Jordan Barger reads from Sigbjørn Obstfelder's 'Autumn - A Fragment'

"Autumn - A fragment" by Sigbjørn Obstfelder. Translated from the Norwegian by Jordan Barger. This translation was first published in The Brooklyn Rail: Note: [1] A vidde is a specific form of Norwegian woodland that refers to a geographical area that lies around or above the tree line, especially in Norway, with limited or crippled tree growth. Well-known Vidder are Hardanger, Røros, and Finnmarksvidda. Several of these have wild or domesticated reindeer strains. English translation copyright (c) Jordan Barger, 2020. The translator would like to thank his editor, Marianne Bakke. Sigbjørn Obstfelder was a Norwegian writer of the late 19th century, close friend of Edvard Munch, inspiration to Rainier Maria Rilke, and father of modernist Norwegian poetry. His poem “Jeg Ser” is known by all Norwegians and mimics the sense of alienation found in Munch’s famous painting The Scream. Jordan Barger is a Philadelphia-based translator from Norwegian and French. He has worked in Norway at the Ivar Aasen Center in Ørsta. He translated Sigbjørn Obstfelder’s 1894 novel The Cross. Twitter: @PersonalRecords