Research Catalog

Title

The marathon poet / Åke Hodell ; translated by Fia Backström.

Author

Hodell, Åke

Publication

• Brooklyn, NY : Ugly Duckling Presse, 2020.
• Saline, Michigan : McNaughton & Gunn
• ©2020

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Backström, Fia, 1970-
• Josefsson, Kira
• Don't Look Now (Firm), compositor.
• Ugly Duckling Presse, publisher.
• McNaughton & Gunn, printer.

Description

xv, 133 pages : illustrations, music; 21 cm.

Summary

"Iconic poet-artist of the Swedish post-war avant-garde, Åke Hodell tells the story of his artistic journey through the absurd, satirical, tour-de-force that is The Marathon Poet, originally published in 1981 and now available for the first time in a facsimile-style English translation. Hodell's book is centered around a fictional race between poets, in which our author-protagonist becomes the sole qualifier after some fitness and alcohol tests. The narrative of the race is intersected by apocryphal origin stories of Hodell's earlier works that freely blur fact and fiction, taking us even as far as Hell to find a publisher for one of his books. Through para-fictional devices, repetitive language techniques, phonetic writing, and satirical humor he continuously mocks authority. Hodell's tall tales unmask and satirize oppression's many guises--from disciplinary speed reading in elementary school to the forced repetition of a military command. In one chapter, Hodell relates the history of capitalism by way of a multi-vocal sound-poem featuring the voices of European and American automobiles. Through all the tribulations experienced by the marathon poet, Hodell's pacifist and anarchist politics are always present, always in solidarity, always in resistance."--Publisher's website (viewed 2021-05-20).

Series Statement

Lost literature series ; #30

Uniform Title

• Maratonpoeten. English
• Lost literature series ; #30.

Alternative Title

Maratonpoeten.

Subject

• Hodell, Åke > Translations into English
• Hodell, Åke
• 1900-1999
• Swedish poetry > 20th century
• Swedish poetry > 20th century > Translations into English
• Swedish poetry

Genre/Form

• Translations.
• Poetry.

Note

• "Originally published as Maratonpoeten by FIB:s Lyrikklub (Stockholm, Sweden) in 1981."--Title page verso.

Language (note)

• Translated from the Swedish.

Call Number

JFD 23-190

ISBN

• 9781946433473
• 1946433470

OCLC

1228925163

Author

Hodell, Åke, author.

Title

The marathon poet / Åke Hodell ; translated by Fia Backström.

Publisher

Brooklyn, NY : Ugly Duckling Presse, 2020.

Manufacturer

Saline, Michigan : McNaughton & Gunn

Copyright Date

©2020

Edition

First edition.

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

Lost literature series ; #30

Lost literature series ; #30.

Biography

"In 1941, while serving as a fighter pilot in WWII, Åke Hodell (1919-2000) miraculously survived a plane crash. During his convalescence, he decided to change the course of his life and became a poet and artist, influenced by socially critical art movements as well as by Fluxus. His experiments with language and visual art moved fluidly between a variety of forms and genres, including concrete poetry and artists books (such as igevär and Orderbuch), collage, spoken word, performance, radio theater, sound- and object-based installations, and pioneering sound-art works such as Mr. Smith in Rhodesia and Where is Eldridge Cleaver?"--Publisher's website (viewed 2021-05-20).

"Fia Backström is a Swedish artist based in New York. Her multi-disciplinary practice includes photography, performance, events, installation, display architecture, and writing. Her work engages questions around the construction of the collective fabric often through collaboration or by re-contextualizing works by other artist. In her book COOP A-Script (Primary Information), she continues her exploration into modes of visual and spoken language. Backström received the Bernard Heidsieck - Centre Pompidou literary prize in 2018. In 2019, she performed Fluid Sites - Haunted Debris: virtual, possible, viscirreal with choreographer Mariana Valencia at the Centre Pompidou, and exhibited Facing Her Land - Notes from elsewhere at the Thiel Gallery Museum (Stockholm). Backström is an Assistant Professor at The Cooper Union."--Publisher's website (viewed 2021-05-20).

"Kira Josefsson is a writer, editor, and literary translator working between English and Swedish. She was awarded a PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grant for her work on Pooneh Rohi's The Arab. Her work has appeared in Granta, Words Without Borders, The Nation, Exchanges, Triple Canopy, Kritiker, and Arbetaren. She serves as Assistant Translations Editor for Anomaly, and on the editorial board for Glänta, a Swedish independent journal of arts and philosophy."--Publisher's website (viewed 2021-05-20).

Language

Translated from the Swedish.

Local Note

Ugly Duckling Presse chapbook and zine collection.

Chronological Term

1900-1999

Place of Publication

United States New York Brooklyn.

Added Author

Backström, Fia, 1970- translator.

Josefsson, Kira, translation editor.

Don't Look Now (Firm), compositor.

Ugly Duckling Presse, publisher.

McNaughton & Gunn, printer.

Research Call Number

JFD 23-190