tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post5844675389047299275..comments2024-02-03T10:27:22.640+00:00Comments on Nordic Voices in Translation: Books and publishersDavid McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-75950630111304855802009-03-11T14:47:00.000+00:002009-03-11T14:47:00.000+00:00Incidentally, Pia Tafdrup does not consider hersel...Incidentally, Pia Tafdrup does not consider herself to be a Danish poet, but rather a post who happens to write in Danish.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-72154051803775001382009-03-11T12:51:00.000+00:002009-03-11T12:51:00.000+00:00I guess I'm not enough of a Tarkovsky fan to have ...I guess I'm not enough of a Tarkovsky fan to have spent a lot of time with the writings of Arseni - though I know that translations of his work are quite popular in Scandinavia. Tua Forsström refers to his poetry in several places in her poems. <BR/><BR/>You can read all of Arseni's poetry online, at <BR/><A HREF="http://www.litera.ru/stixiya/authors/tarkovskij/all.html#horosh-li-prazdnika" REL="Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-91029806858445194492009-03-11T12:11:00.000+00:002009-03-11T12:11:00.000+00:00You have a valid point that propping up translated...You have a valid point that propping up translated Danish poetry on the fame of an illustrious Russian, can have deleterious effects, distracting or misleading the potential reader, when they are thumbing through the collection in the bookshop.<BR/><BR/>As you, David, are a translator from Russian, have you discovered his father Arseni Tarkovsky's poetry, used in one or two of son Andrei's films?Eric Dickenshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11473407452357469485noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-69559321953285725382009-03-11T11:47:00.000+00:002009-03-11T11:47:00.000+00:00Yes, the cover that Bloodaxe want will be quite ef...Yes, the cover that Bloodaxe want will be quite effective, and the image of horses from the end of "Andrei Rublyov" is perfectly in tune with at least one of the poems in the book (and of course with the title itself), but it will give the collection a "feel" that's different from that of the original edition. <BR/><BR/>Although I like and admire Tarkovsky's films, and I know that Pia is a keen Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-37023702246916695612009-03-11T10:58:00.000+00:002009-03-11T10:58:00.000+00:00House style is fine - if the publishing house genu...House style is fine - if the publishing house genuinely has one, or a series where all the covers have to fit in. But as I indicated with Luik, where there's a will, there's a way. <BR/><BR/>The original Luik was published by Eesti Raamat, still a Soviet-style publishing house at the time. The Finnish translation was published by Tammi, and the slighly aberrant cover of the Dutch translation Eric Dickenshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11473407452357469485noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-45538549651490089572009-03-11T10:41:00.000+00:002009-03-11T10:41:00.000+00:00The cover image for Tarkovskijs heste is a stained...The cover image for <I>Tarkovskijs heste</I> is a stained glass painting by Ida Balslev-Olesen, a friend of Pia Tafdrup's. Publishers seem to have a tendency to shy away from using graphic work by friends of the authors they publish, and prefer to make their own choices, in the name of something they call a "house style". I suppose in a way it's understandable, but I would have liked the book to David McDuffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-39795930935097532592009-03-11T10:29:00.000+00:002009-03-11T10:29:00.000+00:00You bring up a very interesting point about covers...You bring up a very interesting point about covers and control over them. The Danish cover looks very effective to me - and I note that the author liked it too. But when a book is translated, the cover doesn't often "travel with it".<BR/><BR/>When, for instance, the Viivi Luik novel "The Beauty of History" was first published, both the Estonian original and Finnish translation had the same Eric Dickenshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11473407452357469485noreply@blogger.com