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
04 January 2010
Excellent article about Stieg and Eva
Financial Mail Women's Forum has a wonderful article about Stieg Larsson and Eva Gabrielsson, written by Antonia Hoyle, entitled "The Girl Who Didn’t Inherit a Fortune: Widow of bestselling Swedish author Stieg Larsson has not seen a penny of his £20m." Read it now!
I agree - it was one of the most thorough articles I've read in a long time. Especially the info about Stieg's early life was new to me, and very interesting. I think maybe it's time to do a more elaborate bio on Stieg over at sallys. The wikipedia entry is there, of course - and some other sites, but they rarely go into much detail.
(Hmm ... have to find extra hours in day ... have to find ... ) :-)
Happy New Y - by the way!
Chris
---
sallysfriends.net - "because one Millennium should never end"
Reg, this story seems more heartrending every time I read about it. Just another example of how the law has nothing to do with common sense. Happy New Year from freezing Devon from Norm.
Excellent article and thank you for posting it. Having just finished TGWPWF, this brings further depth and resonance to the characters and motivations in Stieg's writing.
I am left with a sense of injustice. Is there anything that his many readers might do to help?
And thanks for your blog and the excellent translations.
Yes, there is. Go to www.supporteva.com to see how you can contribute to Eva's legal fund. And buy her books when they come out, I hope later this year. I'll post titles when I have them. Thanks for your help.
Just read Tattoo. Amazing. Poised to purchase Fire on my Kindle. Interesting article. But is Eva disparaging your work here:
> In 2008 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was > published in Britain by MacLehose Press. The > sequels followed in quick succession. > > Eva is dismayed that Stieg’s original title > was changed and claims the English language > version has been ‘badly rewritten’.
No, she was referring to the final version as printed in England. She has seen my American original and agrees that it represents Stieg's voice more faithfully.
The US version of Fire has restored some of my usage. Enjoy -- that's my favorite of the 3.
All versions are my translation, with different editing. I haven't read more than part of the first, so I don't know exactly what was changed in each. I translated into American, CM bought it, did his edit, then sold it to Knopf, who then made more changes. Literary scholars of the future will have a field day with this one!
I am a translator as well, and I was wondering about some of the language in the translations. Evidently Larsson's obsession with detailed laptop specifications is his own, but why for example the use of periods in acronyms like U.R.L. and R.A.M. where universally accepted usage is URL, RAM and so on? Even if they were present in the original, I would feel compelled to remove them.
Other things jumped out at me as well. For example the use of "pressurized" when "pressured" is obviously correct usage, as in "he was being pressured into xxxxx..."
I don't remember the other points and no longer have the books on hand, but there were more such jarring examples...
None of these are my doing! I used to work at Microsoft so I know how to spell these things. Ask the UK editor at Quercus about it. I was not allowed to change anything.
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 agree - it was one of the most thorough articles I've read in a long time. Especially the info about Stieg's early life was new to me, and very interesting. I think maybe it's time to do a more elaborate bio on Stieg over at sallys. The wikipedia entry is there, of course - and some other sites, but they rarely go into much detail.
ReplyDelete(Hmm ... have to find extra hours in day ... have to find ... ) :-)
Happy New Y - by the way!
Chris
---
sallysfriends.net - "because one Millennium should never end"
Lots of stuff in there I didn't know -- and we had dinner with Eva!
ReplyDeleteThere's news of another book involving Eva in Svensk Bokhandel's Vårböcker edition -- see if you can track it down.
Ha' et rigtig godt nytår osse!
Reg, this story seems more heartrending every time I read about it. Just another example of how the law has nothing to do with common sense.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year from freezing Devon from Norm.
Excellent article and thank you for posting it. Having just finished TGWPWF, this brings further depth and resonance to the characters and motivations in Stieg's writing.
ReplyDeleteI am left with a sense of injustice. Is there anything that his many readers might do to help?
And thanks for your blog and the excellent translations.
Yes, there is. Go to www.supporteva.com to see how you can contribute to Eva's legal fund. And buy her books when they come out, I hope later this year. I'll post titles when I have them. Thanks for your help.
ReplyDeleteJust read Tattoo. Amazing. Poised to purchase Fire on my Kindle. Interesting article. But is Eva disparaging your work here:
ReplyDelete> In 2008 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was
> published in Britain by MacLehose Press. The
> sequels followed in quick succession.
>
> Eva is dismayed that Stieg’s original title
> was changed and claims the English language
> version has been ‘badly rewritten’.
Hi Darryl,
ReplyDeleteNo, she was referring to the final version as printed in England. She has seen my American original and agrees that it represents Stieg's voice more faithfully.
The US version of Fire has restored some of my usage. Enjoy -- that's my favorite of the 3.
Ah, so the version I read (Knopf) was your translation? Did MacLehose use that as the basis for their version?
ReplyDeleteAll versions are my translation, with different editing. I haven't read more than part of the first, so I don't know exactly what was changed in each. I translated into American, CM bought it, did his edit, then sold it to Knopf, who then made more changes. Literary scholars of the future will have a field day with this one!
ReplyDeleteI am a translator as well, and I was wondering about some of the language in the translations. Evidently Larsson's obsession with detailed laptop specifications is his own, but why for example the use of periods in acronyms like U.R.L. and R.A.M. where universally accepted usage is URL, RAM and so on? Even if they were present in the original, I would feel compelled to remove them.
ReplyDeleteOther things jumped out at me as well. For example the use of "pressurized" when "pressured" is obviously correct usage, as in "he was being pressured into xxxxx..."
I don't remember the other points and no longer have the books on hand, but there were more such jarring examples...
None of these are my doing! I used to work at Microsoft so I know how to spell these things. Ask the UK editor at Quercus about it. I was not allowed to change anything.
Delete