One could speculate on Ekelöf's position among contemporary poets if his mother tongue had been English or any other "world-language," but one should then keep in mind the force of another, strangely similar Scandinavian, the Dane, Sören Kierkegaard. In due time Ekelöf will prevail and conquer. He stubbornly returned to the same themes with original imagination utilizing international and intracultural imagery. Much of what he has to say is placed on the sharp edge of paradox. Some music might be lost in translation but some might even be gained, for it is my experience that he is eminently translatable because the meat of his thoughts so often is merely suggested between the lines and in the clash of metaphors.

As a student of Ekelöf's works, it was only natural that I would devour his autobiography [En självbiografi. Efterlämnade brev och anteckningar] in...