Poetry, nerdiness and Nemi
Long ago in high school, we were obligated to read Nordic poetry to practice our understanding of Norwegian, Danish and Icelandic. Now..Danish, I could be without, because regardless of the fact that I grew up practically next door to Copenhagen, I fear I will never love the sound of Danish, in spite of all other great things in that country. But Norwegian..ah there was a beautiful melodious language. I still read it reasonably well, but what I most remember was the journalist and poet Tor Jonsson (wikipedia actually has a page on him, which is a pleasant surprise). We could pick him for reading in high school because his poetry was short and therefore easy to read in another Scandinavian language, I however, loved the simple, wistful beauty of his poetry.
Later in life, I discovered that one of my favorite cartoonists, Norwegian Lise Myhre, the creator of the cartoon Nemi used a favorite poem of mine by Tor Jonsson to make a gorgeous strip of Nemi.
This post will be about Nemi - a cartoon which I have read for well over a decade, but Tor Jonsson and his poem deserve some homage too. This strip is well quoted on the net by Nemi lovers now, but either poorly translated (on Nemi discussion sites, on the fly for the English speakers), or not translated at all, and unfortunately Myhre often gets credit for the text as well.
Here is the poem translated by me into English from Norwegian. I digressed very slightly from some wordings to accommodate rhythm, but it's still pretty faithful to the original.
Poem in Norwegian:
Eg er sorg og glede
Skap meg ikkje om med skugge.
Eg vil vera den eg vart.
Eg er sorg i kvite klede,
Eg er gleda kledd i svart.
Skap meg ikkje om med glede
eg vart den eg ville bli :
Konge i eit ukjent rike,
Slave i mi eiga tid.
Here is the poem in English (my translation)
I am Sorrow and Joy
Re-shape me not from shadow
I will be the one I was
I am mourning in white clothes,
and joyful dressed in black.
Re-shape me not from happiness
I was the one I would become:
King in a realm unknown,
and slave in my own time.
Here is the Nemi cartoon where the last stanza of the poem is used:
The Tor Jonsson poem cartoon encapsulates many frequent themes in Nemi, such as being an outsider, being a dreamer, being part of a sub-culture, being a loser, non conformism and every day sadness and joy.
I began to red Nemi in the late 90's in Swedish. She rapidly became popular in Scandinavia where goth and metal culture had grown in size, along with nerd culture and all the kinds of films, music and books that these somewhat overlapping groups favored.
Nemi has since then become international, mostly known to the English speaking crowd for being posted in the UK urban mag Metro. Not all Nemi strips travel well from Norwegian into Anglicization though, some cultural and linguistic aspects fall short when they move too far away from Scandinavia - but some are quite universal enough, which may explain the widening of Nemi's popularity.
Nemi is both liked, misunderstood and disliked. Anti feminists don't find her funny, many feminist groups dislike some strips too, there is a certain snobbish attitude which can follow the nerd sub culture and along with that the paradox of shallow goth/metal/punk aesthetics. But Nemi still holds many more pearls than mud clots between her pages, and some inconsistencies may actually add to a sense of genuineness. Life is not logical, but I continue to need and love Nemi. When I first read her I felt a huge redemption for being a dreamer in a time where dreamers where sorely out of style, and that feeling still lingers when I go back to my Nemi books.
Some Nemi:
Being the underdog
Nemi is a HUGE Lord of the Rings fan, many comic strips over the years have had Tolkien references:
Nemi is emotional and proud of it, if things become too intellectual they go out the window
Nemi always roots for the monsters, the outsiders and the dragons
Nemi likes to hang out with fantasy characters (just like me she loves Moomin!)
When I was young I was an only girl roleplaying with guys sometimes, so this particular cartoon brings back some memories!
Nemi eats like a pig (or like Gollum) and loves candy and snacks!
And Nemi is no fan of stereotypical beauty...
So hang in there all loser dreamers on this gray Monday, Nemi is still around, kicking ass if needed.
Later in life, I discovered that one of my favorite cartoonists, Norwegian Lise Myhre, the creator of the cartoon Nemi used a favorite poem of mine by Tor Jonsson to make a gorgeous strip of Nemi.
This post will be about Nemi - a cartoon which I have read for well over a decade, but Tor Jonsson and his poem deserve some homage too. This strip is well quoted on the net by Nemi lovers now, but either poorly translated (on Nemi discussion sites, on the fly for the English speakers), or not translated at all, and unfortunately Myhre often gets credit for the text as well.
Here is the poem translated by me into English from Norwegian. I digressed very slightly from some wordings to accommodate rhythm, but it's still pretty faithful to the original.
Poem in Norwegian:
Eg er sorg og glede
Skap meg ikkje om med skugge.
Eg vil vera den eg vart.
Eg er sorg i kvite klede,
Eg er gleda kledd i svart.
Skap meg ikkje om med glede
eg vart den eg ville bli :
Konge i eit ukjent rike,
Slave i mi eiga tid.
Here is the poem in English (my translation)
I am Sorrow and Joy
Re-shape me not from shadow
I will be the one I was
I am mourning in white clothes,
and joyful dressed in black.
Re-shape me not from happiness
I was the one I would become:
King in a realm unknown,
and slave in my own time.
Here is the Nemi cartoon where the last stanza of the poem is used:
The Tor Jonsson poem cartoon encapsulates many frequent themes in Nemi, such as being an outsider, being a dreamer, being part of a sub-culture, being a loser, non conformism and every day sadness and joy.
I began to red Nemi in the late 90's in Swedish. She rapidly became popular in Scandinavia where goth and metal culture had grown in size, along with nerd culture and all the kinds of films, music and books that these somewhat overlapping groups favored.
Nemi has since then become international, mostly known to the English speaking crowd for being posted in the UK urban mag Metro. Not all Nemi strips travel well from Norwegian into Anglicization though, some cultural and linguistic aspects fall short when they move too far away from Scandinavia - but some are quite universal enough, which may explain the widening of Nemi's popularity.
Nemi is both liked, misunderstood and disliked. Anti feminists don't find her funny, many feminist groups dislike some strips too, there is a certain snobbish attitude which can follow the nerd sub culture and along with that the paradox of shallow goth/metal/punk aesthetics. But Nemi still holds many more pearls than mud clots between her pages, and some inconsistencies may actually add to a sense of genuineness. Life is not logical, but I continue to need and love Nemi. When I first read her I felt a huge redemption for being a dreamer in a time where dreamers where sorely out of style, and that feeling still lingers when I go back to my Nemi books.
Some Nemi:
Being the underdog
Nemi is a HUGE Lord of the Rings fan, many comic strips over the years have had Tolkien references:
Nemi is emotional and proud of it, if things become too intellectual they go out the window
Nemi always roots for the monsters, the outsiders and the dragons
Nemi likes to hang out with fantasy characters (just like me she loves Moomin!)
When I was young I was an only girl roleplaying with guys sometimes, so this particular cartoon brings back some memories!
Nemi eats like a pig (or like Gollum) and loves candy and snacks!
And Nemi is no fan of stereotypical beauty...
So hang in there all loser dreamers on this gray Monday, Nemi is still around, kicking ass if needed.