2011:2
Surreal satire by Daniel Sjön, non-fiction by Klas Åmark, an essay on Selma Lagerlöf by Paul Binding and a workshop on translating Jonas Hassen Khemiri
Editor: Sarah Death
(Image: Cranes © Staffan Widstrand/imagebank.sweden.se)
Translations
TRANSLATED EXTRACT
from The World’s Last Novel by Daniel Sjölin
Daniel Sjölin's novel is a surreal satire on the contemporary literary scene and a commentary on Sjölin’s own media personality that utilises his gift for language and eye for form to biting effect.
Translated by Dominic Hinde
TRANSLATED EXTRACT
from Neighbour of Evil by Klas Åmark
Klas Åmark's book is a synthesis of a number of commissioned research projects on Sweden’s relations with Nazism, Nazi Germany and the Holocaust, previous research and the author’s own research, presented in a popular form for a broad public.
Translated by Dominic Hinde
Articles
ARTICLE
Selma Lagerlöf: Nils Holgersson’s Wonderful Journey
In this heartfelt essay, Paul Binding reflects upon Selma Lagerlöf’s classic The Wonderful Adventures of Nils Holgersson.
REPORT
Inventing an Idiolect: Report from a Workshop on Translating Jonas Hassen Khemiri
Ruth Urbom and Nichola Smalley report from an afternoon-long translation workshop that explored different strategies for translating Jonas Hassen Khemiri's vivid language into English.
Reviews
Edited and compiled by Anna Paterson
Poetry
REVIEW
Underjorden
Poems reworking the literary history of the sonnet from Shakespeare to Auden and beyond, echoing with intertextual references to other underworld travellers.
REVIEW
Samlade dikter. Med forörd och kommentarer av Boel Hackman
A definitive collection of Harriet Löwenhjelm’s idiosyncratic, fascinating poetry, illustrated with her own paintings and drawings.
REVIEW
New Collected Poems
For anyone with a passing interest in the poetry of twentieth-century Europe, this volume is a must-have addition to their collection and with it we are allowed a clear glimpse of Tranströmer looking eye to eye with the very greatest writers of his time.
REVIEW
Chickweed Wintergreen, Selected Poems
A comprehensive selection of Martinson’s poetry in English translation.
Fiction
REVIEW
Korparna
Grips you by the throat, a great novel that tells you something about la condition humaine – and also a very Swedish one, with links to writers like Vilhelm Moberg and Harry Martinson.
REVIEW
Islossning
Julia Dahlberg’s debut novel is a multi-dimensional narrative, a modern skärgårdsroman (skerries novel).
REVIEW
Sparta
This little white book is the latest in a series of several works by Lotass that straddle the boundaries of genre.
REVIEW
Döden & Co.
After poetry collections and a first novel, Moodysson trained as a film-maker; this further novel marks his return to prose writing.
REVIEW
Änglavakter
The third book in Kristina Ohlsson’s series of crime novels centred on a police team in Stockholm.
REVIEW
Den flödande lyckan
Eva Ström's novel takes risks by trying to examine how the unexplainable can feel as real and important as reality.
Non-fiction
REVIEW
Att bo granne med ondskan. Sveriges förhållande till nazismen, Nazityskland och Förintelsen
Göran Persson could see no reason for Sweden to be ashamed of anything it did during the war. Klas Åmark’s book is in every way a contribution to greater knowledge and vigorous debate. Those who want a powerful argument in favour of reading this work should consider this brief, simple motive: to find out how right Persson was and, later, how wrong.
REVIEW
Omvälvningarnas tid: Norden och Europa under revolutions- och Napoleonkrigen
In this well-researched, first-class work, Martin Hårdstedt guides us through complex military and political situations while recognising the humanity of the protagonists.
REVIEW
Se blomman
Dedicated amateur botanists Ekman and Eriksson provide a unique mixture of curiosity and enthusiasm, science and scholarship, with the addition of an acute awareness of cultural and environmental change.
REVIEW
Jag. Carl Larsson. En biografi
Gedin cares for his subject, but is not restrained: Larsson is shown to be a greater artist and a less consistently agreeable man than his reputation might suggest.
Brief reviews
REVIEW
Ingenstans under himlen
The tension is ratcheted up in Liselott Willén's well-crafted psychological drama, which is anything but a police procedural, and written in language with real savour.
REVIEW
Alla monster måste dö
Magnus Bärtås and Fredrik Ekman have written books together before: wry studies of closed, cultish societies. But they are keen on the cinema and its lore, and have now picked a perfect travel goal: secretive North Korea.