Marie Takvam

Marie Takvam, 1965.

Marie Ragnhild Takvam (born December 6, 1926 in Skylstad, Ørsta municipality , Norway , † January 28, 2008 in Lier ) was a Norwegian author and actress . She was best known for her poetry , which, like the rest of her work, she wrote in Nynorsk .

life and work

Early work

Marie Takvam grew up in the province of Sunnmøre on the Norwegian west coast. After graduating from high school, she moved to Oslo , where over the years she joined well-known authors such as Tarjei Vesaas , Inger Hagerup and Aslaug Vaa . She first began studying psychology at the University of Oslo , but never took an exam.

At the age of 25 she made her debut with the volume of poetry Dåp under sju stjerner (Baptism under seven stars), which was followed two years later by the Syngjande kjelder (Singing Sources) collection . These early publications, characterized by a thirst for life and open-heartedness, mainly contain love poetry in the guise of traditional metaphors and formal language that have not yet been overcome . Even the classic gender roles are rarely problematized in the poems.

Social Commitment

With the volume Signal , which she published in 1959, she overcame the lyrical pathos of her first books and found a new sober, everyday tone. Much more than before, she now addressed the narrow boundaries that society imposes on women. Some poems, which is unusual at this point in time, reach an open and sometimes aggressive socio-critical dimension. In Gamle Europa (Old Europe) it describes e.g. B. the attacks of the old, rich world on Africa as an act of rape . With anti- imperialist poems of this kind she anticipated the political battle poetry of the 1970s.

After 1968 she turned increasingly to feminism and pacifism . She wrote a series of poems against the war, which she also interpreted as an expression of an outdated masculine self-image. Some verses were directed directly against the domestic armaments industry : "Tanks from Iraq and Iran / with cannons from Sweden / and small electrical parts from Norway / roll through my stomach."

In the eighties, central lyric motifs such as love, eroticism, loneliness and death increasingly asserted themselves again. In her highly acclaimed volume Aldrande drabantby (Aging Trabant City ) from 1987, a subject merges with the dreary surroundings of an anonymous suburb . The sensual and often contradicting observations are clearly influenced by the autobiographical experiences of the poet.

Further publications and film roles

In addition to a total of ten volumes of poetry, Marie Takvam published two novels , a drama , a radio play and a children's book, which received less attention from the critics . For a time she moderated a popular children's program ( Barnetimen for de minste ) on the Norwegian National Radio . In 1977 the then 50-year-old Takvam took on a leading role in Vibeke Løkkeberg's feature film Åpenbaringen (The Revelation) despite the lack of formal training . By 1981 she worked in three other films, including in productions by Svend Wam and Petter Vennerød .

Awards

Marie Takvam has received several awards for her work, including a. with these prices:

• Legacy of the Gyldendal publishing house (1965)
• Melsom Prize (1981)
• Sunnmør Prize (1981)
• Dobloug Prize (1983)
• Nynorsk Literature Prize (1997)

bibliography

Dåp under sju stjerner - Poetry, 1952 Syngjande kjelder - poetry, 1954 Fjellet - radio play, 1957 Signal - Lyric, 1959 Marie og katten i Venezia - children's book, 1960 Merke etter liv - poetry, 1962 Mosaikk i lys - lyric poetry, 1965 Idun - drama, 1967 Brød og tran - lyric poetry, 1969

Auger, hender - lyric poetry, 1975 Dansaren - novel, 1975 Dikt i utval - Selected Poems, 1976 Fall og Reise seg att - Lyrik, 1980 Brevet frå Alexandra - Roman, 1981 Eg har røter i jord - Selected poems, 1981 Aldrande drabantby - lyric poetry, 1987 Rognebær - Poetry, 1990 Dikt i samling - Gesammelte Gedichte, 1997

Web links

• Marie Takvam in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Marie Takvam 80 år Article by Odd Sørås on the occasion of the poet's 80th birthday, website of NRK (Norwegian)