The Voice of the Artefact in Göran Sonnevi’s “Burge, Öja; 1989”

Abstract

Goran Sonnevi's poetry represents a vast network of associations to other texts and other works of art. Consequently, this poetry often initiates a conversation on the present with partners from different times, Places and arts. "Burge, Oja; 1989" is an interesting example of such an intermedial conversation, set in the middle of a dramatic period of our time, the year 1989. The central theme is the problem of change. The scene is the island of Gotland, where old-fashioned houses and tools speak of the impact of the past. The speaker reflects on the political changes on the other side of the Baltic Sea, with references to artefacts in the landscape and in our cultural heritage. These intertextual and intermedial reflections function as a demonstration of an ethos: an openness to the Other, a willingness to respond to the world and to communicate with other voices in a boundless reciprocity, mediated by artefacts. (Less)