Trotzig, Birgitta

(1929-)

   A major Swedish poet, novelist, and essayist, Trotzig writes about such fundamental issues as the nature of good and evil and the presence of the divine in human life. While living in Paris in the 1960s she converted to Roman Catholicism, and her religious engagement can be felt throughout her work.

   Trotzig debuted with a story about three women entitled Ur de al-skandes liv (1951; From the Life of Lovers). Her second book, Bilder (1954; Images), is a collection of prose poems with strong visual power. Her artistic breakthrough came with De utsatta (1957; The Exposed), which was a retelling of the biblical story of Job. Set in 17th-century Skane, in southern Sweden, it tells of a man who suffers rejection and poverty through no fault of his own, and who tries to maintain his religious faith throughout his seemingly endless tribulations. En berattelse fran kusten (1961; A Tale from the Coast) is also set in Skane and in the past.

   Three rather brief narratives constitute Levande och doäda (1964; Living and Dead), which gives examples of the significance of family dynamics in human development. Trotzig's next two novels deal with similar themes. Sveket (1966; The Betrayal) tells about a father who fails to understand the difference between true parental love and control and manipulation in his relationship with his daughter. Sjukdomen (1972; The Illness) features a protagonist who is capable of appropriate love for his son but is unable to communicate that love.

   I kejsarens tid (1975; In the Time of the Emperor) is a collection of stories that emphasize the presence of negative forces as a necessary complement to the positive in human life. But even though human beings are captives of dark forces, there are also many reasons to hope for transcendence and, ultimately, renewal. A similarly dark vision is present in the novel Dykungens dotter (1985; The Mud King's Daughter), which, set in the 1920s, details the fate of some of society's losers.

   Trotzig produced several volumes of prose poems in addition to the early Bilder. Ordgraänser (1968; Word Limits) shows how words alone are incapable of expressing profound suffering. Anima (1982) takes as its theme such dualisms as those between body and soul and light and darkness. Sammanhang: Material (1996; Connection: Material) suggests that melancholia and the inability to communicate, which for Trotzig is a kind of autism, can be overcome. Similar themes are at the core of Dubbelheten: Tre sagor (1998; Doubleness: Three Tales).