#Danish literary translation

[transcriptioncity]

Danish Translation Services and Danish Language Services

Danish Translation Services Effective communication is crucial. Danish translation services bridge language gaps, making interaction smoother. They facilitate business dealings between Danish and international companies. This is essential for trade, collaboration, and economic growth. They also support academic exchanges by translating research papers and educational materials. This fosters…

[broomsick]

List of interesting ressources pertaining to norse paganism, scandinavian folklore and history, and nordic religions in general

These are sources I have personally used in the context of my research, and which I've enjoyed and found useful. Please don’t mind if I missed this or that ressource, as for this post, I focused solely on my own preferences when it comes to research. I may add on to this list via reblog if other interesting sources come to my mind after this has been posted. Good luck on your research! And as always, my question box is open if you have any questions pertaining to my experiences and thoughts on paganism.

Mythology

The Viking Spirit: An Introduction to Norse Mythology and Religion

Dictionnary of Northern Mythology

The Prose and Poetic Eddas (online)

Grottasöngr: The Song of Grotti (online)

The Poetic Edda: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes

The Wanderer's Hávamál

The Song of Beowulf

Rauðúlfs Þáttr

The Penguin Book of Norse Myths: Gods of the Vikings (Kevin Crossley-Holland's are my favorite retellings)

Myths of the Norsemen From the Eddas and the Sagas (online) A source that's as old as the world, but still very complete and an interesting read.

The Elder Eddas of Saemung Sigfusson

Pocket Hávamál

Myths of the Pagan North: Gods of the Norsemen

Lore of the Vanir: A Brief Overview of the Vanir Gods

Anglo-Saxon and Norse Poems

Gods of the Ancient Northmen

Gods of the Ancient Northmen (online)

Two Icelandic Stories: Hreiðars Þáttr and Orms Þáttr

Two Icelandic Stories: Hreiðars Þáttr and Orms Þáttr (online)

Sagas

Two Sagas of Mythical Heroes: Hervor and Heidrek & Hrólf Kraki and His Champions (compiling the Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks and the Hrólfs saga kraka)

Icelandic Saga Database (website)

The Saga of the Jómsvíkings

The Heimskringla or the Chronicle of the Kings of Norway (online)

Stories and Ballads of the Far Past: Icelandic and Faroese

Heimskringla: History of the Kings of Norway

The Saga of the Volsungs: With the Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok

The Saga of the Volsungs (online) Interesting analysis, but this is another pretty old source.

The Story of the Volsungs (online) Morris and Magnusson translation

The Vinland Sagas

Hákon the Good's Saga (online)

History of religious practices

The Viking Way: Magic and Mind in Late Iron Age Scandinavia

Nordic Religions in the Viking Age

Agricola and Germania Tacitus' account of religion in nordic countries

Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe: Early Scandinavian and Celtic Religions

Tacitus on Germany (online)

Scandinavia and the Viking Age

Viking Age Iceland

Landnámabók: Book of the Settlement of Iceland (online)

The Age of the Vikings

Gesta Danorum: The Danish History (Books I-IX)

The Sea Wolves: a History of the Vikings

The Viking World

Guta Lag: The Law of the Gotlanders (online)

The Pre-Christian Religions of the North This is a four-volume series I haven't read yet, but that I wish to acquire soon! It's the next research read I have planned.

Old Norse Folklore: Tradition, Innovation, and Performance in Medieval Scandinavia

Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings

The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Vikings by John Haywood

Landnámabók: Viking Settlers and Their Customs in Iceland

Nordic Tales: Folktales from Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland and Denmark For a little literary break from all the serious research! The stories are told in a way that can sometimes get repetitive, but it makes it easier to notice recurring patterns and themes within Scandinavian oral tradition.

Old Norse-Icelandic Literature: A Short Introduction

Saga Form, Oral Prehistory, and the Icelandic Social Context

An Early Meal: A Viking Age Cookbook and Culinary Oddyssey

Runes & Old Norse language

Uppland region runestones and their translations

Viking Language 1: Learn Old Norse, Runes, and Icelandic Sagas and Viking Language 2: The Old Norse Reader

Catalogue of the Manks Crosses with Runic Inscriptions

Old Norse - Old Icelandic: Concise Introduction to the Language of the Sagas

A Companion to Old Norse-Icelandic Literature and Culture

Nordic Runes: Understanding, Casting, and Interpreting the Ancient Viking Oracle 

YouTube channels

Ocean Keltoi

Arith Härger

Old Halfdan

Jackson Crawford

Wolf the Red

Sigurboði Grétarsson

Grimfrost

(Reminder! The channel "The Wisdom of Odin", aka Jacob Toddson, is a known supporter of pseudo scientific theories and of the AFA, a folkist and white-supremacist organization, and he's been known to hold cult-like, dangerous rituals, as well as to use his UPG as truth and to ask for his followers to provide money for his building some kind of "real life viking hall", as supposedly asked to him by Óðinn himself. A source to avoid. But more on that here.)

Websites

The Troth

Norse Mythology for Smart People

Voluspa.org

Icelandic Saga Database

Skaldic Project

Life in Norway This is more of a tourist's ressources, but I find they publish loads of fascinating articles pertaining to Norway's history and its traditions.

[hedgehog-moss]

[1] `there are often translations available in other languages long before English ones` This is really interesting! I'm familiar with translation in games, where english is often a very early target (a small game might get 0-5 translations, depending on amount of text) because the size of the market is larger.

[2] Do you happen to know why this is different for books? Is it faster to come to a deal about publication rights for some other languages to get started on the translation? Is translation to english harder (at least from French) than to say, Spanish?

The literary translation situation has long been very dismal in the English-speaking world! I don’t know a lot about video games, but are localisations provided by the company that makes the game? Because if that's the case it makes sense that games would get translated into English as a priority. For literary translations which are imported rather than exported, other countries have to decide to translate a foreign author and anglo countries (US, UK and Canada at least) are not very interested in foreign literature. There's something known as the "3% rule" in translation—i.e. about 3% of all published books in the US in any given year are translations. Some recent sources say this figure is outdated and it’s now something like 5% (... god) but note that it encompasses all translations, and most of it is technical translation (instruction manuals, etc). The percentage of novels in translation published in the UK is 5-6% from what I’ve read and it’s lower in the US. In France it's 33%, and that’s not unusually high compared to other European countries.

I don't think it's only because of the global influence of English* and the higher proportion of English speakers in other countries than [insert language] speakers in the US, or poor language education in schools etc, because just consider how many people in the US speak Spanish—I just looked it up and native Spanish speakers in the US represent nearly 2/3rds of the population of France, and yet in 2014 (most recent solid stat I could find) the US published only 67 books translated from Spanish. France with a much smaller % of native Spanish speakers (and literary market) published ~370 translations from Spanish that same year. All languages combined, the total number of new translations published in France in 2014 was 11,859; in Spain it was 19,865; the same year the US published 618 new translations. France translated more books from German alone (754) than the US did from all languages combined, and German is only our 3rd most translated language (and a distant third at that!). The number of new translations I found in the US in 2018 was 632 so the 3% figure is probably still accurate enough.

* When I say it’s not just about the global influence of English—obviously that plays a huge role but I mean there’s also a factor of cultural isolationism at play. If you take English out of the equation there’s still a lot more cultural exchange (in terms of literature) between other countries. Take Olga Tokarczuk’s Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead; it was published in 2009, and (to give a few examples) translated in Swedish 1 year later, in Russian & German 2 years later, in French, Danish & Italian 3 years later, in English 10 years later—only after she won the Nobel. I’m reminded of the former secretary for the Nobel Prize who said Americans “don't really participate in the big dialogue of literature” because they don’t translate enough. I think it's a similar phenomenon as the one described in the "How US culture ate the world" article; the US is more interested in exporting its culture than in importing cultural products from the rest of the world. And sure, anglo culture is spread over most continents so there’s still a diversity of voices that write in English (from India, South Africa, etc etc) but that creates pressure for authors to adopt English as their literary language. The dearth of English translation doesn’t just mean that monolingual anglophones are cut off from a lot of great literature, but also that authors who write in minority languages are cut off from the global visibility an English translation could give them, as it could serve as a bridge to be translated in a lot more languages, and as a way to become eligible for major literary prizes including the Nobel.

Considering that women are less translated than men and represent a minority (about 1/3) of that already abysmally low 3% figure, I find the recent successes of English translations of women writers encouraging—Olga Tokarczuk, Banana Yoshimoto, Han Kang, Valeria Luiselli, Samanta Schweblin, Sayaka Murata, Leila Slimani, of course Elena Ferrante... Hopefully this is a trend that continues & increases! I remember this New Yorker article from years ago, “Do You Have to Win the Nobel Prize to Be Translated?”, in which a US small press owner said “there’s just no demand in this country” (for translated works); but the article acknowledged that it’s also a chicken-and-egg problem. Traditional publishers who have the budget to market them properly don’t release many translations as (among other things) they think US readers are reluctant to read translated foreign literature, and the indie presses who release the lion’s share of translated works (I read it was about 80%) don’t have the budget to promote them so people don’t buy them so the assumption that readers aren’t interested lives on. So maybe social media can slowly change the situation by showing that anglo readers are interested in translated books if they just get to find out about them...

[bestillmygoldenheart]

Okay so, danish is my native language, and even though I’m in my 30s now and I have read the books in english, I still primarily engage with the danish versions whenever I’m doing a reread or relisten, because they’re the ones I grew up with (and the audiobook narrator of the danish version is 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻)

It’s small and subtle differences between the versions, but danish feels so much more Romionarry coded, and Ron is a lot more supportive.

The biggest difference is that he acknowledges and sides with Harry in recognising that the treatmeant he recieves from Snape and Seamus isn’t okay.

In the english version, Ron says that “It’s not our fault how Snape and Seamus treats you.”

In the most literary translation I can do of the danish Ron says “We can’t be held at fault/made responsible for the fact tha Snape and Seamus are treating you unfairely”

Ron uses the word “uretfærdigt” which firmly puts him on Harry’s side. In the english, he isn’t actively taking a stand against them, but he is in the danish version.

In the english version, Ron also makes it clear that he’s only sharing Hermione’s thoughts with Harry

“But Hermione says SHE thinks-“

In the danish, he doesn’t add that extra layer. He just says “Hermione says that if would be nice-“ He’s more aligned with Hermione, but he’s also putting himself as a more active participant. He agress with Hermione, he’s an active part of the “us” that is being affected by Harry’s explosive behavior.

[thevagueambition]

me: *makes literally any claim*

me: damn.... what if I'm decorating myself with borrowed feathers*... cringe

*Translator's note: This is the Danish version of the idiom "to adorn oneself in borrowed plumes." The idiom originates in Aesop's fable "The Bird in Borrowed Feathers."

and people say janteloven* is dead lol

*Translator's note: "The Law of Jante" is a cultural reference point to describe certain social attitudes similar to "Tall Poppy Syndrome." Descriptions of Janteloven in English will often emphasise its literary origins and focus on it as an attitude weaponised against successful people, however in a modern context, it is better understood as a form of social propriety which members of the culture feel uncomfortable violating. This social propriety is violated by being immodest or self-aggrandising.

[pfhwrittes]

twenty questions for fic writers!

tagged by @391780

1. how many works do you have on ao3?

13 (until i pull my head out of my arse and crosspost the rest of my little drabbles)

2. what's your total ao3 word count?

22,705

3. what fandoms do you write for?

i've published some call of duty fics and i'm scribbling away at a passenger (2024) fic

4. top five fics by kudos

the aftermath, sentinel, theft and exhibition, "romance" in the age of technology and fill me, feel me.

5. do you respond to comments?

i try! i'm terrified of my emails so i only notice i have comments if i actively check my ao3 inbox though

6. what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

hmm, probably creeping normality

7. what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

definitely chasing this bittersweet feeling

8. do you get hate on fics?

nope! which is probably a combination of not being a very prolific writer and the fact that my ao3 is locked down (and has been for a while) so only logged in members can see my fics

9. do you write smut?

yes >:)

10. craziest crossover:

i don't really have any crossovers...?

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

not to my knowledge and i hope it never happens

12. have you ever had a fic translated?

nope, but it would be very nice if someone ever did!

13. have you ever co-written a fic before?

does it count if i don't really "write" as much as yell ideas at my favourite people and cause them to despair? but as a more serious answer, i've never co-written a fic but i do have a long standing original work that i'm sort of co-writing with my friend jay (jay if you ever see this, i promise i'll come back to it. i love you)

14. all time favorite ship?

it's been a long time since i engaged with anything to do with marvel aside from liking the odd gifset but stevebucky will always be my number one. always.

15. what's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

look it might take me years, the fandom may have moved on or shrunk down to me and three other people, but i will finish my fucking wips

16. what are your writing strengths?

i've been told i have a way of setting the tone within a few sentences and dragging you all along for a quick literary romp. i'm rather proud of that!

17. what are your writing weaknesses?

i can't describe stuff for shit. and action sequences. god, i struggle with action sequences

18. thoughts on dialogue in another language?

i have 0 confidence in my ability to communicate dialogue in another language. otherwise, fairly indifferent to reading dialogue in another language but that's probably because my other language skills are either so degraded (french, danish) or so juvenile (welsh) that i can't actually point out any "flaws" if i come across them

19. first fandom you wrote in?

cod modern warfare (if we ignore the notebooks i would scribble in for his dark materials)

20. favorite fic you've written?

it's a solid tie between chasing this bittersweet feeling, "romance" in the age of technology and Room 28

no pressure tags for: anyone that wants to share, is currently mildly sleep deprived, or has more than 100 unread emails

[eucanthos]

Tove Ditlevsen’s (Copenhagen, 1917-1976) life story is one of both existential turbulence and unique artistic expression. She achieved initial fame for her poetry while still a teenager, but her success was frequently diminished during her lifetime by a critical establishment as “a working-class, female writer.”

Today, Ditlevsen is being championed as one of Denmark’s most important modern authors of the twentieth-century. Her masterpiece The Copenhagen Trilogy (Translated from the Danish by Tiina Nunnally and Michael Favala Goldman) was released in 2021 in the United States by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, celebrated with a virtual book launch at New York’s Scandinavia House featuring a conversation between American authors Ben Lerner and Rachel Kushner, and moderated by Danish author and critic Morten Høi Jensen.

https://denmarkinnewyork.medium.com/tove-ditlevsen-a-literary-gem-rediscovered-dc0fa4be3840

[akaessi]

Since you have an education with Scandinavian folklore, I'd be curious to hear if you have any book reccomendations on Scandinavian Folklore? It's a topic I adore but I find that sources are a bit of a struggle to dig up.

I can read English, Norwegian, Danish (and tentatively with a lot of struggling and swearing) Swedish, so don't worry too much about the dreaded language barrier too much. :>

Hello hello! Thanks for asking! Pardon the late response as well, I wanted to compile a decent list as best as possible! Apologies in advance that I couldn't find easy links for most of them.

Introductory Books:

Vaesen (2013, originally in Swedish) by Johan Egerkrams (I have an English translation by Susan Beard). A beautifully drawn catalog of common Scandinavian folklore creatures. The downside of this book is the lack of direct source quotations and/or super in-depth folkloric analysis. Still a lovely easy read to familiarize yourself with some creatures!

Scandinavian Mythology: An Annotated Bibliography (1988, English) by John Lindow. Simple guide to Scandinavian mythological terms. If I'm remembering correctly, it focuses more on Norse mythological creatures (such as gods and giants) but also features explainers for folk belief figures.

Scandinavia Folk Belief and Legend (1988, English) by Reimund Kvideland and Henning K Sehmsdorf. A very detailed (and chunky!) book that focuses on folkloric beliefs and "old wives' tales" within Scandinavia. It has a lot of citations and references to folklore catalogs, which can then be used for further reading! Also, nicely organized to focus on generalized motifs.

Grimm's Fairy Tales (original German Title: Kinder- und Hausmärchen) by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm (1812, German but with widely available translations.) While not exactly specifically Scandinavian Folklore, the Grimm brothers and their folklore collections did great work within the field of Germanic folkloric studies and comparative religious/folklore studies. (And if you're a linguist too, we love love love Jacob Grimm) Anyways, there are a million versions of these tales, some very watered down but if you're looking for a chance to read them here's a link (in English and German). The site is a bit clunky and doesn't have ALL the tales. But a good portion of them are available to read. It's good to familiarize yourself with these in general because of the motif commonalities in folklore studies.

More In-Depth Books:

Old Norse Mythology-Comparative Perspectives (2017, English) with Pernille Hermann, Stephen A. Mitchell, and Jens Peter Schjødt, eds., with Amber J. Rose. 2017.  An anthology of scholarly articles focusing on discourse within the field of Scandinavian (Norse) religion and folklore studies. Lots of different authors and scholars, some with incredibly specific article focuses but others with more broad analysis and literature reviews. If you need a link, Harvard University seems to have one and it should work if I link it here.

The Norns in Old Norse Mythology (2013, English) by Karen Bek Pedersen. This book hyper-focuses on the Norns within the larger context of Norse mythology and Scandinavian folklore. I highly recommend this book for people who are confused by the various female supernatural figures and their various names and titles. Though it has a specific focus, it is still helpful for overall studies on dísir, nornir, vættir, etc.

Folklore in Old Norse: Old Norse in Folklore (2013, English) edited by Karen Bek Pedersen and Daniel Sävborg. A relatively short book that focuses on literary and medieval textual criticisms about current scholarly trends within the field. Very helpful for understanding scholarly trends as well as bodies of thought in the field of Scandinavian studies--which is always useful for students and newbie researchers!

Witchcraft and Magic in the Nordic Middle Ages (2011, English) by Stephen Mitchell. This book can be helpful in its discussion about the ambiguities between folklore, religion, magic, and witchcraft within the Scandinavian context. It references a lot of primary sources as well as historical sources commenting on said primary sources. It focuses mainly on the transition between Norse paganism to Christianity in Scandinavia but still, I think this book serves as a helpful introduction to understanding how folkloric practices change throughout time for various reasons.

Additional Miscellany Sources:

Motif-Index of Folk-Literature....(6 vols. revised and expanded from 1952-1958, English) by Stith Thompson. This is the compendium for folklore studies and is one of many folklore motif catalogs. Very helpful for understanding folklore in a broader comparative context. Unfortunately, it's very hard to find copies of the volumes, at least for me, but there is a digital link here.

Old Norse Folklore: Traditional, Innovation, and Performance in Medieval Scandinavia (English, 2023 pending release) (edited?) by Stephen Mitchell. This book isn't out yet so I can't comment too much on its content! But in the field, we are waiting to read it! According to the synopsis, it is an anthological book that will feature essays (mainly theoretical) that focus on the transition of mythological and folkloric material in the medium of orality. Hopefully, this book will serve as a good guide to understanding how to connect orality theory (in broader Scandinavian lit. studies) to folkloric motif studies (in Scandinavian folklore studies).

Some Scholars I Recommend:

Pernille Hermann, PhD. Focuses a lot on memory studies and literacy in Medieval Scandinavia. Writes in English and Danish.

Karen Bek Pedersen, PhD. Focuses on in-depth discussions of fate motifs in Norse sagas and mythological texts. Also frequently focuses on female folkloric figures in Scandinavian religion. I believe she writes English and Danish.

Daniel Sävborg, PhD. Focuses on comparative literature studies and somewhat psychological looks into Norse literature and motifs. Writes in English and in Swedish.

Stephen Mitchell, PhD. Focuses on various genres of Norse/Nordic literature with interests in magic, mythology, and legends. Writes in English, I don't know if any other languages.

Thanks for the ask! Hopefully this is helpful! 🖤

Most of the books are in English, since these are the texts my classes focused on specifically and my program is taught in English. It might take me a bit longer to find (throughout my laptop files) the non-English ones we read! As always, research carefully! There are a lot of people with no academic background writing in this subject and getting popularized. And there is also a danger of people using this subject to promote false and dangerous ideologies. (ahem Nordal).

[arablit]

Duna Ghali on Writing, Translating, and Publishing Between Arabic and Danish

Last week, we shared an excerpt from Iraqi author Duna Ghali’s acclaimed novel Orbits of Lonelinessin maia tabet’s translation. This week, Duna talks with us about the differing receptions of work by men and women, in Danish and in Arabic, how literary translation feeds her writing, and how sometimes nowhere is the right place to write. In your thoughtful and sometimes very funny essay, “On…

[harrison-abbott]

Copenhagen Travels - Part II

When you wake up you hear the tinny spidery voices of the girls again

Down the hotel corridor. You like the noises, though they make you lonely;

You’ll never translate what they just said, and yet, the sounds of the tongues

Are brilliant. Up, you get, hot and dehydrated. The bottled water doesn’t taste

Like water as you slug it down. … What shall we do today? Let’s head up to

The military fort, surrounded by water: sounds wacky, intriguing.

When you get outside the air is white and brittle and the flags alongside the

Canal side vibrate in the breeze. … You turn west, taking a new road, turning

Grimy, and loud, with native men in their vehicles and fluorescent workclothes,

Repairing the roads with their tools, yammering back and forth in Danish and

Smoking cigarettes, drinking steamy foam cups of coffee. Ordinary men, non-tourists,

Starting their day jobs. … At the end of the street is some gargantuan building

Resembling something like a mammoth white tent, with a jumbo logo MAERSK

On the tall side. As you venture you hear an apocalyptic boom booming of some

Kind of machinery that actually scares you even though you’re on civilian land.

As you pass the innocent stalls with their magnets and glitter globes; and dotted

By these are the seafood cafes, wherein, through the back windows you see

The young folks gearing the kitchen up for the long dreary shifts ahead. …

They’ve turned what used to be the army fort into a tourist attraction: though

There are still army folks that reside there. Nearby the premise there is a museum

Of the Danish Resistance Movement, from World War Two. And close by it

The statue of a man holding a stone rifle in weatherbeaten cyan, looking crestfallen.

It’s crazy how often this particular war crops up in Europe. And, how you can

Feel the aftermath of the Nazis even in a barren oceanic place such as this.

Seventy five years back those rancid tyrants would have been here, marring these

Very docks … But it’s also a fair thing to know that there were men & women

Who stood up to those fiends. Even if it took other powers to fully end their fantasy.

You walk through the park, where the blossom trees are in a confetti pink against

The straights of water which reflect the grey clouds a few miles upwards.

On the far distance are the other hulking factories with their chimneys and rapt echoes.

You get to the famous Den lille Havfrue statue, stranded on a boulder a few metres

Above the water height. It’s a tiny affair, and nice ornament. And though it’s

Early in the morning, is already surrounded by folks snapping on their phones.

Good to know that literary icons still inspire attraction. Even though the

Fairy Tales that we all know are as mucked up and perverse and violent

As anything else can be in global storytelling. ... Stuck on the banisters

Nearby the statue are all kinds of stickers in a meddly of pop art; a range of

Rock bands and music venues up town and there are soccer badges and motifs

Of social movements too. ... You head on from the Little Mermaid and come across

This other statue, of a nude woman nursing her baby. You don’t know the story there.

Is it a monument for the woman, or her infant? The name on the front of it doesn’t

Connect with you. Onwards you go, climbing up the hills of the park. Inside the hills

There is a hexagonical moat. And, on the side of it, an Anglican church that, as you

Approach, ding dangs out the clanky tune when the Hour strikes on point.

The building is half depressed and half handsome in the sombre light.

And by the kirkyards and slinking onto the moat water are these tall willow

Trees that draipse their branches into the mini abyss in quiet drowning.

There is a willow that grows aslant the brook, indeed. Though you doubt

Ophelia will be making much appearances in tourist land, except perhaps

By night and when the castle lands have closed down. ...

Atop the mounds of the fort you can see out for some distance across this

End of the city. And then one of those navy ships hurtles down the port water.

The sailors scurry about the flanks of the vessel in minature mania.

You go to take a short film of the boat on your phone bit it moves real fast

And your lens doesn’t capture the focus well enough. Hey ho.

Walking down to the land-fort, you pass another group of soldiers.

They’re holding real guns. You really don’t know anything about guns

Aside from in movies, and it’s always tantalising when you’re that close

To them in the flesh. The soldiers are babyfaced and probably younger than

You are ... but, they’re all clad in camoflague, and hold these weapons,

And so you get a little prickly by being near them, and you head out of the

Security gates, expecting some kind of dodgy thing to happen to you.

Alls well, though, and you exit safe and then head back into the city.

A few times, at length on the horizon, you’ve seen the dome of a church

In pulsating note, a handful of times. So you reckon you’ll head over there

To see if you can go in. Along the streets, the cyclists fizzle by, and the sun

Comes up in brief spurts of loud yellow, and you get to the church in short

Time and, yes, you are allowed to go in. Many other folks have had the same

Idea as you, and when you enter the atrium there are maybe thirty folks

Scattered about the long benches leading up to the podium, and all under

The planetarium-like dome reaching apwards 200 ft. Watercolour artwork

And alabaster masonry align the perfectly circular walls, and you wonder

The architectural feat of the people who made this place so long ago.

And what’s more wondrous is how hushed thirty strangers in a huge

Room can be when inside the vicinity of a mighty church – for – you

Can barely hear anything save the silent ticking wonder of the crowd

Spanning their eyes around the innards of the dome. Seems like religion

Still has a little relevance, in terms of peace, amidst the wrath and confusion

Of the modern age elsewhere. ... A building to respect. You leave after a

Short while. And head out exploring unto another district of the town.

[fictionfromafar]

Thirty Days Of Darkness by Jenny Lund Madsen

Thirty Days Of Darkness

By Jenny Lund Madsen

Translated by Megan Turney

Orenda Books

Publication Date: 25 May 2023

One of the UK’s most renowned publishers of translated crime fiction is Orenda books who have been regularly publishing novels by established Nordic Noir writers such as Gunnar Staalesen and Kjell Ola Dahl as well as more relative newcomers such as Eva Björg Ægisdóttir and Agnes Ravatn. Denmark’s Jenny Lund Madsen is an exciting new addition to that list as the publisher bring out her first novel in the English language. A very well-established script writer in her home country, her creativity has emanated in Danish television shows such as Follow The Money which was a three series drama series which followed the illegal activities of corporate crime circles, fraudsters and opportunists, which was shown on the BBC and also the comedy drama Rita which is available on Netflix.

While both indicate the author’s high standards of writing, it’s fair to say that neither resembles Thirty Days Of Darkness, other than perhaps their worldly viewpoint. Jenny Lund Madsen’s main character in the novel doesn’t stray too far away from her own occupation as our narrator Hannah is an author. Yet Hannah’s success as an author is measured, while her novels have reached critical acclaim, unfortunately they do not sell well to the general public. When she reluctantly attends a book fair in an attempt to sell her latest book, at the request of her agent, she finds herself infuriated by a discussion led by a high-profile crime writer. Unable to resist, she publicly scathes him for what she feels is his formulaic writing style and as a result he challenges her to write her own crime fiction novel. Her agent, pleased by the coverage of the interaction decides this is a great idea and arranges for Hannah to stay with someone he knows in a remote part of Iceland where he hopes she would feel inspired to write her novel. Feeling she has no choice but to agree, Hannah travels to Iceland but struggles to adjust to the very different environment to her home city of Copenhagen and wishes to return immediately, however when the nephew of the lady she is lodging with is found dead in potentially suspicious circumstances she agrees to remain, in part as this may inspire her own novel but also as she is intrigued to try to solve the mystery. The story is told from Hannah’s perspective alone as she tried to uncover what has happened to the boy while also trying to write a story loosely based on what she is learning along the way.

In recent years the foreboding Icelandic landscape has provided a rich and varied setting for crime fiction novels by both authors from that country and increasingly from other locations. Despite the title, Thirty Days Of Darkness is not wholly of dark subject nature, there are some amusing situations that occur during the novel as well as some particular revealing insights to the book publishing business. The main character Hannah is an introspective character, a loner who doesn’t always behave in an orthodox manner. While looking to say as little as possible about the storyline, I believe that Thirty Days Of Darkness is a novel that will have real appeal for readers of crime fiction and I am very keen to read more from Jenny Lund Madsen in the future.

The blurb:

A snobbish Danish literary author is challenged to write a crime novel in thirty days, travelling to a small village in Iceland for inspiration, and then the first body appears… Copenhagen author Hannah is the darling of the literary community and her novels have achieved massive critical acclaim. But nobody actually reads them, and frustrated by writer’s block, Hannah has the feeling that she’s doing something wrong. When she expresses her contempt for genre fiction, Hanna is publicly challenged to write a crime novel in thirty days. Scared that she will lose face, she accepts, and her editor sends her to Húsafjörður – a quiet, tight-knit village in Iceland, filled with colourful local characters – for inspiration. But two days after her arrival, the body of a fisherman’s young son is pulled from the water … and what begins as a search for plot material quickly turns into a messy and dangerous investigation that threatens to uncover secrets that put everything at risk … including Hannah.

About the author

Jenny Lund Madsen is one of Denmark’s most acclaimed scriptwriters (including the international hits Rita and Follow the Money) and is known as an advocate for better representation for sexual and ethnic minorities in Danish TV and film. She recently made her debut as a playwright with the critically acclaimed Audition (Aarhus Teater) and her debut literary thriller, Thirty Days of Darkness, first in an addictive new series, won the Harald Mogensen Prize for Best Danish Crime Novel of the year and was shortlisted for the coveted Glass Key Award. She lives in Denmark with her young family.

Many thanks to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours for inclusion on the blog tour and Orenda Books for providing me with an advance copy of Thirty Days Of Darkness. Please look out for the other reviews of this book on the blog tour as shown below.

[quotesfrommyreading]

Since the 12th century, writers have been recording the history of Iceland. That literary history first took the form of sagas—rollicking, poetic accounts of Iceland’s earliest inhabitants and rulers that were composed centuries later by mostly unknown authors. Iceland’s initial independence—and the Icelandic Commonwealth that began when its Alþingi, or national legislature, was established in 930—ended in the late 13th century when it fell under Norwegian and eventually Danish rule. The stories its people composed and told each other of those early and relatively prosperous centuries were points of light in the darkness of the brutal colonial era that followed. The Little Ice Age, a catastrophic cooling of the North Atlantic region that caused crop failure, starvation and pandemics, and lasted for hundreds of years, decimated the population again and again. Resources were limited and scarce, and most families practiced subsistence farming in near solitude. “The very survival of this isolated people during the misery of the five centuries circa 1300-1800 has sometimes been attributed to the sustenance provided by their history, poetry and literature,” wrote sociologist and Iceland scholar Richard F. Tomasson in “The Literacy of the Icelanders,” a paper published in the journal Scandinavian Studies in 1975.

The sagas are particularly notable because they were written in the vernacular. “Icelanders’ dedication to writing—and reading—their own (hi)stories in their own language, even when they were an impoverished Danish colony in the hinterlands, is part of the reason the language flourishes today,” writes Larissa Kyzer, an Icelandic-to-English literary translator, in an email. Modern Icelandic is the living language closest to the Old Norse that Scandinavians spoke a thousand years ago, and an estimated 97 percent of Iceland’s population of around 370,000 people speak it as their mother tongue today.

After what scholars call Iceland’s “classical period,” or the early Middle Ages in which saga authors focused on early history and mythical tales of the Norse gods, literature began to reflect the growing influence of Christianity as well. Iceland adopted the religion by law in the year 1000. Missionaries began to teach Icelanders the Latin alphabet so they could proliferate religious texts in their own language, and the first book in Icelandic—a translation of the New Testament—was printed in 1540.

A healthy writing habit led to a culture of readers. Starting in the Middle Ages, Icelanders practiced something called the kvoldvaka (roughly, “night vigil”) in old farmsteads. During the long, dark, harsh winters, poor farmers huddled together in a single room in their turf houses to stay warm. “The kvoldvaka was the time between 6 and 10 p.m., roughly, when people would do their indoor work during the winter,” explains Alda Sigmundsdóttir, a writer and the founder of Little Books Publishing in Reykjavík. “They’d do their knitting, they’d make their tools, they’d work the wool—and during this session, there would be one person appointed to read to everyone else.”

In those evening hours, children learned to tell, recite and read stories (teaching children to read, in fact, was required by both the church and the government). As Tomasson noted in “The Literacy of the Icelanders,” by the end of the grueling 18th century—when a smallpox epidemic killed as much as a third of the population and a volcanic eruption that lasted for eight months killed another fifth of the population and most of the livestock—nearly every surviving Icelander could read.

  —  Iceland's Christmas Book Flood Is a Force of Nature

[purifiedbythefire]

i kind of want to try translating this danish book i bought, it's by the same author as one of the books i wrote my thesis about and it's from last year so it hasn't been translated to polish yet but it's really inchresting soo like maybe i'll do it just for fun or maybe i'll try to launch my literary translation career somehow lmaoo

[otherpplnation]

930. Aleksandr Skorobogatov

Aleksandr Skorobogatov is the author of Russian Gothic, available from Rare Bird. Translated by Ilona Yazhbin Chavasse.

Skorobogatov was born in Grodno in what is now Belorussia. He is one of the most original Russian writers of the post-communist era. An heir to Dostoevsky, Gogol, Bulgakov, Nabokov, Pelevin, and Sorokin--the surreal line of the Russian literary canon--his novels have been published to great acclaim in Russian, Croatian, Danish, Dutch, French, Italian, Greek, Serbian, and Spanish. He won the prestigious International Literary Award Città di Penne for the Italian edition of Russian Gothic, which also received the Best Novel of the Year Award from Yunost. Cocaine (2017) won Belgium's Cutting Edge Award for 'Best Book International'. His most recent novel, Raccoon, was published by De Geus in 2020. De Tijd has called Skorobogatov "the best Russian writer of the moment." He lives and works in Belgium.

***

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[marypicken]

Thirty Days of Darkness by Jenny Lund Madsen  by Jenny Lund Madsen  translated by  Megan E. Turney @JennyLundMadsen @OrendaBooks @meganeturney @RandomTTours

Thirty Days of Darkness is a terrific read, full of wit and yet beautifully dark and atmospheric. I thoroughly enjoyed this sparkling debut.

Source: Review copyPublication: Paperback – May 9th from Orenda BooksPP: 300ISBN-13: 978-1914585616 A snobbish Danish literary author is challenged to write a crime novel in thirty days, travelling to a small village in Iceland for inspiration, and then the first body appears… Copenhagen author Hannah is the darling of the literary community and her novels have achieved massive critical…

[wyrmfedgrave]

Pics: Notes on Lovecraft's viking translation!

1. Ragnar's real name was Ragnarr ("warrior") Lothbrok ("hairy pants").

He lived in the 800s AD & became King of Sweden & Denmark.

But, most that we know about him is from Norse legends & chronicles written sometime after his death in Northumbria, England - in 856 AD?

But, there was a Ragnar who sacked Paris in 845 AD...

2. Vikings is a 'historical' Canadian TV series filmed in Ireland.

It lasted 6 seasons & has a sequel series Vikings: Valhalla.

Both series are inspired by Ragnar's & his sons's 'lives.'

3. We're lucky to have a few sculptures & other art that help us see what some of the mighty & mythological looked like in ancient times.

Of course, not everyone was so immortalized.

So, 1 of the many goals of professional archaeology...

4. When Ragnar killed his dragon, he was protected from its venom by wearing fur britches dipped in pitch ("coal tar") & rolled in sand...

5. Breeches are short trousers that reach to just below one's knee.

They were popular in Europe during Medieval times.

Now worn for riding horses or as part of ceremonial dress during certain holidays.

6. An epicedium is generally any warrior's death song.

This particular 1 was among the 1st Norse poems to be translated into English.

It's certainly 1 of the most quoted viking tales.

Archaeologists have traced this poem back to Iceland.

This is as far west as his story originally reached.

But, there's also the Krakumal or "The Lay (short heroic poem) of Kraka," Ragnar's 2nd wife.

This was written in the 1100s AD & is thought to come from Scotland.

7. Olaus Wormius's name was actually Ole ("heir of the ancestors") Orme ("worm").

He was a 1600s Danish physician, historian & antiquarian who made important contributions to medical, historical & literary writings.

HPL name dropped Wormius - as a translator of the Necronomicon!

But, Howard thought, incorrectly, that Wormius lived during the 1200s AD.

8. Gothland, Gautland or Geatland is 1 of the 3 historical Swedish lands.

Now, it's divided into 10 provinces.

Geat is Swedish for "they who pour out their seed!"

Read into that what you will...

Beowulf ("bear wolf") is an example of a legendary Geat king.

9 & 10. Oreon & Diminum have, so far, eluded my attempts at translation & my efforts at finding them anywhere that I can reach.

11. The ravenous eagle mentioned here has 2 possibilities:

A. The Jotunn ("ice giant") Hraesvelgr ("corpse swallower") who, could transform into a giant eagle.

Sitting atop Yggdrasil ("Odin's horse"), this giant creates the world's winds by flapping his wings.

Yggdrasil is the World Tree, which 'connected' the 9 worlds.

(This is thought to be the Norse view of seeing the Milky Way at night, when it appears to be a long glowing river or branch.)

But, it has a darker meaning as well.

Yggdrasil is Norse slang for "the gallows!"

Odin gained his 'wisdom' by hanging himself from Yggdrasil.

Yggr ("the terrifying one") is just a nickname of Odin's - as Lord of the Berserkers.

B. The other eagle is Odin himself! As he also has the nicknames of Orn, "eagle" & Arnhofthi, "eagle headed!!"

Woden/Wotan is just an earlier Anglo- Saxon version of "Odin." He was a War God & Protector of Heroes.

This name has been traced back to a Proto-German language, in the form of Wothanaz, "Lord of the Frenzied" & "Leader of the Possessed" - the 'mad' Berserkers again.

12. The Vistula ("slow flowing?") is the longest river in Poland & is an import- ant part of this country's cultural identity.

The phrase "Country Upon Vistula" is a nickname of Poland.

13. The Hall of Odin is Valhalla ("hall of the slain"), where heroes get to fight all day & feast all night!

Warriors where brought here by Valkyries ("choosers of the slain"), who judged which fighter was worthy of this honor.

And here they would remain, all preparing for Ragnarok ("twilight of the Gods") & its final battle - when all of creation would sink burning into the seas...

Luckily, with time, a new Age would appear out of all the destruction.

And, new Gods & mortals would awake to a glorious new dawn.

If this sounds very Christian to you, just remember that these myths were written down in the 1200s AD - 200 years after Iceland (the last holdout of the Norse religion) finally accepted Christianity.

14. The Helsingians are still around! They're the inhabitants of Helsinki, Sweden.

15. Bucklers are small, round, portable shields used as a 2nd weapon!

They were useful for 'stopping' an enemy's sword arm up against their own body!!

Or, to bloody an opponent's nose or blind an eye! It could even parry their blows & hinder their movements.

Weird Bit: The Welsh used small leather shields with a central iron spike called a boss...

How come I didn't see these in Brave- Heart?

16. Herauclus remains stubborn to find, though it sounds like a Norse version of the Latin Hercules!

'Officially,' the Norse Hercules was thought to be Magni, son of Thor!!

He's 1 of the children of Thor's 1st wife Jarnsaxa ("iron dagger") & saves his father when 3 days?/years? old!

Along with very few other Gods, Magni survives Ragnarok!!

But, there's actually a whole bunch of Norse 'men' that could stand in for the Grecian hero:

A. Barbatus, "the Bearded."

B. Batavos, "from the lower Rhine River."

C. Deusonianus, "from the town of Deuso."

D. Invictus, "the Victorious."

E. Magusanus, "the Mighty."

F. Maliator, "the Club Thrower."

G. Saxanus, "of the Mountain."

17. Scarfians originated from Skarphe in eastern Greece. Due to Roman influence, these folk moved to Italy - especially around Sicily & Catania.

From there, these families also moved out to Celtic Gaul - modern France.

There, they fought the Vikings at what would become Normandy.

Though this surname remains rare (a- round 190 people today), Scarfians have spread to the Americas as well...

18. Ragno translates as Rufus, Latin for "red headed."

However, this is not William Rufus - who was King William the 3rd & reigned til 1100 AD, some 250 years after Ragnar's time.

Genetically, red haired folk were found in Scandinavia, Mycenaean Greece & Central Asia...

19 & 20. The Indirian Islands & the Plain of Lano remain deep secrets of history.

Perhaps, in the future, such info will be freely available for comments.

21. "Balder ("hero prince") is best known for his death bringing about Ragnarok!!

But, we're after different game here.

Ragnar seems to imply that Balder is his 'father'!

Of course, this has been done since the Egyptians & Sumerians 1st started this deification & separation of our societies's leaders.

And, the idea has been tried with other Norse Gods - Odin's Volsungs, Frey's Ynglings, etc...

Of course, "Father Balder(!)" could just be a pious exclamation with no other meaning.

You be Forseti ("the presiding one"), judge of the Norse Gods & only son of Balder?!

22. Aelle/Ella was King of North- umbria during the 850s AD.

Hearing that Ragnar had surrendered at Wessex, Ella had the prisoner brought to him.

Then, Ella tortured Ragnar for days. But, Ragnar remained stoically silent.

So, Ella threw Ragnar into a pit of poisonous vipers & Ragnar finally responded - by singing out his death song...

23. The Norse Goddess of Death was usually Hela, the half dead Queen of Helheim.

But, this isn't who Ragnar wants to drink ale with!

Hela only collects the cowardly & those who didn't die in battle.

No, Ragnar is speaking about his personal Valkyrie!

These minor Goddesses of Death controlled who was accepted into the ranks of Valhalla.

The 'dead' champions were needed to help battle the Jotunn during a future Ragnarok.

Anyway, Valkyries acted as servants to the fighting souls of Valhalla.

When Ragnarok arrived , the Valkyries would join the major Norse Gods in their desperate last battle...