Leaf-Huts and Snow-Houses

Poetry Book Society Recommended Translation

 

In this generous selection of nearly half of Hauge's poetic work, Robin Fulton displays the range, variety and distinctive qualities of his poetry. Though deeply rooted in the West Norwegian landscape which he evokes so memorably, Hauge's poetry has a kinship in background and temperament with that of Robert Frost, while also sharing the wry humour and cool economy of William Carlos Williams and Brecht, whom he translated. Often epigrammatic, yet lyrical in impulse, his poems have a serenity which makes them unusually rewarding.

 

Olav H. Hauge (1908-1994) lived nearly all of his life in his native Ulvik in Western Norway, where he worked as a gardener. His poetry is now seen as one of the main achievements of twentieth-century Norwegian literature.

 

Robin Fulton, Scottish poet, editor and translator, has lived in Norway since 1973. He is a notable translator of Scandinavian poetry whose versions of Swedish poets received the Artur Lundkvist Award in 1977 and Swedish Academy Awards in 1978 and 1998. His collections of poetry include Selected Poems (1980) and several further volumes.