Jan Wagner – författare

A dual-language collection examining impermanence as the source of beauty from one of the most acclaimed contemporary poets writing in German.Over the course of a partnership spanning nearly two decades, poets Jan Wagner and David Keplinger have crafted a distinctly collaborative exchange between original German and American letters. Now, in this masterful dual-language poetry collection, they muse at the constraints of translation, challenging its boundaries while weaving their distinct voices in lyrical call and response. Together, they marvel at what translation can be: a tempered conversation in metered rhyme. From their poetic cross-pollination, ethereal wisps unfurl from everyday objects—a spiral of hair, an iridescent snail’s path, the twist of a tornado’s funnel. Flora and fauna, they discover, act as foliage to veiled, hidden universes. Flamingoes curve into question marks, fishhooks become wedding rings, and Pirelli tires glide into panthers. “She trails a silver-tail / behind herself,” the speaker muses, “something like a falling / star.” Showcasing traditional forms—including ghazal, sonnet, and haiku—Wagner and Keplinger rebel against each fixed container until otherworldly realms emerge. Kaleidoscopic and cyclical, these poems are a feat of literary acrobatics on display, suspending us in surprise and wonder.

Self-Portrait with a Swarm of Bees combines the poet's unerring instinct for the surprising perspective on commonplace objects or events with a mischievous delight in the detail of the absurd. Wagner is a vigilant, yet playful, chronicler of the quotidian, his meticulous handling of image and sound forging a worldly, almost luminous palpability.

Jan Wagner har sedan debuten 2001 utkommit med sju diktsamlingar och kommit att bli en av Tysklands mest översatta och uppmärksammade samtidspoeter. När han nu presenteras på svenska med Självporträtt med bisvärm är det i ett större urval gjort av Wagner själv tillsammans med översättare Aris Fioretos. Wagner belönades 2015 med Preis det Lepziger Buchmesse och samlar i sin poesi intryck på ett sätt så att läsaren kan samla sina egna preferenser. Världen framträder, liksom naturen och alla dess konstnärliga versioner av livet. Wagner skapar bilder som trollar fram en särskild stämning mellan samtid och diktens bundna form, i omdanande uppbrytning.