2010:2

It was very cheering for the translation community to hear bestselling Henning Mankell say in answer to a question on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Book Programme’ recently that if there was a hero in his life, it was the translator. Another of Sweden’s foremost crime writers, and one who also values his translators, is Håkan Nesser, whose Van Veeteren series is now appearing in English. His free-standing psychological thrillers are equally compelling, as the taster in this issue from The Worms on Carmine Street will show.

Agneta Pleijel is one of the doyennes of Swedish literary fiction. She has made historical fiction based on authentic background material her speciality. The extract from The Queen’s Surgeon sheds light on a fascinating period when surgeons were still treated with disdain.

We are in the company of poets in this issue of SBR, not only the three Swedish poets featured here, but also a wider community. This broader group, European and American, were those encountered by SBR’s editor when she attended a recent memorial day for Göran Printz-Påhlson in Cambridge. It was a scholarly yet inclusive and informal event, with friendly exchanges of ideas between poets, translators, translators who were poets, and vice versa. The distinction was gloriously blurred.

Assembling this issue of SBR has at times been rather melancholy work. The friends and colleagues attending the Cambridge event could not help mourning Göran’s death even as they celebrated his life and work. During the editorial process we also, sadly, received news from Sweden of the death of another featured poet, Ragnar Thoursie. With the help of his publisher we were able to contact his son, who told us that Thoursie, though in poor health, had been read the translations and was pleased with them, so they are published here as a tribute to him, with his son’s blessing.

Three poets, three very different approaches, three distinctive languages: the dizzying esoteric games of Printz-Påhlson; the warm social conscience and meditation on ageing offered by Thoursie; and from our third featured poet, Finland-Swedish Eva-Stina Byggmästar, a Sapphic voyage through the landscape of the imagination, its dazzling wordplay a real challenge to the heroic translator.

In this issue we introduce our new Bookshelf editor Anna Paterson. Anna is not only a translator but also reviews Scandinavian books for the British national press, World Literature Today and other publications. She brings energy, enthusiasm and impressive background knowledge to her new role.