Background
Östen Sjöstrand was born on June 16, 1925, in Gothenburg, Sweden. He was a son of Oscar Sjöstrand, a teacher and publisher.
1963
Östen Sjöstrand
405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden
Östen Sjöstrand attended the University of Gothenburg.
Östen Sjöstrand
Östen Sjöstrand was born on June 16, 1925, in Gothenburg, Sweden. He was a son of Oscar Sjöstrand, a teacher and publisher.
Östen Sjöstrand attended the University of Gothenburg.
Östen Sjöstrand published his first book, Unio, in 1949, and readily established himself as a poet with a flair for the spiritual and philosophical. A second poetry collection, Invigelse, confirmed his reputation as a learned, proficient writer. In ensuing collections, however, Sjostrand abandoned the intensity of his earlier works and turned to humanism, in collections ranging from Aten’dndo to En vinter i Norden.
In 1967, Sjostrand once again changed artistic direction. This time, with I vattumannens tecken, he produced prophetic verse incorporating symbolism derived from astrology, science, and philosophy. A subsequent collection, Stromoverforing, showed Sjostrand breaking from the theological and scientific and producing verse that proved romantic and sensual. Sjostrand has noted similarities between music and his verse. Among Sjostrand’s publications in English translation is Toward the Solitary Star: Selected Poetry and Prose.
Since 1975 Sjostrand has also served on the Swedish Academy’s committee to determine each year’s recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature. His other works include Invigelse (1950), Âtervàndo (1953), Ande och verklighet (1954), Dikter mellan midnatt och gryning (1954), Dikter, 1949-1955 (1958), En vinter i Norden (1963), Ensamma stjürnor, en gemensam horisont (1970), Fantasias nodvdndighet: Synvinklar och stàndpunkter, 1971 (1971), Strax ovanfdr vattenlinjen (1984), Pd dtervagenfran Jasna Gora (1987), Sprickorna i stenen: Dikter, tolkningar, essaer (1994), etc.
He was also the author of texts to compositions, including In Principio (title means "In the Beginning”) and I det yllersla (title means "At the Outermost Edge") - by Erik Back. From 1978 to 1989 he was the editor of Artes.
Among writers in English, Osten Sjdstrand mentions John Donne, George Herbert, William Blake, Gerard Manley Hopkins, T.S. Eliot, W. B. Yeats, and O'Neill as having influenced his own writing and thinking.
Quotations: "Music touches what is most secret and most personal in one's personality. It is a manifestation of our hidden inner strata - above all, rhythm. And it seems that the will of my personality strives toward something one could call "the anonymous simple," related to a certain kind of music."
Östen Sjöstrand was a member of the Swedish Academy.
In 1949 Östen Sjöstrand married Ella Viola Hillbäck. Their marriage lasted twenty-five years, until 1974. They didn’t have any children. In 1979 he married Eva Sjöstrand.