2005:1
Fiction from Jonas Hassen Khemiri. Articles on the publication of Swedish works in Italy and translation and computing.
In this issue we are pleased to present a wide range of material from some of our regular contributors through the years: urban "immigrant" fiction, crime fiction, new short stories, book fair reports, a very practical article about the impact of computers as translation tools, and the concluding part of the extended bibliography. Deservingly retired SBR editor Laurie Thompson pays tribute to another of our long-standing contributors, the late Göran Eriksson. We hope that the piece on Swedophile Italian publishing house Iperborea will be the first in a series from a number of countries.
Translations
Translation
from An Eye Red
Laurie Thompson introduces his translation of Jonas Hassen Khemiri's An Eye Red, providing a useful insight into the unusual form of Swedish used and explaining how he went about translating non-standard and "incorrect" forms into English.
Translated by Laurie Thompson.
Articles
Article
Iperborea. A Pioneer Publisher in Italy
Carmen Giorgetti Cima discusses the history and development of Swedophile Italian publishing house Iperborea, from its early beginnings to the current situation.
Translated by Tom Geddes.
Article
Translation and Computing: Friends or Enemies?
Is translation doomed to be dehumanized and mechanized in our lifetimes? Will a "translator" be a machine, not a human? Peter Linton looks at this issue, and some of the computer-based tools for translators that have become available over the past few years.
Reviews
Fiction
REVIEW
Hammarens slag och hjärtats: roman om de första Vallonerna
Established novelists Lars Ardelius and Carin Svensson have written a historical novel chronicling the fortunes of a family of seventeenth-century French-speaking Walloons from the southern part of Belgium who emigrate to Sweden.
REVIEW
Hitom himlen
With the 1946 novel This side of the sky, Stina Aronson set out to explore new territory in Swedish literature, giving voice to a landscape and a population of Finnishspeaking Swedes in the far north.
REVIEW
Den jag aldrig var
‘They were white underpants, of very fine quality.’ This is the concise and powerful first sentence of Majgull Axelsson’s new novel, The Woman I Never Was. And it resonates throughout the story.
REVIEW
Sju vita vargar i ett träd
On the surface, Christina Bergil's novel is an intriguing and mysterious book that follows “The Wolf Man” - Sigmund Freud’s most famous case.
REVIEW
Babylons gatar: Ett Londonmysterium
Many critics were won over by Carina Burman's period detail and the sheer exuberant cheek of The Streets of Babylon.
REVIEW
Svarta lådan
Inger Edelfeld's finely observed novel offers a portrait of a psychologist paralysed by shock and grief after the sudden, premature death of her beloved partner Yannis.
REVIEW
Boken om Blanche och Marie
Per Olov Enquist once more explores Europe’s struggles for enlightenment, in a daring novel whose writing is elegantly truffled with pieces of research made personal by allusive writing.
REVIEW
Nattens grymma stjärnor
This is Kjell Eriksson’s sixth detective story to feature Detective Inspector Ann Lindell and her Uppsala colleagues, and as with the previous novels it is a combination of police procedural and psychological study.
REVIEW
Potensgivarna
Karin Brunk Holmqvist’s novel has great potential to be funny and heart-warming, but unfortunately stumbles in predictability.
REVIEW
Hembiträdet
Marie Hermanson's sixth novel is, as she freely admits in a recent interview, “a novel about characters who we cannot sympathize with.”
REVIEW
Splendorville
Addressing an audience at the Gothenburg Book Fair in September 2004, Ellen Mattson described Splendorville, her sixth book, as a story of sorrow and loss.
REVIEW
Svålhålet - Berättelser från rymden
Mikael Niemi’s second work for adults comprises nineteen tales, linked through setting, themes and narrative voice, and described by the author as science fiction.
Poetry
REVIEW
Sudden Maraschinos
In Jacqueline Karp's first full collection of poetry, she discovers the cultures of Berlin, the Czech Republic, the Baltic States, Poland and, above all, Sweden, sharing her personal reactions to sights, sounds and tastes.
REVIEW
Mostrarna och andra dikter
Agneta Pleijel's first volume of poetry for twenty years has many sources. Some of the poems are recent, others reworkings of earlier material, in some cases first published elsewhere and now collected here.
REVIEW
Den stora gåtan
This latest slim – very slim – volume consists of five rather enigmatic short poems and eleven groups of haiku containing from just one poem up to six. At a single haiku to a page, they do not lack the emphasis that the form demands.
Non-fiction
REVIEW
När Finlands sak blev min - Minnen från krig och fred
When Finland's Cause became my Cause - Memories of War and Peace is a highly objective and well-balanced memoir.
REVIEW
Flugfällan
This book is something very unusual – a genuinely witty piece of self-deprecating autobiography. It is also an exploration of the obsessive tendencies of collectors, the mentality of island dwellers, and a biographical peek at the obscure life of celebrated entomologist and erstwhile sable farmer René Malaise.