Translated into English

[Ian]

Anyone else love the Russians? Some of my favourite books are by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The Brothers Karamazov; The Idiot etc: Tolstoy - Anna Karenina in particular: Chekhov Anton Pavlovich 1860-1904 - I loved The Steppe (has the best thunderstorm in literature in my view). People think that they are daunting to read but they are not at all. I think they are great stories, with the most wonderful insights into the human condition and the brooding, often dark sub-culture is haunting. And what about One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovichby Solzhenitsyn - I read this in my teens and 3 or 4 times since. An amazing book about a day in the labour camps from a brave author who exposed Russian brutality. Such a rich culture.

[Carol]

I don't like Chekhov's plays very much, but really enjoyed his short stories.Short Stories

[Carol]

Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky is one of my very favourite novels. It is really gripping.Crime and Punishment

[Carol]

Talking of Tolstoy, did anyone see that Michael Portillo went on one of his train journeys the other day to the house and estate where Tolstoy lived? It showed the station room where he died, when he fled from his wife. She was outside the door, shrieking, trying to be let in!
I think that one of the causes for discontent was that she produced 13 children!

[Ian]

Carol wrote: "Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky is one of my very favourite novels. It is really gripping.Crime and Punishment"

Yes - I love that too. That it tells you what the crime is from the outset and then explores reactions to it and explores issues of remorse etc is gripping.

[Ian]

Carol wrote: "Talking of Tolstoy, did anyone see that Michael Portillo went on one of his train journeys the other day to the house and estate where Tolstoy lived? It showed the station room where he died, when ..."

I didnt see it but saw that scene on a film once - can't remember what is was called.

[Angela]

I also really enjoyed The Steppe and Other Stories, 1887-1891 and felt the need to wrap up warm in order to read One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich,an incredible story. Also, as our book group (Barnstaple Pageturners) choice, I recently read Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky which is about the German invasion of a French town.

[Ley]

Ian wrote: "Carol wrote: "Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky is one of my very favourite novels. It is really gripping.Crime and Punishment"

Yes - I love that too. That it tells you what the ..."

I think the film is called The Last Station

[Ian]

Ley wrote: "Ian wrote: "Carol wrote: "Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky is one of my very favourite novels. It is really gripping.Crime and Punishment"

Yes - I love that too. That it tells y..."

Thats the one - thanks for putting me out of my misery

[Carol]

Ley wrote: "Ian wrote: "Carol wrote: "Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky is one of my very favourite novels. It is really gripping.Crime and Punishment"

Yes - I love that too. That it tells y..."
That title sounds particularly apt!

[Ellen]

Ian wrote: "Anyone else love the Russians? Some of my favourite books are by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The Brothers Karamazov; The Idiot etc: Tolstoy - Ann..."
No, but I love Nordic/Scandinavian crime fiction. Books by Arnaldur IndridasonArndaldur Indridasson, Yrsa Sigurðardóttir,Camilla LäckbergStieg Larrson,Jo NesboÅsa Larsson and light-heart ones likeThe Little Old Lady Who Broke All The Rules and The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared. Perhaps it's the months of near total darkness in Iceland and scandinavia that make them such good crime writers?!

[Ian]

Ellen wrote: "Ian wrote: "Anyone else love the Russians? Some of my favourite books are by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The Brothers Karamazov; The Idiot etc: Tolstoy. A bit like a Chinese Inspector Morse.

[Ian]

Don't know what happened there - message got corrupted. I was saying that our reading group recently read The Bat by Jo Nesbo but gave it the thumbs down. I recommend XIALONG QIU who has written the Inspector Chen series - reminds me of Inspector Morse. Love Stieg Laarson. As you say all very Scandi Noir

[Ellen]

Ian wrote: "Ellen wrote: "Ian wrote: "Anyone else love the Russians? Some of my favourite books are by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The Brothers Karamazov; The Idiot etc: [aut..."
Yes, I'm afraid[book:The Bat|23511013] was his first and not his finest! It was only translated into English when his later, better, books had been popular for a while!

[Angela]

Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez has written some wonderful novels. I have so far read: Chronicle of a death foretold, Love in the Time of Cholera andOne Hundred Years of Solitude.

[Ellen]

I have to say I didn't get the fuss about Garcia Marquez. I read his One Hundred Years of Solitude recently and was pretty appalled. I guess it's well written and a clever twist to the story line at the end but, it's basically just a list of human depravity. How one large extended family can be so depraved as to manage to wipe themselves and the community they founded out of existence! I think I must have missed something.... I also remember reading Love in the time of cholera years and years ago and remember it just as a sordid catalogue of one man's conquests!

[Angela]

Oh well, each to her own! As someone who generally avoids fantasy and magical realism, I have been pleasantly surprised by how much I have enjoyed Marquez's writing. I found One Hundred Years of Solitude to be a very cleverly constructed allegory of the chaotic and violent, social and political, history of Columbia.

[Ellen]

And there you have it: allegory- would never have occurred to me! Obviously not a book to take on face value- I should have perhaps started with one of those study editions that has a foreword had explains the background!

[Angela]

Many of the major events in the novel actually took place in reality, e.g. the massacre of the workers is based on a historical mass killing in Marquez's home town.
This book was one of our reading group's choices a few years ago, it opened up a whole new area of reading interest for me.

[Ian]

I loved One Hundred Years of Solitude - one of my favourite books - but not universally admired by our book group. As Angela says it is highly allegorical and I also thought the structure of the book very clever. It's circularity over that expanse of time conveyed for me the way that Colombian history (and probably other countries too) repeated itself. A novel of many layers. I must read it again.

[Ian]

Agnieska has added some books and poetry translated from Polish on her profile - some really interesting work there, which might be of interest

[Angela]

These books could be a great start for the 'Around the World in 80 Books' challenge!

[Ian]

An interesting article re books translated into English

http://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/b...

[Emily]

I'd like to recommend the writer Grazia Delleda. I've only read one of her books, 'Reeds in the Wind' ('Canne al vento'), but she's a Nobel Prize winner, so many others obviously rate her work! Delleda writes about her native Sardinia in a deeply poetic way. My son is half-Sardinian and so I am keen to get him reading this book; it provided me with many fascinating insights into this amazing island's culture and people.

[Ian]

Thanks for the recommendation Emily. I've nit heard of her but live reading authors from around the world, so will add her to my list. What form do her novels take?

[Ian]

"not" and "love" !

[DrMama]

The website 'The Complete Review' which is run by the US writer, critic and reviewer Michael Orthofer is a gem of a site for information about works in translation. Some of the best books I've read - by a wide range of world authors - I first heard about on this site. The 'CRev' does also comment on works written in English, but Orthofer is a staunch crusader for more translation. There are just so many superb works and writers out there, yet most of us readers in the English speaking world often know nothing about them.

[Carol]

Some works obviously translate well into English- particularly where the language is not too descriptive. I have never read a translation of Les Fleurs du Mal by Baudelaire, but it is difficult to think that there could possibly be a good translation of his poems.
I presume Shakespeare is never translated into other languages. It would just not be the same.

[Emily]

I have a parallel text of Les Fleurs du Mal - translated by James McGowan and published by OUP. ISBN: 978-0-19-953558-3. I seem to remember reading somewhere that 'L'Albatros' is the most translated poem ever!If you look it up online it's amazing to see how much the various translations differ from each other.

[DrMama]

The joy of the Michael Orthofer site is that he is himself a multilinguist. He is often asked to judge on some of the US's major prizes for books in translation, and frequently in his blog pieces will comment favourably (or not) on different translations of certain works.
There does appear to be a whole new breed of excellent translators out there, now. This also includes writer/translators who are familiar with archaic forms of the specific non-English language, so I find it hard to believe there are not wonderful translations of Shakespeare.
I also gather that the work and worth of translators is more revered by many now - although it is still often not well-rewarded by some of the big publishing houses. Increasingly, authors who win prizes in their non-native country/language are citing their translators as joint-workers/creators. There is still a long way to go, but how great to have peoples around
the world able to write in their own language and still have worldwide recognition, rather than all attention only going to the authors who write in English first - eg in Africa.

[Ian]

DrMama wrote: "The joy of the Michael Orthofer site is that he is himself a multilinguist. He is often asked to judge on some of the US's major prizes for books in translation, and frequently in his blog pieces ..."

Just had a look at teh CRev site - not the prettiest to navigate but a mine of references, blogs, reviews and articles. Thanks for alerting us to it Carol.