The Story Of The Year Of 1912 In The Village Of Elza Darzins

by Thea Welsh

This first novel tells the story of Erika Cavanagh who has completed her translation and subtitling of the rediscovered Latvian film "The Story of the Year 1912 in the Village of Elza Darzins". But now history has caught up with her.

180 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

After graduating from university, Thea Welsh worked in research and administration in Canberra, Adelaide and Sydney. During the 1990s she was manager of the Australian Screen Directors Association.

Welsh achieved great success with her first novel, The Story of the Year of 1912 in the Village of Elza Darzins (1990), winning several awards, including the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for the South-East Asia and the South Pacific region. Supported by a grant from the Australia Council, Welsh wrote her second novel, Welcome Back (1996), continuing the examination of the film industry begun with her first novel. Her first novel deals with the idea of translation and the second explores the life of a celebrity whose false claim to a Tasmanian origin damages her credibility.

Welsh also wrote the novelisations of the films Dating the Enemy, Paperback Hero, and Appropriateness.
Source: Aust Lit

Reviews

[R.J. Rodda · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

I just finished reading ‘The Story of the Year of 1912 in the Village’ of Elza Darzins (Untapped) by Thea Welsh and really enjoyed it. It’s about a young lady Erika who must write the English subtitles for a Latvian movie that was suppressed by the Soviet government and has never been show publicly before. After committing to have the film ready for the Sydney Film Festival, Erika watches it for the first time and is horrified to discover that the dialogue is a mind-staggeringly confusing mess and that the film that is supposedly a masterpiece is actually incomprehensible. As political pressure surrounding the release of the film increases, Erika is forced to make an ethical decision about whether to literally translate the script or to significantly change it.

This is a compelling, yet easy to read story about the challenges dilemmas of translation, the nascent Australian film industry, the imaginary world of the writer, the impact of Soviet rule on Latvia, political pressure and being an immigrant in Australia. This makes it sound heavy reading, but it feels a lot more like a girlish memoir.

[Luke West · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perhaps enjoyable more for its curiosity than its quality. Descriptions of the titular film were tantalising, but it doesn’t really live up to its promise of intrigue. Could see this novel itself being made into a good film.

[Claire De Lune · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set in Sydney NSW, this is a totally relatable tale of a woman who finds herself somewhat over her head in her Latvian translator role. This story has intelligent and funny one liners thrown out, but also creates a real feeling of anxious anticipation in line with the central character. Speaking of characters, the delightful mix of flamboyant and often strange characters in this novel really are a treat and bring the whole thing to life. I do hope more readers get to enjoy this easy read, it’s a pleasure and it would be a shame to see it forgotten on the shelf.

[John Macgregor · Rating 5 out of 5]

First novels don't get any better than this.

The beautifully structured story of a young female translator working for the "NSW Film Board" & groping her way through her Latvian ancestry, and being grown up.

Merciless in its depiction of the Australian film industry, which is no bad thing.

This won the National Book Council's Banjo Award in 1990.

I must read more of Thea Welsh's novels, as I'd be curious to know how this prodigious talent developed after 1990.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Story of the Year of 1912 in the Village of Elza Darzins scrutinises the Australian film industry in a most entertaining satire indeed.

TSotYo1912itVoED? No, too long. Henceforth (mostly) ‘Elza’s Village’.

Erika Cavanagh is an unemployed school teacher who doesn’t want to take up a position she’s been offered in outback NSW, when her flatmate Louise, an aspiring actor, takes over the task of scanning the job ads in the newspaper. (Yes, this was in The Olden Days, it’s set in the 1980s.) Louise finds a job that she thinks is perfect for Erika. The NSW State Film Board needs a translator fluent in Latvian and English.

Erika isn’t really fluent, having learned it only from her mother who’d left Latvia years ago, and they don’t hang out with the local Latvian community. Erika’s idiom would therefore be out-of-date, and she doesn’t know the cultural factors. But Louise, an indefatigable friend, pressures her into applying and she bluffs her way through to get the job. Which is not too hard because her boss Stuart Cullen is more interested in his own opinions than in listening to her, and he could span a great ignorance with a couple of generalisations and several detailed comparisons.

Erika’s job is to write the sub-titles for an art-house film called The Story of the Year of 1912 in the Village of Elza Darzins on loan from the Soviets. Directed by Balodis and produced by Leblenis, it’s about ‘the peculiar tragedy of the peasants’, and was created by these two (presumably fictional) Latvians under the iron rule of the Soviets in the postwar era. It’s amazing that a Latvian peasant (Balodis) got funding from the Soviets to make it in the first place. But having funded it, the Soviets then suppressed it, and the film has never been released. No one knows why. But by a fluke, Cullen has been able to get a copy, to screen at the Sydney Film Festival.

Well, it may be the era of Gorbachev’s Glasnost and Perestroika, but this still makes the screening a coup for the Sydney Film Festival. The Soviets, however, must still be handled delicately so Cullen is very pleased with himself.

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2023/07/03/t...