Comments and questions about translation of Swedish, German, Danish, and Norwegian crime fiction as well as "real" literature.
"Music is supposed to wash away the dust of everyday life."
Art Blakey
18 August 2009
Moving into German bestsellers
Starting the translation of Peter Prange's German bestseller, Die Philosophin, working title The Philosopher's Kiss. Not Swedish crime for a change, but a philosophical and erotic tale of Diderot's mistress and the Encyclopedia crowd...
Dorte, it's a business, all right. We call it our "translation factory." But seriously, the more you do, the easier it gets. The most important part is not how well you know the source language, but how well you write in your own. Though it's gratifying to be given a fiction job in the first language I studied (not counting Latin) in high school. I also essentially "retranslated" or "heavily edited" some of the German books we published at Fjord Press back in the '80s. I once taught Tiina the "little words" in Dutch so we could crank out a rush business translation over a weekend...
I am looking forward to reading "The Philosophers' Kiss" Be sure to put an announcement on the blog when you expect it to be available (hopefully in the UK)
The Last Good Man - A.J. Kazinski [translated by Tiina Nunnally]
The Black Echo - Michael Connelly
Worth Dying For - Lee Child
Gateway - Frederik Pohl
Inside the Jihad: A Spy's Story - Omar Nasiri
Relic - Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
Me, the Mob and the Music: One Helluva Ride with Tommy James and the Shondells - Tommy James with Martin Fitzpatrick
2084: An Oral History of the Great Warming - James Lawrence Powell [on Kindle]
Eleven Minutes - Paulo Coelho
Untouched by Human Hands - Robert Sheckley (his first collection of SF stories, some of which hold up well after 57 years)
The Hidden Child - Camilla Läckberg [translated by Tiina Nunnally]
Silesian Station - David Downing (if you like books about Berlin in the '30s & '40s, this series is excellent)
Zoo Station - David Downing
After the Wall - Jana Hensel
On Gratitude: Celebrities Share What They're Most Thankful For - Todd Aaron Jensen (lots of nuggets of wisdom here)
The Tourist - Olen Steinhauer
Tripwire - Lee Child
Black Betty - Walter Mosley
The Main Experiment - Christopher Hodder-Williams
Dead Low Tide - John D. Macdonald
Albums I'm listening to
Lionel Hampton & Teddy Wilson with Gene Krupa (1960s)
George Benson/Joe Farrell: Benson & Farrell (1976)
Larry Carlton: Sleepwalk (1982)
Al Cohn/Zoot Sims Quintet: You 'n Me (1960s)
Joe Pass, Clark Terry, et al: A Celebration of Duke (1980)
Eric Gale: Blue Horizon (1982)
George Benson: Blue Benson (1976)
George Benson: Body Talk
A Man and the Blues - Buddy Guy (1968) Buddy's first Vanguard album and still one of his best -- with the wondrous Otis Spann on piano
Hoosier Hot Shots: Everybody Stomp (2003) Great 4 CD set from Proper Records in the UK (if you haven't heard these guys, check them out -- the happiest music on the planet!) "Are you ready, Hezzie?"
Tony Mottola: various pop guitar albums from the '60s
Erik Satie: Piano Music (Aldo Ciccolini) (1950s) Magnifico!
Eric Gale & Ron Carter: In a Jazz Tradition (1988) Tasty!
Bob Dylan: Blonde on Blonde (1966) My favorite poetry in song form
The Harmonicats: Best Loved Hits (1984) Fond memories of my grandfather's 78 collection...
Velvet Underground & Nico (1967) The Lou Reed workouts are the standout on this disc
Hoyt Axton: Life Machine (1974)
J.S. Bach: Orchestral Suites 1-4 (1739)
Some of my favorite movies
District 9 (2009) a modernized PhilDickian tale about humans and aliens; which do you think are more human?
The Soloist (2008) very good movie that zeros in on what music does to your mind
The Night of the Hunter (1955)
Out of the Past (1947)
Strangers on a Train (1951)
Vertigo (1958)
Cinema Paradiso (1988)
Chinatown (1974)
Buena Vista Social Club (1999)
The Awful Truth (1937)
After the Thin Man (1936)
The 39 Steps (1935)
The Big Sleep (1946)
The Saragossa Manuscript (1965)
Any B science fiction movie with Whit Bissell, such as Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957)
I wish you a big success, Reg, that's good for your brain cells.
ReplyDeleteThe number of languages you and your wife cover is really amazing!
ReplyDeleteI am comfortably reading crime fiction in four languages, but translating, and doing it well, is another business.
At least I'll learn some French!
ReplyDeleteDorte, it's a business, all right. We call it our "translation factory." But seriously, the more you do, the easier it gets. The most important part is not how well you know the source language, but how well you write in your own. Though it's gratifying to be given a fiction job in the first language I studied (not counting Latin) in high school. I also essentially "retranslated" or "heavily edited" some of the German books we published at Fjord Press back in the '80s. I once taught Tiina the "little words" in Dutch so we could crank out a rush business translation over a weekend...
ReplyDeleteI am looking forward to reading "The Philosophers' Kiss" Be sure to put an announcement on the blog when you expect it to be available (hopefully in the UK)
ReplyDeleteAlan, If all goes according to the glacial speed of the publishing business, it should be out sometime in 2011, I hope the early part of the year.
ReplyDelete