tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20413854923218299052012-01-13T15:01:46.146ZNordic VoicesA blog mainly about literature and life in the Nordic countries.David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comBlogger7591100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-50179225095918195032012-01-07T13:09:00.003Z2012-01-07T13:13:02.320Z10 poemsby Rune Christiansen
A sheet of paper lit up by memory
But still – the poem's patient independence, and the shallow depths near heaven, a phrase I have from Ekelöf (‘As in the ballad’ published 10 October 1964), perhaps simply to remind myself that the draught from the open kitchen window, and the thin, cold drizzle, snowflakes almost, set the scene for an awkward perspective that evening. David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-73563728797494318452011-12-01T09:06:00.001Z2011-12-01T09:07:21.224ZPoetry International Web NorwayThe first issue of Poetry International Web Norway is now online:
http://www.poetryinternational.orgDavid McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-6429793730133252011-11-18T08:21:00.000Z2011-11-18T08:21:00.754ZLeaves from Autumn's archiveMy translation of some excerpts from Bo Carpelan's posthumously published novel Blad ur höstens arkiv (Schildts, 2011) are online at Books from Finland's website. I've also translated an essay by Clas Zilliacus which examines the book's style and structure.David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-25862131988744103242011-11-04T09:12:00.003Z2011-11-18T16:42:53.745ZPoemFive allegorical sketches
by Rune Christiansen
The escalators down to the subway lead the shadows ambiguously home. In the absence of other gods, we eagerly greet the chill draught from the trains.
*
In Poems Around Zero Karl Vennberg wrote: "Someone, perhaps you, seems to be taking a rest, / though in great unrest," and then "Someone, perhaps myself, raises an arm / as against a delayed David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-31014395528815347782011-11-04T09:00:00.002Z2011-11-04T09:01:33.286ZGodfatherFrom Godfather [Gudfar], by Dy Plambeck
BANG! What a day to be at a cycle race! It was 1953, August, the time shortly before the turn, when the beech tree changes colour and the cycling season ends, and the rain was falling heavily. But it wasn’t one of those days when late summer puts a lid on, when the clouds draw together and the sky closes in like the dough round a baked pie. There was a David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-15524165215285209602011-11-04T08:49:00.000Z2011-11-04T08:49:02.547ZKatariinaFrom Katariina, by Marisha Rasi-Koskinen
1.
First I hear the sound. It’s a repeated sharp click followed by two rhythmic thumps. Click thump thump like the soft drum of a heart. When I see her, I see two furiously treading legs, around which the hems of a skirt are entwined. Hair that sways to the rhythm of the heart and descends in a ball. Hair behind which the sun gleams.
Click thump thumpDavid McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-28052098269241301492011-10-19T16:21:00.000+01:002011-10-19T16:21:35.706+01:00New Danish writingThe latest issue of Danish Literary Magazine is now online. Among the works featured is the novel Gudfar (Godfather) by Dy Plambeck, which in three interlinked but also independent narratives offers an unusual view of Danish history, culture and society stretching over seven decades.David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-5711505755835546592011-10-10T16:09:00.001+01:002011-12-20T15:17:38.940ZSöderströms and Schildts to mergeAccording to an announcement on the website of the Finland-Swedish publisher Söderströms and another similar announcement on the website of its colleague and competitor Schildts, the two houses are to merge from the beginning of next year. From the Schildts announcement:
– Båda förlagen går med förlust. Med tanke på de utmaningar som branschen står inför är det nu rätt tid att stärka den David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-81774574830568291292011-10-06T16:20:00.002+01:002011-10-06T16:21:44.747+01:00Translating poetryOn the BBC news website, Robin Fulton talks about his translations of the poetry of Nobel laureate Tomas Tranströmer.David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-36619655180321997892011-10-04T08:44:00.000+01:002011-10-04T08:44:02.462+01:00October 2011: IcelandWords Without Borders has published an Icelandic issue.David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-25623711919263766342011-09-25T11:45:00.001+01:002011-09-25T11:45:45.040+01:00On the Whole - 2Books from Finland magazine has now published my translations from Gösta Ågren’s new collection I det stora hela. There's also a short introduction to the poems, written by me.David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-45059969631445871272011-09-25T10:34:00.002+01:002011-09-25T11:46:06.206+01:00Nordic Voices in Print
I uploaded the contents of the Nordic Voices in Print blog to a new website format. The site is fairly primitive at present, but perhaps I'll develop it a bit in the months to come.David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-11258953940739712732011-09-15T12:28:00.003+01:002011-09-15T12:30:07.735+01:00On the WholeGösta Ågren’s new collection - I make it his twenty-eighth - I det stora hela - is published by Söderströms. Books from Finland magazine intends to publish my translations of some of the poems in the volume, and these should appear in their site fairly soon. Meanwhile, Jenny Wikström has published a sensitive review of the book, which she rightly characterizes as "ett ambitiöst diktprojekt där [David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-85060166849456520392011-09-13T09:08:00.001+01:002011-09-13T09:08:35.579+01:00Autumn's archiveIn Hbl, Clas Zilliacus writes about Bo Carpelan's posthumously-published novel Blad ur höstens arkiv (Schildts, 2011, 204 pp.), which takes the form of a semi-autobiographical reflection contained in 101 diary entries. Commenting on this form, with reference to the Danish poet Paul La Cour, Zilliacus makes some topical observations about the history of the European novel, a genre which included David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-53439342475364467842011-09-07T08:54:00.000+01:002011-09-07T08:54:06.585+01:00Eyewitness to C.O. HULTÉN
by Pia Tafdrup
Your earth is a space
for horror and revolt.
Your house is built from force and gravity,
so you easily get lost,
it has more than a thousand entrances.
Your mind in storms has even more,
when it burns all the bridges
or hungers for life.
Not to speak of the dreams,
which in the living grow and search
for beauty, send out
new roads
from memory's labyrinths.David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-38627877083301889522011-09-07T08:08:00.001+01:002011-09-07T09:06:33.087+01:00Jussi R.I.P.
Jussi (14.10.2004-31.8.2011) has passed away. He was a brave, kind and noble cat, and he will be remembered for a long time.David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-40123074537415450222011-08-13T17:09:00.000+01:002011-08-13T08:48:21.131+01:00from The Diary of William N. [3]
(continued)
25.12. 14 degrees Celsius. I ate some Alsatian sausage cold. A glass of madeira. The university swallows talents and digests them slowly and surely as the sundew which grabs the fly and use it for food, but I do not have to fight for a "position" at any university, for there has always been enough ground under my feet. The thanks one receives are mere crumbs for the sparrows, David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-41959882392817112552011-08-11T21:22:00.002+01:002011-08-11T21:22:38.792+01:00Estonia gunman deadVia RIA Novosti:
The attacker was identified as one Karen Drambyan, 57, a member of the United Leftist Party of Estonia, a group with strong links to the country’s Russian community.David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-60259277122027490052011-08-10T09:47:00.001+01:002011-08-10T10:11:25.079+01:00London riotsNot really a subject for this blog, I suppose, though in the context of AB Breivik's sadistic and brutal campaign it may have some relevance even here. A LiveJournal poster has written what I think is so far the best and most informative reflection on the recent violence in London and other British cities. David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-25686005881867373112011-08-04T11:18:00.003+01:002011-08-18T13:58:33.580+01:00from The Diary of William N. [2]
19.12.1898 In Finland I am not respected! How would it have gone with me if I had remained in Helsinki? Poorly – the mail does not go to the hinterland properly, unlike in Europe – the circles there are narrow, malicious, and even I respect but a few men like Th. S. who is loyal to me and F. Elfving, who is also a decent man. The Fries family are Swedish, but how they have messed up my lifeDavid McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-76438788418902150422011-08-04T08:57:00.002+01:002011-08-04T08:58:11.697+01:002083From 2083, by Anders Behring Breivik:
...we have to agree on a consensus for creating a modern, “un-tainted”, cultural conservative, patriotic youth movement which will prevent our youths from joining NS or WN movements. This movement should be somewhat like the equivalent of Russias Nashi movement (Putins youth movement - 120,000 members aged between 17 and 25). They are anti fascist/anti Nazi,David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-25681748858603486202011-08-03T17:25:00.003+01:002011-08-03T17:29:57.323+01:00Poemby Tommi Parkko
In a city built inside a pot there is no dancing,
rise from pitch and molten lead, be a straight-backed saint.
The black steps rustle down to the shore, the ribs of the houses
melt into the river.
Old age is a habit rooted in the body, the icons bear the pure
colours of God. The black and the grey are from man, from bone.
The other colours are from flowers, shield bugs and David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-6852682060438770972011-08-03T16:14:00.001+01:002011-08-05T07:20:08.599+01:00Dershowitz in protest at ambassador's remarksAlan Dershowitz has spoken out in protest against remarks made in a recent interview by Norway's ambassador to Israel that Hamas terrorism against Israel is more justified than the recent terrorist attack against Norway. At the conclusion of his article, Dershowitz writes:
Nothing good ever comes from terrorism, so don’t expect the Norwegians to learn any lessons from its own victimization. As David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-16021788072767414092011-08-02T20:27:00.021+01:002011-08-18T14:36:22.379+01:00from The Diary of William N. [1]
by Kristina Carlson
26.11.1898 Solitude is not dispiriting or sad, but it is sometimes boring, and I conclude that this is due to the company in which I am alone.
27.11.1898 Today a pharmacist, D. (there have been many pharmacists in the circle of my acquaintances!), invited me to dinner at his home on Sunday. I went with some reluctance, as the D.’s live in a street off the Avenue de David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-87045314230981603262011-07-31T09:06:00.001+01:002011-07-31T10:43:11.211+01:00Gazeta.ru: Oslo/Belarus connectionAccording to Gazeta.ru, Belarusian oppositionists claim that Anders Behring Breivik has connections with Belarus which went far beyond his ostensible interest in Viking graves and the Chernobyl nuclear disaster (he visited the country as a tourist in 2005). Party of Patriots leader Mikhail Reshetnikov is quoted as saying that that earlier in 2011 Breivik may have received paramilitary training David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-10690989507615488672011-07-30T15:01:00.008+01:002011-07-30T16:23:02.299+01:00Seven Dresses for Visibilityby Pia Tafdrup
I am sewing a dress that can be worn
proudly by one who is born with
an expectant spark in the heart’s vessels,
it will perfectly fit large and small,
is spun strong by the bow of the rain
it can be enjoyed a whole life long,
if the cloth is looked after well.
I am sewing a dress that can be worn
silently by new victims of fear,
it can fit large and small,
does not David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-12495465041313363452011-07-30T08:17:00.008+01:002011-07-30T11:16:29.751+01:00Utøya poemPia Tafdrup has written a poem about the Utøya shootings - my translation can be read at World Literature Today.
The Danish text of the poem is on this page of Politiken's e-edition (left-hand page, right-hand column, click to enlarge).
A Poem for Norway at the London Times (paywall).David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-75497130489531859322011-07-29T12:00:00.000+01:002011-07-29T12:00:04.069+01:00From "Landscape"by Lassi Nummi (1949)
A line. From the left, slowly rising, forming small curlicues, levelling off, rising again until it folds and falls gently arching into invisibility.
Below the line darkness, restlessly stirring, swelling
Another line, vertical and motionless: a blade of grass.
The brightness is not uniform. There are dark patches in it. A slight gleam, a thin, meagre shimmer covers David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-19112696927227158832011-07-28T10:01:00.001+01:002011-07-28T10:02:13.319+01:00...and in the context of the North Caucasus«Брейвики» придут на Кавказ?
http://www.rosbalt.ru/kavkaz/2011/07/27/873430.htmlDavid McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-75697887538905460632011-07-28T09:29:00.003+01:002011-07-28T09:30:42.465+01:00Breivik as authorFrom IslamRF.ru:
Всякий, кто когда-нибудь хоть немного занимался тем, что называют наукой, например, писал (а не скачивал) добротный реферат, понимает – создать подобное без определённой подготовки или помощи «компетентных друзей» невозможно. Есть основания сделать более радикальное предположение – манифест Брейвика писал не он.Скорее всего, данную книгу, несущую лёгкий «закос» под любительство, David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-84880234388384603452011-07-25T08:32:00.006+01:002011-07-26T14:06:26.729+01:00Oslo bomb blast and Utøya shooting - 3Breivik has chosen Geir Lippestad, a member of Norway's Labour Party, as his defence lawyer.
...han har snakket en del om det han opplever som motiv. Det jeg generelt kan si, er at han ønsket å ramme samfunnet, samfunnsoppbyggingen og den måten vårt samfunn styres på, sier Lippestad. (Aftenposten)
Manfred Gerstenfeld on Norway carnage and Israel (YnetNews)
The politisk.no report on Norwegian David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-81446998878716283162011-07-23T11:37:00.004+01:002011-07-23T21:03:31.527+01:00Oslo bomb blast and Utøya shooting - 2At a Norway police press conference on July 23 national police chief Sveinung Sponheim said that Breivik has made Internet postings which "suggest that he has some political traits directed toward the right, and anti-Muslim views, but if that was a motivation for the actual act remains to be seen". During the conference the term "Christian fundamentalist" was used.
If the Oslo blast was caused David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-21447064700531662272011-07-23T06:49:00.002+01:002011-07-23T06:50:42.617+01:00Oslo bomb blast and Utøya shootinghttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14252515
There has been a mass shooting at the AUF (Norwegian Labour Party youth section) summer camp on the lake island of Utøya near Oslo. A man dressed as a policeman who arrived by boat was reported to be firing an automatic weapon. A large force of anti-terror police was said to be on the way to the site of the shooting. Sky News reports that David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-3350274603849826912011-07-18T08:42:00.007+01:002011-07-18T08:56:45.984+01:00Poems from The Pelicanby Tommi Parkko
"So long as a man rides his hobby-horse peaceably and quietly along the King’s highway, and neither compels you or me to get up behind him,—pray, Sir, what have either you or I to do with it?"
Laurence Sterne, Tristram Shandy
i
It was that time, the bear was lowered from the mouth of heaven,
a yellow helmet, on it a red cross and a bird,
the ropes passed from the groin to David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-22213422879893661072011-07-13T11:51:00.005+01:002011-07-13T11:56:05.029+01:00Picnic, a Preludeby Pia Tafdrup
If my grandmother had been an architect,
which as a young bricklayer’s apprentice she
aspired to be,
until my grandfather got other plans
for her future
within the four walls of the home,
Copenhagen would have
been a different city today
and "architect" more
than a capsized word in her mouth.
If my mother had been employedDavid McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-27116598950847595032011-07-10T10:23:00.004+01:002011-07-10T10:39:30.377+01:00BiophiliaThe seventh full-length album from Icelandic singer Björk is called Biophilia. According to the singer herself, the album springs from a wish to explore the structures of nature and music, to find out where they meet, and then to write the songs about it. One track, Crystalline, was released on June 27, and the whole album is expected to appear on September 26. The album has been recorded as a David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-66159532984041936522011-07-09T11:55:00.006+01:002011-08-11T07:25:01.730+01:00WordsFor some time now, I've felt that the focus on Nordic literature could probably be widened to include writing and translation from other parts of Europe, so I have started yet another blog (it may eventually end up being more a conventional website than a blog) - not a successor or alternative to the Nordic Voices blogs, but maybe a supplement and/or addition to them. David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-51746278432120248972011-07-09T09:30:00.003+01:002011-07-09T09:38:46.652+01:00Sinikka LangelandNorwegian folksinger, kantele player and composer Sinikka Langeland has recorded a new CD album with the title The Land That Is Not, based on poems by Edith Södergran. The album will be released on the ECM label in the autumn, and adds to the already considerable list of recordings by this unusual artist, who combines the kind of sound one associates with the singing of Joni Mitchell with "the David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-63508112685791970962011-07-08T12:30:00.004+01:002011-07-09T08:42:02.949+01:00Vinduet 2/2011The new issue of Norsk Gyldendal's literary magazine, Vinduet, is now published, and as its leading editorial proclaims it's something of a mixed bag (the phrase is used in English). The atmosphere of the magazine is as curious as ever - in the articles and associated graphics and photos there are occasional eerie cultural echoes of the 1960s and 70s, and one sometimes has the impression that in David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-60451622152150105192011-07-07T16:26:00.001+01:002011-07-07T16:27:49.461+01:00Concerto grossoby Lassi Nummi
Listen
to this tone,
tone of these days, this grass, these stones.
Tone of people, words and gazes
tone of the gazelle, of tiger, fallow deer and lark,
tone of streams, of a dark quiet room, of a distant forgotten fragrance..
Hear the tone of a dark room, of warmth – of icy brightness, of firm rising steps
tone of frozen seas, of breaking ice floes.
Tone of muscular David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-15370832264888178172011-07-07T16:08:00.006+01:002011-07-08T18:04:40.505+01:00Anarchy in the UKR
Serhiy Zhadan
Lev Hrytsyuk writes that contemporary Ukrainian writing is increasingly finding a home in Swedish - Anarchy in the UKR (2005) by the young Ukrainian poet and novelist Serhiy Zhadan (Zjadan in Swedish) made it to Russia's National Bestseller shortlist in 2008, and the novel pulls no punches, focusing as it does on some particularly violent episodes from 20th century Ukrainian David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-2464863049732845832011-07-02T12:33:00.004+01:002011-07-09T08:44:58.336+01:00Nordic Voices in PrintPlease note that Nordic Voices in Print now has a single Web address:
http://nordicvoicesinprint.wordpress.com
The alternate URL
http://nordicvoices.xtreemhost.com
is no longer active.David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-55991328537485257502011-06-30T16:27:00.001+01:002011-06-30T16:28:06.341+01:00ChaconneBy Lassi Nummi
1
I would like to begin as if unnoticed – not right now or a little earlier,
also not later; neither with this particular subject, nor with something else:
I would like to begin as animals gods and children begin, as love begins, that which is told about –
not as: "do I really dare?” or "did I interpret the shine in your eyes correctly?" or "do you know that your resistance is David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-17567444544793281562011-06-25T08:24:00.025+01:002011-06-26T11:40:03.423+01:00The Diary of William N.Following on from Mr. Darwin's Gardener, which won the Finnish State Prize for Literature in 2010, Kristina Carlson has written another novel on a theme drawn from the history of 19th century science. The Diary of Wlliam N. [William N. Päiväkirja, Otava 2011] is a fictional portrait of the Finnish botanist and entomologist William Nylander (1822-1899), who specialized in lichenology and lived in David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-49688983494547361322011-06-19T10:43:00.001+01:002011-06-19T10:44:48.102+01:00Solsticeby Sjón
when your eyes
pause on the ball
that hangs on the third branch from a star
you remember why it got dark and why it is getting light again
the earth (like the heart) leans back in its seat
and like that it travels along an orbit
drawn in the darkness
unpolished pearl in sky-black palm of hand
flickering sun-flame
you remember
that you yourself are a light-bearer
who receives her David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-82901585080873048172011-06-17T10:17:00.000+01:002011-06-17T10:17:53.878+01:00Detourby Pia Tafdrup
Wild geese are gathering on the field
soon the whole flock will rise,
flying up over the woods, out across the water.
An ocean rolls within me
wide open.
I am too slow
for quick changes,
too quick
for things to go so slowly that life
becomes futureless.
Dreams start
even before one learns to walk.
From the other side of the Atlantic
David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-55720190484473166552011-05-14T08:09:00.003+01:002011-05-14T08:48:00.394+01:00The Cool DayMy translation of Bo Carpelan's Den svala dagen (The Cool Day) is here. And some versions of poems from Carpelan's last collection, Gramina, together with an essay by Michel Ekman, are here.David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-23629885571757218732011-05-05T09:12:00.002+01:002011-05-05T09:14:44.412+01:00Pia Tafdrup: Three PoemsInfection
You stiffen poisoned by sudden dread
while the day overturns and changescolour
and the blood beneath a steadily growing pulse
sends the pain out into the most finely branching net
where it flutters around like ash
at a wing-beat rising above the embers
until the heart, that coral tree
in acute flowering stands still in spasm,
near to drowning in its own blood
For who can go about David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-44618000317239106202011-04-22T08:08:00.004+01:002011-06-25T08:48:17.141+01:00The Chromatic Levelsor An Introduction to the Breaking of Captive Form
by Eeva-Liisa Manner
[N.B. words and phrases that occur in English in the original Finnish text are marked in italics]
I open the door, it is an ordinary wooden door
stone pine coloured by the sun
I open the door like a valve
I come from a cool room
into another cool room
here it is the hallway
one hallway in the universe
not a place but a David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-71767075364254097192011-04-21T09:16:00.000+01:002011-04-21T09:16:39.534+01:00True Finns - 2Huvfudstadsbladet reports that True Finns leader Timo Soini has accused Sweden's media - in particular the leftwing Aftonbladet newspaper - of distorting Finland's image in the wake of the recent election result which gave the party a marked increase of the national vote. Soinu considers that European media in general have demonized the True Finns, painting the picture of a racist extremist partyDavid McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-65080059178502185902011-04-18T08:21:00.003+01:002011-04-18T08:35:53.122+01:00True FinnsThe ultimate significance of the remarkable gains by the Perussuomaliset (True Finns) party in the Finnish national elections - achieving nearly one fifth of the national vote - is yet to be made clear. But looking at the new situation in general socio-cultural terms rather than purely economic ones, it seems evident that the public mood in Finland is moving in favour of the concept and practice David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-70907183995285567872011-04-13T14:57:00.002+01:002011-04-13T14:59:19.684+01:00GraminaI'm working on some translations of poems from Bo Carpelan's last collection, Gramina (2010).These will probably be published in Books from Finland.David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-83823269653296961762011-04-05T16:18:00.002+01:002011-04-18T08:31:01.663+01:00Sabbathby Pia Tafdrup
The first Saturday is weightless and reflected monotonous
in the insects’ meditating buzz; the beginning endless
The second Saturday the city looks like a deserted ballroom
where the invited guests have gone home early
The third Saturday I am called out
to morning-drowsy plane trees along the sidewalk
and streets where cars stand parked in long rows
The dust sticks dry to shoes David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-79092749903701505652011-03-31T12:54:00.001+01:002011-03-31T13:00:51.890+01:00Two Poemsfrom Territorial Song [Territorialsang, 1994]
by Pia Tafdrup
A CITY IN HEAVEN
My blood has many relatives.
They never visit.
Yehuda Amichai
The eye in its cave turns the horizon round
birds circling in the air
Born in Warsaw, born in Budapest, born in Kiev
Born in Moscow, born in Berlin, born in Craiova
in Sofia, in Prague – they come to the city of David
A language they leave, letters David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-12732102611215513792011-03-30T12:11:00.001+01:002011-03-30T12:12:16.676+01:00Five BooksAt TheBrowser, a literary website which announces that it is creating a 21st century library of Writing Worth Reading, Rory McTurk discusses five works on Norse culture and Old Icelandic literature, including Vilhelm Grønbech's The Culture of the Teutons, Sigurður Nordal's Icelandic Culture, and Preben Meulengracht Sørensen's Saga and Society. All the books mentioned in the interview are David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-16645085536249309852011-03-25T16:09:00.012Z2011-03-25T16:40:59.876ZSiri Hustvedt: The Summer Without MenSiri Hustvedt’s recently-published novel The Summer Without Men (Henry Holt, Sceptre, hardback, also Kindle) tells the story of the survival of a 30-year-old marriage through a brief and sudden experience of loss and breakdown which leads to a realization of personal integrity. This happens not only in terms of individual experience but also in a broader context that encompasses the generations, David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-12309190880443758802011-03-22T10:46:00.032Z2011-03-28T10:26:05.584+01:00Peter Weiss: Letters - 2I’ve now finished reading the book* – it’s a fairly short work, and includes the text of 21 letters, with notes and bibliography. The letters themselves give a fascinating snapshot during the of the 24 year-old Weiss’s psychological, emotional and artistic situation in Alingsås, western Sweden, during the summer of 1941. In April of the same year, the Swedish poet Karin Boye, who also lived in David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-62843678034860647162011-03-20T11:15:00.006Z2011-03-20T11:18:45.876ZChrister Kihlman reassessedHufvudstadsbladet’s Pia Ingström has been rereading the novels of Christer Kihlman (b. 1930), Finland’s doyen and former enfant terrible of “confessional literature” who was at his most productive in the 1960s and 70s, but whose literary activity subsequently became more sporadic. Kihlman’s breakthrough novel Se upp, Salige! (1960) has been reissued in a new edition by Söderströms, though David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-83669536740846734132011-03-12T10:53:00.006Z2011-03-20T11:19:40.956ZPeter Weiss: LettersNews that Berlin publishers Matthes & Seitz will this month release a new edition of Peter Weiss's Letters to Henriette Itta Blumenthal, written mostly from Alingsås, Sweden, between 1941 and 1943, before the beginning of Weiss's first proper psychoanalysis.
Update: the book is now published, and I have a copy. I'll post a short review here in due course.David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-52774505853891894002011-03-03T08:31:00.003Z2011-03-04T08:32:42.254ZThor Vilhjálmsson 1925-2011It's reported from Reykjavík that the Icelandic poet, novelist, essayist and translator Thor Vilhjálmsson has died at the age of 85. Among his better known works are the essay collection Fljótt, fljótt sagði fuglinn (1968) and the novel Grámosinn glóir (1986) which won the 1988 Nordic Council Literature Prize and was translated into English by Bernard Scudder (Justice Undone, 1998).
Update: David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-35565647256969680252011-02-24T17:18:00.005Z2011-02-24T17:45:55.296ZTwo Poemsby Pia Tafdrup
SIGNPOST
The world was old
even before
it was born,
for no one learns
from others’ experience,
only by making
the mistakes oneself
over and over again.
Atlas, globe, map,
the world was discovered,
only not by me…
In the heart is
the signpost
I follow.
What else can I
so exactly
navigate by?
STUMBLING STONE
Not a stone in the shoe
that chafes long before
it David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-34166289773341464432011-02-16T08:30:00.001Z2011-02-16T08:32:09.401ZGöteborg Poets in Ukraine
The cover of Lev Hrytsyuk's new anthology of work by 18 Göteborg poets, which he has translated into Ukrainian. The book has 244 pages, and is published by Krok.David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-64940989555487643092011-02-15T16:24:00.001Z2011-02-15T16:25:26.228ZBo CarpelanIt's sad to read of Bo Carpelan's passing - in many ways he was the last remaining representative of the classical Finland-Swedish modernist poetry tradition. If anyone feels like reading some of my translations of Carpelan's poetry, there's an excerpt from one collection here.
As far as my own role in making Carpelan's work better known outside Finland is concerned, there isn't really much to David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-82437984872945448822011-02-13T06:45:00.005Z2011-03-03T08:57:45.226ZBo Carpelan (1926-2011)
The Literary Saloon notes that the Finland-Swedish poet and novelist Bo Carpelan has passed away at the age of 84:
quote: He was two-time winner of the Finlandia Prize (for Urwind and Berg), and also won the Nordic Council Literature Prize. See, for example, the books and writers page on him, or this interview at Books from Finland.
Quite a few of his books have been translated into English, David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-70997519877393892962011-02-10T10:08:00.000Z2011-02-10T10:08:02.720ZGerman as a gateway languageIn Publishing Perspectives, Amanda DeMarco notes that German is becoming a gateway language for literary translations from Icelandic.David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-87099255961601582112011-02-09T09:27:00.002Z2011-02-09T10:31:03.692ZIcelandic literary awardsVia Iceland Review:
The poetry book Blódhófnir ("Bloodhoof") by Gerdur Kristný and Sveppabókin (“The Mushroom Book”) by Helgi Hallgrímsson received the 2010 Icelandic Literary Award at a special ceremony at Bessastadir, the presidential residence, on Wednesday [February 2].
Hat tip: Literary SaloonDavid McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-14876320240156201862011-02-08T09:32:00.003Z2011-02-08T11:51:35.674ZDavid VikgrenIn Hbl, Ralf Andtbacka reviews Norrbotten poet David Vikgren's latest collection of verse, and also a volume of Vikgren's and others' translations of the poems of the 17th century Tornedal Finnish poet Antti Keksi. Andtbacka notes that Folkmun, the new collection, is more accessible than Vikgren's two previous books, and his opinion is that this is "en imponerande och oroande diktsamling som man David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-79806579542634499682011-02-01T17:15:00.000Z2011-02-01T17:15:11.859ZYears Like LeavesThere are some of my translations of Bo Carpelan's poetry here.David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-84626343525615617312011-01-26T11:46:00.001Z2011-01-26T12:02:19.534ZSusanne Jorn: poemsA POMEGRANATE
A SMALL TORTOISESHELL
A POMEGRANATE
*
Most wonderfully lovely pomegranate tree.
Most wonderfully beautiful pomegranate.
Love’s pomegranate-red fruit.
Nothing more.
*
It is said
that pomegranates
cleanse the body
of hatred and jealousy.
If it is said
that poetry
is the breath of the soul
then pomegranates must
be love poems
all of them
*
Granada is the place
where many David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-54266953498858791052011-01-24T09:25:00.001Z2011-01-24T09:25:22.992ZMirjam TuominenI've posted a selection of my translations of poems from Mirjam Tuominen's 1954 collection Under jorden sjönk - here and here. David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-90873886141966964492011-01-21T09:02:00.003Z2011-01-21T09:33:13.022ZRussian land sales ban upsets FinlandOn January 9, Russia’s President Medvedev signed a new decree which specifies border areas where foreign citizens are not allowed to purchase land. The areas include nearly all the regions of the Russian Federation bordering on Finland and Norway, all the way from Pechenga in northern Russia to the Gulf of Finland in the south (near Helsinki).
Finland has asked for an explanation of the new lawDavid McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-30294028550749818302011-01-19T16:40:00.001Z2011-01-19T16:40:53.835ZDark Octoberby Pia Tafdrup
To cross a strait
in a boat at night
like my mother.
To cross a strait
at night in another cutter
like my father.
To flee like growing crowds
of displaced persons.
The black water
is open.
My mother without luggage, but wearing
layer upon layer of clothes,
crammed into the hold among many others,
down to her mother and sister
with a hat to David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-39883303843476353102011-01-19T16:36:00.001Z2011-01-19T16:36:47.113ZHungerIssue 14 of Absinthe is out, with among other things an essay by Thomas E. Kennedy recalling his first acquaintance with Knut Hamsun's Hunger, after seeing Henning Carlsen's 1966 film of the novel:
The film led me to read an SAS Airline bilingual publication (Scandinavian Words 15) of the first chapter, written by Hamsun in the late 1880s and later expanded to the novel.Kennedy compares Hamsun toDavid McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-58629998310953224412011-01-18T18:20:00.000Z2011-01-18T18:20:36.345ZSolveig von SchoultzI've put a selection of my translations of the poetry of Solveig von Schoultz (1907-1996) on Nordic Voices In Print - here, and here.David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-25276804051513032862011-01-18T11:27:00.001Z2011-01-19T08:57:46.992ZTwo PoemsBy Pia Tafdrup
MYSTERIOUS BRIDGE
With my lipstick
a poet from Cyprus is reading
her poems in Turkish.
A woman asking
to borrow my lipstick
is one second
more overarching of borders
than driving from one country
to another.
My lipstick now speaks
on her lips.
Suddenly I'm one kiss closer to
her language.
With my lipstick
she is reading
a poem about a man
who is like a pendulum.
He swaysDavid McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-77298276502446423932011-01-14T07:45:00.004Z2011-01-14T07:49:29.572ZPurgeI've just finished reading Lola Rogers' translation of Puhdistus (Purge), by Sofi Oksanen. It's a remarkable work - restless, vivid, articulate, emotional, violent, political - and I don't think there is anything quite like it in the rest of world literature. The only book remotely akin to it that I've come across before is a strange Estonian novel from 2004, which has a similar graphic David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-5546366480327986362011-01-12T09:13:00.001Z2011-01-12T09:13:23.493ZMistral and Sweden’s securityEver since the announcement of the controversial Mistral arms deal between France and Russia on Christmas Eve 2010, the Swedish press has been publishing articles about the implications of the deal for Baltic security, and Sweden's security in particular. On January 7 Dagens Nyheter noted that concern about the sale of the Mistral assault ships to Russia was high because these helicopter carriersDavid McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-56204200766758373212011-01-11T17:35:00.000Z2011-01-11T17:35:31.275ZRabbe EnckellMy versions of a selection of Rabbe Enckell's poetry are now posted at Nordic Voices In Print.David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-86979324733480942472011-01-09T10:29:00.002Z2011-01-09T11:05:08.958ZThe Human LotOwen Witesman's translation of Kari Hotakainen's novel Ihmisen osa / The Human Lot is to be published by Christopher MacLehose/Quercus this year. From the book's blurb:
A writer buys a life from Salme Malmikunnas, an 80-year-old former yarn seller. You can get a lot for 7000 euros. Salme opens up and tells him everything the way she wants to remember it – the silence of her husband, Paavo, the David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-75132281732173790482011-01-08T09:07:00.001Z2011-01-08T09:11:02.814ZA review and a storyThere's a review of Tarkovsky's Horses and Other Poems in Evergreen Review, and Ólafur Gunnarsson has a new short story in Mayday Magazine.David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-16149319825897189482011-01-06T11:09:00.000Z2011-01-06T11:09:55.008ZKeeping translations aliveThe following is mainly related to translations of poetry, though some of it may also be applicable to certain kinds of translated fiction. For some time now – at least during the past decade – I’ve become aware that trying to sell poetry in the form of printed books is increasingly an uphill struggle, and some alternative means of reaching a readership may need to be found.
The struggle has David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-29153233762531085032011-01-02T15:51:00.000Z2011-01-02T15:51:23.595ZGunnar BjörlingA selection of my translations of the poems of Gunnar Björling is now available on Nordic Voices in Print. These are essentially the same as the translations that appeared in the Bloodaxe Ice Around Our Lips anthology, with one or two minor edits.David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-47734786367498152122010-12-30T08:49:00.002Z2010-12-30T12:54:53.705ZThe background to the language situationIn the latest issue of the Finland-Swedish journal Nya Argus (nr. 11-12, 2010) linguistics professor Fred Karlsson considers the present uneasy situation surrounding the status of the Swedish language in Finland above all through the prism of the past. In doing so he raises some interesting points that are sometimes forgotten: the men who in the 19th century worked to establish Finnish as FinlandDavid McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-73618122594831492682010-12-29T17:09:00.000Z2010-12-29T17:09:35.610ZAttack on Jyllands-Posten foiledhttp://jp.dk/indland/krimi/article2290657.eceDavid McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-77208414069540112952010-12-29T16:52:00.000Z2010-12-29T16:52:24.467ZWikiLeaks and extremism - 2At Harry's Place, Joseph W draws attention to some further aspects of Russian WikiLeaks, and the shadow it casts on the whole of the WikiLeaks operation.David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-67246721774813625582010-12-18T10:21:00.002Z2010-12-18T10:23:10.185ZNordic Voices in Print - latest additionsNordic Voices in Print now has complete texts of my translations of collections by Karin Boye and Gösta Ågren, as well as selections of poetry by Bertel Gripenberg, Arvid Mörne and Elmer Diktonius.
The blog can also be accessed at
http://nordicvoices.xtreemhost.com/David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-45012044018292861072010-12-15T06:59:00.004Z2010-12-15T09:19:58.907ZWikiLeaks and extremismThis article in Reason magazine looks at some aspects of the WikiLeaks operation that seem to have been largely ignored by its supporters.David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-2980699145549088862010-12-06T09:18:00.002Z2010-12-06T09:18:39.735ZNordic Council Literature Prize 2011The complete run-down of candidates for the 2011 Nordic Council Literature Award is as follows (NB Norway's Beate Grimsrud wrote her novel in both Norwegian and in Swedish versions):
Denmark
Josefine Klougart
Stigninger og fald
Novel, Rosinante, 2010
Harald Voetmann
Vågen
Novel, Gyldendal, 2010
Finland
Erik Wahlström
Flugtämjaren
Novel, Schildts, 2010
Kristina Carlson
Herra Darwinin David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-62263964002111454172010-12-03T10:53:00.004Z2010-12-03T11:08:42.953ZMr Darwin's GardenerOtava's Hanna Kjellberg reports that Kristina Carlson's novel Herra Darwinin puutarhuri (Mr Darwin's Gardener) [2009], my translated excerpts from which were published in Books from Finland magazine earlier this year, has been shortlisted as one of the Finnish candidates for the 2011 Nordic Council Literature Award.David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-66168629942099024282010-11-26T09:12:00.003Z2010-11-26T09:18:51.483ZThe global bookIn Hbl, Philip Teir reflects on the increasing internationalization and globalization of contemporary fiction, and wonders whether we are heading for a new literary world where national identity doesn't count for much:
Perhaps part of the explanation for Sofi Oksanen's success is that she is one of the first to try their hand at taking stock of the new Europe?
Slovak-born Alexandra Salmela's David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-65957365581009899892010-11-25T10:21:00.005Z2010-11-25T10:33:28.624ZContinuingThe new blog is up and running in both versions: the wordpress.org one and the wordpress.com one. There are two new posts, representing two collections of poetry: Karin Boye's Moln (Clouds)[1922] and Jär (Standing Here)[1988] by Gösta Ågren, both in my own translation. Soon I hope to be adding some work that hasn't previously had much exposure, including my versions of poetry by Arvid Mörne and David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-48339794744575571192010-11-24T12:02:00.015Z2010-11-24T18:56:04.143ZNordic Voices in Print - New URLThe URL of the new blog has changed: it's now
http://nordicvoicesinprint.wordpress.com/
And, after some wrestling with my wp.config file, it's also once again
http://nordicvoices.xtreemhost.com/
So you can take your pick. :-)
I think that for the time being I'll maintain both versions - the wordpress.com one and the wordpress.org/Xtreemhost server-based one - and eventually one of them willDavid McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-47807425503377016772010-11-16T16:26:00.001Z2010-11-16T16:26:54.041ZGuest eventI’ve another new translation in Books from Finland. David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-66161768059895874822010-11-14T10:48:00.001Z2010-11-14T10:49:10.056ZVanishing PointJoel Haahtela’s novel Katoamispiste (Vanishing Point) – excerpts from which I posted in my own translation in some earlier posts to this blog – has been selected as a nomination for this year’s Finlandia Prize, FILI reports.David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-83526297521530634082010-11-07T10:22:00.000Z2010-11-07T10:22:06.750ZIce Floe
The first issue of the new series of Ice Floe is now available from University of Alaska Press - the inaugural issue presents new poems as well as a selection of work from the first seven years of the publication's existence, and the poets represented hail from Alaska, Canada, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-91755657042007874122010-11-03T15:23:00.001Z2010-11-03T15:23:49.820ZElmer Diktonius - 2 PoemsThe child's dream
An angel came from heaven
with a sausage in her hand
and gave it to me –
oh how good it was!
And the angel said, come to heaven!
and we flew. And there was God.
With a lollipop in his mouth.
And he gave it to me.
And it was good too!
And God said: there is always meat
for poor children,
and pastries on top
and ice cream!
And we ate.
And all our tummies rumbled full.
And God David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-47329361093637775702010-10-27T10:14:00.002+01:002010-10-27T10:16:33.160+01:00Summer Poemsby Lars Huldén
Even the Ice Age had its summers,
short it is true
as the Nordic summers are,
but light, light.
One saw the expanses of ice.
But one didn't despair.
That is my consolation.
***
Hay belongs to the summer,
fragrant hay.
How lovely
a well-kept meadow smells!
And a barn full of hay,
the kind there were still in the country
until a short time ago,
could make people drunk.
The David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-33400700453680031532010-10-22T08:30:00.000+01:002010-10-22T08:30:26.729+01:00Sontag AwardFrom the Scandinavia House website:
The 2010 Susan Sontag Prize for Translation was awarded to Benjamin Mier-Cruz, a Ph.D. candidate in Scandinavian Languages and Literatures at UC Berkeley, for his proposed translation of selected letters and poems by the Finland-Swedish author Elmer Diktonius (1896 -1961). In celebration of the translation prize, programs will include the panel discussions TheDavid McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-8720839097067230132010-10-21T17:56:00.000+01:002010-10-21T17:56:56.346+01:0018 Gothenburg PoetsLev Hrytsyuk's large anthology of contemporary Swedish poetry in Ukrainian translation, 18 поетів із Гетеборга, is now available on Issuu.
I personally find the Issuu interface a little tricky, but it's nice to be able to turn the pages!David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2041385492321829905.post-92051782024103476502010-10-18T11:00:00.000+01:002010-10-18T11:00:29.528+01:00IdentitiesSwedish author and translator Ulf Peter Hallberg recently visited Helsinki and wrote about what he perceived to be a "slightly alarming" social and cultural uniformity (entydighet) in the place and its citizens. When the piece was reviewed in Hbl (with an accent on Hallberg's pessimistic take on the future of Finland-Swedishness), some commenters took the opportunity of pointing out that because David McDuffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01515361544462041148noreply@blogger.com