| Contributed by
"William E. Emba"
Aniara is considered one of the greatest works of Swedish author
Harry Martinson, 1974 Nobel Prize in Literature co-winner "for
writings that catch the dewdrop and reflect the cosmos". It is
an epic science fiction poem in 103 cantos, telling the story of
the space ship Aniara and its occupants, 8000 evacuees from a
doomed Earth. Headed to Mars, they were forced to take evasive
action and are trapped on a one-way trip headed out of the solar
system.
Cantos 39, 45 and 47 are explicitly mathematical, with references
to calculations and aleph-numbers.
Aniara has been adapted to opera. The first complete translation in
English was published in Sweden in 1991. A revised version of this
translation was published in the US in 1999 by Story Line Press.
| 
