Frédéric Mistral| Umas vontades incontroláveis de ir à Provença

Comecei a ler as Memórias de Frédéric Mistral e já ando a deambular por vielas estreitas, escondidas sob flores e mar.Fotos www.pinterest.com 

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Bjørnstjerne Martinus Bjørnson| A poesia, enraizada nas suas entranhas

Durante as minhas leituras, principalmente do livro que William Morton Payne escreveu sobre Bjørnson, descobri que a poesia nasceu com ele e sempre permaneceu consigo. O local onde viveu no seu país natal impressionou-o de tal modo, que a luz, o frio, as cores, os ventos e tudo o que o seu olhar abarcava do seu país estiveram sempre presentes na sua escrita. 

Looking back upon his boyhood he speaks with strong emotion of the evenings when "I stood and watched the sunlight play upon mountain and fiord, until I wept, as if I had done something wrong, and when, borne down upon my ski into one valley or another I could stand as if spellbound by a beauty, by a longing that I could not explain, but that was so great that along with the highest joy I had, also, the deepest sense of imprisonment and sorrow".

 

A poesia, enraizada nas suas entranhas, sempre se revelou em todos os aspectos da sua vida, dos mais prosaicos aos mais solenes: 

Björnson preserved the poetic impulse oh his youth, and continued to give it play even in his envisagement of the most practical modern problems.

E em toda a sua obra esteve sempre presente, por detrás de cada palavra, de cada página:

Altough the form of verse was almost wholly abandoned by him during the latter half of his life, the breath of poetry never ceased to exhale from his work.

Altough a poet by instinct, he was not afraid of realism, and did not shrink from giving the brutal aspects of peasant life a place upon his canvas.

Os seus textos poéticos tornaram-se letras de hinos patrióticos que celebram, ainda hoje, o espírito norueguês:

Björnson has had the rare fortune of having his lyrics set to music by three composers - Nordraak, Kjerulf, and Grieg.

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William Morton Payne| Björnstjerne Björnson, 1832-1910

Em simultâneo com as minhas leituras de Björnstjerne Björnson, tenho estado a ler este livro que o seu tradutor e crítico, William Morton Payne, lhe dedicou. Escreve sobre as obras principais que Björnson escreveu, sobre a sua vida, eventos, desejos e frustrações deste homem rezingão e mal humorado - dizem -, que punha em polvorosa qualquer lugar onde estivesse. Claro que Björnson é muito mais que o seu mau humor:

The director of three theatres, the editor of three newspapers and the contributor to many others, the promoter of schools and patriotic organizations, the participant in many political campaigns, the lay preacher of private and public morals, the chosen orator of his nation for all great occasions, -these are some of the characters in which we must view him to form anything like a complete conception oh his many-sided individuality.

Aliás, Björnson foi e ainda é o grande representante do seu país, a Noruega:

He had become the voice of his people as no one had been before him, the singer of all that was noble in Norwegian aspiration, the sympathetic delineator of all that was essential in Norwegian Character.

E mais do que um simples escritor:

Björnson has always been a fighter as well as an artist.