New Swedish Writing in English

The 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. 

The editors of the new site are to be congratulated on its pleasing and variegated design.

Divided or united?

Swedish Book Review now remains the only English-language periodical that's focused exclusively on translations and reviews of Swedish literature. Books from Finland, with its coverage of Finnish and Finland-Swedish writing in English translation, is a close rival, but earlier this year discontinued print publication, and now concentrates all its energies on a WordPress-engined website. After a promising start, the site has recently shown some signs of uncertainty, with updates becoming less frequent (the last new item appeared on July 16), and it's to be hoped that the demise of the magazine's print version won't lead to a dissipation of the Web effort, too.

One big difference between the SBR and BfF sites is that the Finnish site offers some interactivity to its readers, with online comments boxes and the possibility of discussion. SBR's site, by contrast, is of the old-fashioned static kind, with plenty of text and information, but not much in the way of feedback and debate.

In some ways it seems a pity that Books from Finland has had to give up its print version entirely. If run concurrently with the online version, the magazine in its old paper format, even if it only appeared once or twice a year, would probably have a greater impact, and reach more readers.

Or is there perhaps an argument for thinking about the merging of both journals - SBR and BfF - into a single Nordic literature magazine project? This has been tried before, but didn't work out for various reasons. Maybe it's time to try again.

Swedish Writers at EIBF, 2009

See Swedish Book Review 2009:1, p.92, for details of Swedish writers at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on 15-31 August this year. I'm not a betting man, but I'd wager that Henning Mankell will get the biggest audience. They'd better hold that event in an extra big tent. I might take the opportunity to say hello to Per Wästberg, for whom I did some translation jobs in the past, and whom I have only met once before - also in Edinburgh - at an International PEN conference some years ago.

The EIBF is my favourite among the many festivals (International, Fringe, jazz, TV ...) that clog up Edinburgh's streets and venues in the late summer/early autumn. It's the only time in the year when Charlotte Square garden in the west end is open to the public, and the civilised susurration of thousands of bookworms in that charming Georgian setting makes a welcome contrast to the maelstrom of the Royal Mile where Fringe "performers" and assorted mountebanks and flyer-wielding students determined to shanghai you into their show impede your passage.

Entry to the garden is free, and there's no pressure to buy a ticket for any of the events with big-name writers. I've spoken myself in the past and introduced speakers on behalf of Scottish PEN, but now I prefer to just amble in with the rest of the hoi polloi, browse the publishers' stalls in the book tents, and sit outside with a beer and a sandwich. Or inside, if it's that kind of summer.

Harry

Swedish Book Review 2009:1

The first issue of the Swedish Book Review for 2009 contains a variety of articles and came out just in time for the London Book Fair.

The first extract follows comments about translating Jonas Hassen Khemiri into English by translator Rachel Willson-Broyles. Some of the difficulties encountered involve his idiosyncratic use of compounds, some of which are neologisms.

David Lagercrantz has written a novel Syndafall i Wilmslow / Fall from Grace in Wilmslow about the Enigma code-breaking machine. Extract introduced and translated by Marlaine Delargy.

Tyst hav / Silent Seas is a book about overfishing, written by Swedish Green Party activist Isabella Lövin. Extract translated by Peter Linton.

Other extracts are from books by Fredrik Sjöberg, Maria Ernestam, Elin Wägner, plus an overview article, first published on the Eurozine, about recent Swedish books by DN editor Jonas Thente, intriguingly entitled Beyond Crime Fiction, Handbags and Designer Suits.

The Bookshelf section contains 15 short reviews of works by for instance Carina Burman, Theodor Kallifatides, Bo Carpelan, Per Wästberg and Robert Åsbacka.

Norvik Press

Norvik Press, which moved in August 2008 from the University of East Anglia in Norwich to University College London, must surely be the only publishing house of its kind in the UK. It publishes a variety of literature from the Nordic countries.

Looking at the list of authors on the website, you can see that there are ones from different countries, genres and epochs. The press also published two periodicals: the more scholarly Scandinavica, and the magazine that is the shop window for what books are available and being published in the Swedish language, Swedish Book Review.

The website sections entitled Authors, Special Offers and Out of Print give you an overview of what is, and has been, published by the press. Even the Baltic countries are represented:

In 1994, a book of several short-stories from the Scandinavian and Baltic countries, edited and translated by Christopher Moseley was published: From Baltic Shores. Authors include Arvo Valton, Romualdas Lankauskas, Alberts Bels, Bo Carpelan and Suzanne Brøgger.

A more recent Baltic addition is the poetic Estonian novel by Viivi Luik, The Beauty of History (translator: Hildi Hawkins; 2007). This novel has been translated widely, and this translation was launched at the Estonian Embassy in London. It deals with an Estonian country girl who goes to Riga to visit her boyfriend during the Prague Spring in 1968, when the boyfriend risks being called up to go to Czechoslovakia as part of the Soviet troop contingent. He goes off to Moscow to get his exemption certificate, and the Estonian girl is left behind with his mother in the flat in Riga, where this atmospheric novel, full of observation and mood, is set.

But Scandinavia forms the trunk of the tree, including such names as Victoria Benedictsson, August Strindberg, Gunnar Ekelöf, Hjalmar Söderberg, Johan Borgen, Knut Hamsun, Jens Bjørneboe, Suzanne Brøgger, Svend Åge Madsen, Edith Södergran, and Runar Schildt.

The press was started by James McFarlane and Janet Garton, and is now run by Neil Smith.

Swedish Book Review - Contemporary Finland-Swedish Fiction

Swedish Book Review, published in London, has had several articles about, or short translations of, Finland-Swedish material in issues since the year 2000. But halfway through the decade, the editor Sarah Death decided to have a Finland-Swedish issue as a supplement to the review for 2005. The guest editor was Neil Smith, who also regularly publishes the Swedish Book Review with Norvik Press, now housed at University College London. And what is interesting is that this supplement concentrates on contemporary Finland-Swedish literature, i.e. what is being written now.

The introductory article is by Maria Antas of FILI, the Finnish Literature Centre in Helsinki, and she gives some insights into recent prose works by Ulla-Lena Lundberg, Lars Sund, Anders Larsson, Erik Wahlström, Zinaida Lindén, Merete Mazzarella, Robert Åsbacka, Sabine Forsblom, Monika Fagerholm, Mikaela Sundström, Kjell Westö, Henrik Jansson, Peter Sandström, Fredrik Lång, and a few others. These names alone are proof of the continuing vitality of Finland-Swedish literature during the 2000s, despite the fact that the language is spoken as mother-tongue by only about 6% of the total Finnish population.

There follows a compilation by Neil Smith called "Collected Thoughts", where various Finland-Swedish publishers, academics and critics are interviewed and asked to answer five questions about the characteristics, scope, and viability of Finland-Swedish literature today. These people are also asked to identify authors worth translating into English and introducing to the English-speaking world. Some of the most interesting answers come from the freelance researcher Trygve Söderling, who points to the shift in background of Finland-Swedish writers nowadays. He notes that writers no longer come from traditional Finland-Swedish cultural families, with major authors now also coming from what he terms the "periphery". Zinaida Lindén even comes originally from Saint Petersburg. Söderling also notes the strong tradition, with pioneers such as Södergran, Diktonius and Björling. Finally, Finland-Swedish literature sits on the cusp between the Swedish culture of Sweden and the Finnish-speaking one of Finland.

The rest of the special supplement is devoted to introductions to specific contemporary authors, plus excerpts from their recent work. So, for instance, there is a story entitled 1968 from Kjell Westö's recent collection (translator: Sarah Death); an excerpt from Lars Sund's 1991 novel Colorado Avenue (translator Laurie Thompson); an interview with Fredrik Lång and an excerpt from his novel Ryska kusinen (translator: Neil Smith); an excerpt from Zinaida Lindén's novel I väntan på en jordbävning (translator: Silvester Mazzarella); an excerpt from Robert Åsbacka's novel Fallstudie (translator: Henning Koch); an excerpt from Candida by Pirkko Lindberg (translator: David McDuff); plus further excerpts from works by Henrik Jansson, Erik Wahlström, Sabine Forsblom, Mathias Nystrand, and others. The list is too long to give here in full.

These authors represent four geographical areas of Finland: Nyland & Greater Helsinki; the Åland Isles; Ostrobothnia; plus the area around Åbo including the parts of archipelago. This is where what is left of the Swedish-speaking minority of Finland still live. Åland is still around 90% Swedish-speaking, but the percentages are far lower in the other three regions.

A couple of terminological matters are interesting. For this supplement, the editor decided to call Helsinki by its Swedish name Helsingfors, a name that was current in English too until the 1930s. Another word introduced - and a very useful one too - is the word Finlandic, which should be used much more in the English language. Using Finlandic gets rid of the eternal confusion, when using the word Finnish to describe the country as a whole, and the specifically Finnish-speaking majority. When speaking about matters that concern both language groups, Finlandic would be much better. This distinction is made in the Swedish language. But decades of English usage mean that it would be hard to introduce this term in Britain and the USA.

I really hope that British and U.S. publishers, critics, reviewers and comparative literature academics read this supplement, so that they become acquainted with a literature that has been going since about 1890, and is still alive today. During this short period for a literature, a lot has been achieved, not least, as Maria Antas points out because there is a Swedish-speaking hinterland, i.e. Sweden itself, that speaks the same language and will buy Finland-Swedish books. Plus the fact that history has been somewhat different in Finland than it has in Sweden.