1986 Rói Patursson, The Faroe Islands: Líkasum

Rói Patursson was born and grew up in Tórshavn, lived in Copenhagen between 1970 and 1985 to take his university degree in philosophy. Having worked for a period of time as teacher at the school of writing in Bergen, he returned to the Faroe Islands and became principal of the folk high school in Tórshavn. Rói Patursson has worked as a radio reporter, written songs and published three collections of poems. He was awarded the Literature Prize for the third collection, Líkasum.

Líkasum is a collection of poems written in Faroese. This was the first time the Prize was awarded to a work written in Faroese. The work falls into seven parts with different themes, all pervaded by the traveller’s perspective. In the poem, Heimkoma, the poet endeavours to identify the mysticism of returning. The third part of the collection of poems is a flow of words filled with eroticism and doubt but also of devoted striving for a clearer view. An underlying serious humour leaves a trace in his reflections, and he never departs from provocation as a means of expression. Rói Patursson joins the modernistic tradition in his dense lyrics and the many different approaches which his poetry allows.

Líkasum

Published by: Mentunargrunnur Studentafelagsins 

Publication year: 1985

With lyrical strength and openness, he shows the tense relationships between the Faroese reality and the existential questions of our modern existence.