Jill Adams wrote:

Because of Once and Again's continuous use of literary quotes and themes throughout the season (The Stranger by Camus, Caulfield's Catcher in the Rye, Shakespeare's King Lear, and George Gray's Spoon River Anthology) I was still curious about the poet Sam Blue first referred to in the bookstore with Judy.

I was determined to find out who Karl Vennberg, the Swedish modernist poet, was. This is the author Sam Blue name drops in the bookstore when he first visits Judy. Judy acts duly impressed with his choice of obscure knowledge and Sam replies that actually he has never read anything by Vennberg but always meant to.

Needless to say, the guy is apparantly an important figure in 20th century Scandanavian literature. I pulled up 348 "hits" on my search engine. Alas, only ONE site was in English. As far as I can tell, finding a poem by the guy in English is impossible. Perhaps ol' Sam can read Swedish AS well as make sculpture and cheat on his wife. Talented fellow.

So, anyway, not that too many people are as interested in these goofy little details as I am but here is the single paragraph I found in English on Karl Vennberg:

The poetry of Karl Vennberg (1910-1995), with echoes from T.S. Eliot, was critical of his age in much the same way as that of Lindegren. Vennberg was an analytical skeptic who sought to re-evaluate poetic and political truths. He made his debut in 1937 with Hymn och hunger (Hymn and Hunger) and continued to write poetry until his death.