The Sun, My Father
Poems by Nils-Aslak Valkeapää
Translated from the Sami by Lars
Nordström,
Ralph Salisbury, and Harald Gaski. DAT, Norway
and the University of
Washington Press, 1997.
Translator’s Note:
The original Sami edition of this book, THE SUN, MY FATHER, won
the prestigious Nordic Council’s Literature Award in 1991. The
original edition is remarkable in that it contains a huge
collection of historical photographs of the Sami people, and it
is important to keep in mind that the poems are written as a
kind of dialogue with, or commentary to, the historical material
contained in the images. The Scandinavian edition of this book,
translated from Sami into both Norwegian and Swedish, does not
contain the historical photographs, neither does the English
edition, and this is on the insistence on the poet. Even though
my personal opinion is that these photographs would illuminate
the English text in a very positive way, and make it a great
deal more understandable, especially to a non-Scandinavian
reader, Nils-Aslak Valkeapää argues that the photographs
belong to the Sami people alone. Furthermore, since there is a
musical composition to go along with the book, this English
translation only represents one dimension of a rich and complex
whole.
What some reviewers have said:
With the publication of the
English translation of Beaivi ahcazan as The Sun, My
Father, Nils-Aslak Valkeapää has possibly gained the
stature of a world poet in a world language, speaking for his
people at the Arctic margins of Norden, the Scandinavian
peninsula. Beaivi ahcazan is a beautifully composed
mythography for the Sami people, filled with photos like a great
national family album. ...
Beaivi ahcazan is an ambitious, multilayered work,
with triple cycles of poetry--personal, seasonal, and mythic.
The poems are understated, quiet, and intense, filled with
imgaes of the seasonal activities of a reindeer herding people,
using understated, subtle, natural metphors. ... The poems are
delicate and strong, like the finest Sami handicrafts, made of
local materials and language and shaded by an artist’s hand.
...
The Sun, My Father is a fine translation of
Beaivi ahcazan, intelligently and sensitively crafted by
Ralph Salisbury, Lars Nordstrom, and Harald Gaski, an unusual
trio of translators, who did very fine work earlier on their
translation of Trekways of the Wind.
Kathleen Osgood Dana, World Literature Today,
Autumn 98, Vol.72, Issue 4, p.877.
The English translation of
“Beaivi, Ahcazan” can only be called a generous gift created
by the daring labors of Ralph Salisbury, Lars Nordström, and
Harald Gaski. Nils Aslak Valkeapää won the Nordic Literature
Prize for this momentous work which was originally published in
1988. I have seen the book in practically every Sami household
I’ve visited, and I don’t think it is an exaggeration to say
that it is one of the central influences in the increasing
affirmation of Sami traditional knowledge.
“Beaivi, Ahcazan” is so much more than a poetic text.
The samegiella edition contains innumerable photographs
documenting Sami civilization and history in all its beautiful
and painful aspects (the English language edition contains only
a minimal amount of illustrations and none of the photos.) A
reading of the book by the author is available and four CD’s
or tapes also contain Vakeapää’s joiking, music by Valkeapää
and Esa Kotilainen, plus the sounds of Sápmi (wind, water,
birds, and reindeer).
...
Any review of “Beaivi, Ahcazan” can only touch upon
certain aspects of the work given its large scope. It contains a
wealth of medicinal and cultural information [and] is a manual
for cultural remembrances. ...
Jürgen W. Kremer, BAIKI, Issue #19, 1999.
Those whose appetite is whetted
by ... Valkeapää’s work will find a treat in his poetry book
THE SUN, MY FATHER. ... The title refers to the myth that the
Sami are the children of the sun. The poems serve as reflections
on ancient Sami ways from the perspective of a modern Sami. ...
Valkeapää is a multimedia artist, also painting, drawing, and
doing photography. He performed a series of yoiks at the opening
of the winter olympics in Lillehammer in 1994, and among his
acting credits is a role in the well-known Sami film Path
finder.There is a strong visual element to his poems. One poem
in THE SUN, MY FATHER is laid out in the shape of a bird, while
a series of other poems is made to represent the tracks of a
gathering herd of reindeer. This book is a pleasure to look at
and feel as well as to read.
Nancy Benvenga, in Ethnohistory, Winter 2000.