Few poets have in their lifetime been as abundantly translated or as willingly assimilated into other languages as the Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer, who also trained and worked as a psychologist. The anthology English and American Surrealist Poetry includes him as part of the "deep image" canon of translated poetry. In France he has inspired a new "anti-Tel Quel-poetics" (in reference to the French school of theory of the 1960s and 1970s) inspired by the magazine L'Incitation au vol (Incitement to Flying). His works can be read in practically every European language and in quite a few non-European languages as well.

In his native Sweden, Tranströmer's reputation as the leading poet of his generation was assured almost from the publication of his first book, 17 dikter (17 Poems) in 1954. His reputation as a lyric genius from Söder--the southern part of Stockholm--preceded the appearance of...