And when the light comes it will be fantastic

This thesis is my literary translation of and critical introduction to Norwegian poet Kristin Berget’s ecopoetic collection AND WHEN THE LIGHT COMES IT WILL BE FANTASTIC [OG NÅR DET BLIR LYST BLIR DET HELT FANTASTISK]. Nominated for a Brage Prize, the book knits together themes of nature, language, and loss. The poems traverse deserts, fields, forests, and seas; their mutability is forever present or imminent. Berget’s ecopoetics are centered on nature as a site of extraction and disruption and the poems explore both individual and collective losses. An analysis of language and its use toward creation and destruction is at the heart of Berget’s poetry.