"SKRIVA “JAG” OCH MENA DET, GÅR DET?" : OM SJÄLVBIOGRAFISK DIKT I NORDEN

«Writing “I” and meaning it, can it be done?», is a question raised by the Swedish writer Elise Ingvarsson in the poem Mönstren och Kristus (2005). Ingvarsson’s text is relevant to the discussion of the relationship between autobiography and poetry for at leasttwo reasons: on the one hand, it calls attention to the problem of the lyrical vs. the empirical ‘I’; on the other, it openly refers to Sonja Åkesson’s poetry, which often calls upon the poet’s own experiences, Självbiografi (replik till Ferlinghetti) and Självporträtt being two examples. In my essay, I discuss – in addition to Åkesson – authors such as Klaus Rifbjerg (Under vejr med mig selv. En utidig selvbiografi) and Helge Hagerup (Selvportrett i feber), who, in the paratextual elements of their poetry, seem to draw up autobiographical contracts with the reader. Two poems by the Finland-Swedish poet Börje Ahlö will serve to examine the hypothesis whereby autobiographical poetry is produced when the names of the ‘lyrical I’ and the poet correspond. The road to a reflection on autobiographical poetry in Scandinavia will run through the theoretical discussion of the lyrical subject and autobiography that has recently taken place in France. Can poetry combine with autobiography? What does this combination look like and what textual strategies does it engage?