tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20413854923218299052024-03-13T07:47:03.640+00:00Nordic Voices in TranslationA blog mainly about literature and life in the Nordic countries.David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comBlogger920125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-18669191196880689102024-01-29T12:48:00.001+00:002024-01-29T12:48:33.916+00:00About Dostoyevsky https://akonkka.blogspot.com/2024/01/dostojevskista.htmlDavid McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-86450397107314514652024-01-29T11:49:00.011+00:002024-02-03T10:25:29.029+00:00The Tax ID by Ólafur Gunnarsson(from the short story collection Herörin og fleiri sögur Forlagið 2023)I started a wholesale business to
make money. That was my only purpose, making money and more money. But
sometimes it didn’t work out as expected, one thing or another came up. Like for
example when I imported a whole container of jeans that I had acquired in England at a good
price. I David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-4540587303896088462023-10-26T19:17:00.004+01:002023-10-26T19:18:01.220+01:00Blinded by death and lovehttps://swedishbookreview.org/130-years-and-counting-finland-swedish-poetryDavid McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-9366267736909710052023-07-07T08:16:00.006+01:002023-07-07T08:56:30.258+01:00Caspar Erichttp://bukdahl.blogspot.com/2016/06/exklusivt-strunge-tale-i-mai-for-caspar.htmlhttps://litteratursiden.dk/artikler/tale-til-caspar-erichttps://www.avkvalves.com/en/news/get-to-know-us/the-prince-henrik-prize-2023David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-59668029767323015562023-03-09T17:44:00.003+00:002023-03-09T17:44:30.913+00:00The elf and the ErdgeistÄlvan och jordanden. En biografi om Mirjam Tuominen och Torsten KorsströmTuva KorsströmSchildts & Söderströms 2018Tuva Korsström’s loving yet hyper-aware analysis of her parents, their work and their marriage combines several literary genres. In essence the volume is an autobiographical essay that expands into a double biography. While the story contains a wealth of psychological and materialDavid McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-27590208473030749632023-02-08T13:01:00.005+00:002023-02-08T13:09:24.241+00:00The voice of twilight
Skymningens röst:
dikter av Stagnelius, Lenngren och Bremer Listen to the album on your preferred music service Today, the internationally hailed Swedish trio ro.t releases their second album Skymningens röst: dikter av Stagnelius, Lenngren och Bremer. After debuting in 2020 with Drömmarnas garn: dikter av Harriet Löwenhjelm, from which the songs Dalens dimmor, Nu så dansa dennaDavid McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-22135609820895669242023-01-06T08:23:00.004+00:002023-01-06T09:45:14.755+00:00AnteckningarEdmund Prestwich has reviewed my translation of Tua Forsström's Anteckningar. Among other things he writes:
Memories and images are presented in a way that’s both vivid and spare, with an emphasis on elemental or elementary natural phenomena that can be evoked in very few words... Each image or memory fragment shines both in its own light and in the shifting play of light from those around it. David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-9439237362109246322023-01-06T07:58:00.004+00:002023-01-06T07:58:39.241+00:00Swedish books onlineAs a side note on the accessibility of Swedish texts, I have found that it's possible to download Swedish ebooks from Adlibris via Google Books/ My Library. For example, both of the titles mentioned in my previous post (Drabbad av renhet and Blandade kort) can be purchased this way for a very reasonable price in GBP. And of course, there is always the excellent Litteraturbanken. David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-40364504338858195932023-01-03T08:54:00.005+00:002023-02-08T13:11:18.388+00:00A ReflectionSomething that occurred to me a few years ago when working on my new translation of Karin Boye’s 1940 novel Kallocain (Penguin Classics, 2019) was how essential a number of comparatively neglected books are to the formation of a picture of the rise of literary modernism in Sweden. For example, Margit Abenius’s extensive biography of her close friend Karin Boye, Drabbad av renhet (1950), has now David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-35897522038904797762022-07-28T14:17:00.002+01:002023-01-03T09:06:28.883+00:00Moomin features in anti-Finland propaganda on Moscow streetsA Russian campaign against pending NATO members Finland and Sweden appears to be a continuation of similar propaganda seen in the Russian capital last May, when Astrid Lindgren was accused of having been a Nazi. https://yle.fi/news/3-12535510The Finnish Internet has not been slow to come with some appropriately barbed responses, e.g. https://twitter.com/pmakela1/status/David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-75591474108170660792022-07-24T15:39:00.001+01:002022-07-24T15:48:27.595+01:00Björling aloud With thanks to Ian Giles. David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-27074994937206653482022-07-24T12:04:00.004+01:002022-07-24T16:11:33.914+01:00NDPThe Ny dansk poesi / New Danish Poetry exhibition at Galleri Tom Christoffersen, Skindergade 5, Copenhagen is now extended until August 18, the gallery reports. The accompanying anthology, edited by Thorsten Dennerline, contains work by several new Danish poets in my translation, including Caspar Eric, Signe Gjessing, Cecilie Lind, Lea Marie Løppenthin and Rasmus Nikolajsen. Susanne Jorn David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-42672682695228425022022-07-23T16:45:00.006+01:002022-07-23T17:33:57.931+01:00SnapshotsSpuyten Duyvil of NYC have published my translation of Susanne Jorn's Andalusiske øjebliksbilleder i November/Andalusian Snapshots in November. This is really a collaborative venture, and the book is bilingual, with facing Danish and English texts. From dark moodto light moodPastel yellow PhotosensitivityDavid McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-64313078958001363812022-01-19T08:09:00.002+00:002022-02-01T08:40:17.741+00:00Tua Forsström/Joan Margarit: Reading and discussion David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-89473560532973884782021-10-09T11:43:00.006+01:002021-10-09T12:18:22.396+01:00Translators' meetingAn interesting afternoon at a Zoom meeting of FELT, the Finnish-English literary translators association or cooperative. There was much detailed discussion of issues involving contracts, fees, and the like. I am still slightly concerned about the suepicion with which some evidently continue to regard those who choose to specialise in less well remunerated, less commercial areas like poetry. WhileDavid McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-25744764512321088832021-07-16T11:16:00.004+01:002021-10-09T12:23:23.881+01:00Hjálmar Jónsson: Selected Poems reviewedThe book has been reviewed in the journal Scandinavian-Canadian Studies. An excerpt:
Though his work is still widely read in Iceland, Hjálmar is less well-known
outside of the country than many other poets of his era, most of whom were
educated in Copenhagen and were closely associated with Icelandic Romanticism
and the independence movement (e.g. Jónas Hallgrímsson, Matthías Jochumsson,
and David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-46804541425687600492021-06-13T17:48:00.000+01:002021-06-13T17:48:03.347+01:00Interpretation Prize I'm pleased and honoured that, together with my fellow translator Gisela Kosubek, I've been awarded the Swedish Academy's Interpretation Prize (Tolkningspris).David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-40704572653968859782021-02-16T18:04:00.000+00:002021-02-16T18:04:23.367+00:00Coming Up Titles to look forward to from Bloodaxe Books in MarchMaria Stepanova (trs Sasha Dugdale): War of the Beasts and the Animals (PBS Translation Choice)Pia Tafdrup (trs David McDuff): The Taste of Steel / The Smell of SnowSeán Ó Ríordáin (trs Greg Delanty): Apathy Is Out: Selected Poems (Irish-English dual language edition)All these titles will be available directDavid McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-52194116918270942672021-01-14T14:31:00.000+00:002021-01-14T14:31:02.713+00:00I Walked On into the Forest In November this year Bloodaxe will publish my translation of Tua Forsström's fifteenth collection Anteckningar (2018), with the English title I Walked On into the Forest - Poems for a Little Girl.David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-2430970171718902922020-11-13T17:28:00.004+00:002021-01-14T14:34:25.282+00:00New Swedish Writing in EnglishThe theme of the new issue of Swedish Book Review (now re-conceived exclusively as an online publication) is Emerging Voices in Swedish Literature, with work by Pooneh Rohi, Kayo Mpoyi, Adrian Perera, Balsam Karam and Joel Mauricio Isabel Ortiz. There are also reviews of new titles, including poetry with Burcu Sahin's Broderier (Embroideries) - also featured in an earlier post here. TheDavid McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-64650422698855949502020-10-10T10:05:00.001+01:002020-10-10T10:11:52.629+01:00Away from introspectionAn interesting and thought-provoking interview with Estonian poet Elo Viiding in the current issue of ELM (Estonian Literary Magazine), with reflections on poetry and the poet's task that times have echoes of earlier Nordic voices including, perhaps, Ekelöf, and even Tranströmer:Recently I've been distancing more and more from introspection as beneficial. Instead of psychoanalysis, I'm more David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-35139822050871041572020-08-07T10:39:00.004+01:002020-08-07T10:42:02.459+01:00Bloodaxe Nordic Poetry Reissues Bloodaxe are reissuing a range of European poetry classics, including three Nordic titles in my translation:- Edith Södergran, Complete Poems- Karin Boye, Complete Poems- Mirjam Tuominen, Selected WritingsDavid McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-34643035568663063002020-07-16T17:49:00.002+01:002020-07-16T18:24:41.517+01:00Kallocain AudiobookThe audiobook of my translation of Kallocain is now available from Audible, in a reading by Danish actor Claes Bang. Also from Amazon.David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-63861875826697737662020-06-25T08:20:00.001+01:002020-06-25T09:05:05.747+01:00The Smell of SnowMe reading my translations of 'Ånd', 'Prana' and 'Rimtåge' from Pia Tafdrup's LUGTEN AF SNE.
David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-80070048169103809712020-06-19T09:28:00.002+01:002020-06-19T09:33:09.809+01:00Over the Water
I'm working on the translation of this book again, after an interval of just over twenty years. It's important for an inward understanding of Pia Tafdrup's poetry, and looks both backwards and forwards across her career as a poet.
A poem has its own logic and integrity. In one sense or another it demands to be whole. The Greek word σῠ́ντᾰξῐς means order or composition. An David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.com0