Бажанов, А. Стихи и поэмы о саамском крае = Verses & poems on the Saami land / Аскольд Бажанов ; English translation by Naomi Caffee ; with an essay by Johanna Domokos. - Berlin : Nordeuropa-Institut der Humboldt-Universitat, 2009.

1 9 5 dreams, places of memory), times (e.g. spring, northern lights, Po- .lar nights, storms, melting o f snow, dawn), and living beings (e.g. soldiers, deceased people, reindeer, geese) ties us in strongly with the concept of boundaries. Bazhanov’s liminal world comes into ex istence at the borders of what is found in the past / the »core«, and what should belong to the present / th e «manifestation level«. How ever, this world is ultimately dissolved into the transcendent force of nature. Conclusion Bazhanov’s present book is an expanded poetic exploration of the relationship between individuals, their past, and their space / place. In these poems powerful words are intimately connected to a sense of place and time. They embody, articulate, and share reality to release the isolated, private self from its pain and to achieve bal ance within a new reality. Though Bazhanov’s poems are very much rooted in local traditions, the w ay he gives expression to them makes him a universally interesting author. The artistically formu lated ideas speak to each one of us, and they awaken a deep respect towards his poetry. These poems radiate respect and love for the ancestors, their language, and their culture; in doing so, they also create hope for preserving the accumulated values o f humankind. Bazhanov presents this hope symbolically in the figure o f a hunter’s riverside lodge in the poem «Hunter’s lodge« (p. 147). In that hut near the river, a window opens to the east There are no lamps, there are no stoves, but there’s a merry fireplace! On the hearth the firewood is not crowded, there’s sunshine in every little comer. It sings songs in the night, solely in the Saami tongue! In those songs I hear the echoes o f someone’s joy and hardship!