated from several other languages, including works by the Polish poet Zbigniew Herbert, and translated Swedish authors such as Pär Lagerkvist to English.<ref name="A" /> In 1967, he re-translated Hamlet to Swedish in collaboration with Erik Lindegren.<ref name="A" />

Selected translations

• Akhmatova, Anna: "Åtta dikter" (översatt tillsammans med Ebba Lindqvist. I tidskriften BLM, årg. 32 (1963): s. 350–355
• Eliot, T.S.: "Det öde landet" (översatt tillsammans med Karin Boye). Först i tidskriften Spektrum, 1932: 2, s. 25–44; omtryckt i Eliot, T.S.: Dikter (Bonnier, 1942), s. 17–37
• Eliot, T.S.: Sweeney Agonistes (översatt tillsammans med Erik Lindegren) (Bonnier, 1950)
• Erdman, Nikolai: En självmördares vedermödor: komedi (Samoubijca) (otryckt översättning, tillsammans med Tord Bæckström, för Göteborgs stadsteater 1969)
• Herbert, Zbigniew: I stridsvagnens spår: dikter 1956–1965 (översatt tillsammans med Erik Lindegren) (Bonnier, 1965)
• Herbert, Zbigniew: Rapport från en belägrad stad och andra dikter (tolkning av Agneta Pleijel och Daniel Bronski under medverkan av Erik Mesterton) (Bonnier, 1985)
• Lagerkvist, Pär: The eternal smile (Det eviga leendet) (översatt tillsammans med Denys W. Harding) (1934)
• Lagerkvist, Pär: Guest of reality (Gäst hos verkligheten) (översatt tillsammans med Denys W. Harding) (1936)
• Shakespeare, William: Hamlet (översatt tillsammans med Erik Lindegren) (Bonnier, 1967)

References

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