Translating Women
INTERNATIONAL | INTERSECTIONAL | ACTIVIST | FEMINIST
Translating Women
INTERNATIONAL | INTERSECTIONAL | ACTIVIST | FEMINIST
Translated from Dutch by Antoinette Fawcett (Saraband Books, 2021) Iâm going to go out on a limb straight away, and declare this one of my favourite books of 2021: it was one of those rare books that I kept thinking about while I wasnât reading it, and couldnât wait to get back to when I […]
Translated from German by Christina Les (Naked Eye Publishing, 2021) Kathrin Schmidtâs Youâre Not Dying is a prize-winning best-seller in Germany, where it was first published in 2009, and today the first English translation (by Christina Les) is published. The release of Youâre Not Dying also represents the first foray into translated literature for independent […]
Over the Easter week I read a couple of books that had been sent to me as gifts, and so Iâm taking a break from my formal reviews this week to talk to you about my two âholiday readsâ â one of the best-known works of contemporary translation, and the follow-up to a brilliant debut. […]
Translated from Spanish (Chile) by Megan McDowell (Atlantic Books, 2021) In Nervous System, Lina Meruane returns to the obsessions with a failing body that preoccupied her earlier work, the uncomfortably brilliant Seeing Red (also translated by Megan McDowell, published by Atlantic Books in 2018). In both books, Meruane explores how a body pushed to its […]
Translated from French by Sophie Lewis (Les Fugitives, 2021) I have to start this review with a confession: I was a bit nervous about reading Poetics of Work. The nerves stemmed entirely from the knowledge that Lefebvre is not known for being an âeasy readâ, and I read Poetics of Work at a time when […]
Translated from French by Tanya Leslie (Fitzcarraldo Editions, 2021) Simple Passion is the story of an all-consuming love affair: in it, Ernaux details the way in which her obsession with her lover takes over every aspect of her life, so that both daily events and more significant ones become no more than moments that punctuate […]
Translated from German by Annie Rutherford (V&Q Books, 2021) A funny, feel-good comedy of errors featuring characters ranging from the eccentric to the neurotic, a rambling castle in the Scottish Highlands, and a peacock gone rogue? Yes please. The Peacock felt like the book Iâve been waiting for â something to lift me out of […]
Translated from French by Jeffrey Zuckerman (Faber & Faber, 2021) Night as it Falls is the debut novel by French-born Bosnian-Montenegrin writer Jakuta Alikavazovic, and follows its main characters Paul and Amelia through a passionate relationship, an abandonment, a reunion, and a final separation. Amelia is the âofficialâ mystery of the novel â a woman […]
Translated from French by Jordan Stump (Influx Press, 2021) Iâve been reading and enjoying Marie NDiayeâs work for twenty years, and for me Self-Portrait in Green is something of a landmark: the first time Iâve read her in English. The style is very recognisably NDiaye (a testament to Jordan Stumpâs careful translation), and many of the […]
Translated from Spanish (Cuba) by Christina MacSweeney (Charco Press, 2021) Iâm always excited to receive a new book from Charco Press, and they kick off 2021 with a Cuban detective story brimming with lost fame, plot twists, basic mathematics and romantic entanglements. Havana, 1993: Cubaâs Year Zero. It is âthe year of interminable power cuts, […]