Translated from German by Ross BenjaminPublished by riverrun, 2023, 333 pages. Original version published in 2023. The book begins with Franzl Wilzek, an old man with dementia, being taken to a television studio, where he is interviewed by Heinz Conrad, a well-known host. He is confused about why he is there and unsure of what …
Category: Books in translation
Indigenous Literatures from Micronesia: edited by Evelyn Flores and Emelihter Kihleng
Published by University of Hawai'i Press, 2019, 358 pages “The work remains of breaking down myths and building up re-visioned ones that empower rather than demean. It remains to tell new stories that are really ancient ones, persisting in our blood, paradoxically and endearingly both familiar and breathtakingly novel, stories that deconstruct the lies and …
The Secret of Saint Olaf’s Church: Indrek Hargla
Translated from Estonian by Adam CullenPublished by Pushkin Press / Peter Owen Publishers, 2015, 364 pages. Original version published in 2010. Tallinn, 1409. A knight is beheaded and the murderer walks away, leaving no trace. To put the story into context: sea traffic between Estonia, Germany and Scandinavia was at an unprecedented level. This was …
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The Republic of Dreams: Nélida Piñon
Translated from Portuguese by Helen LanePublished by Picador / Alfred A. Knopf, 1989, 663 pages. Original version published in 1984. This multigenerational story set mostly in Brazil is centred around Madruga, a Galician who leaves Spain in the early 20th century for the new world in the hope of making his fortune. When the book …
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame: Victor Hugo
Translated from French by Walter J. CobbPublished by Penguin, 1964 (this translation), 501 pages. Original version published in 1831. What makes a monster? Quasimodo, the bell ringer of Notre Dame, is physically deformed: he has a humpback, a protrusion on his chest, and only one eye because the other is covered by a wart. As …
Poonachi, or the Story of a Black Goat: Perumal Murugan
Translated from Tamil by N. Kalyan RamanPublished by Eka (Westland Books), 2018, 173 pages. Original version published in 2017. “Once, in a village, there was a goat. No one knew where she was born. The birth of an ordinary life never leaves a trace, does it?” Near a village in Tamil Nadu, an old man …
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On a Woman’s Madness: Astrid Roemer
Translated from Dutch by Lucy ScottPublished by Tilted Axis Press, 2023, 230 pages. Original version published in 1982. “I’m Noenka, which means Never Again. Born of two polar opposites, a woman and a man who pull even my dreams apart. I’m a woman, even though I don’t know where being female begins and where it …
The Name of the Rose: Umberto Eco
Translated from Italian by William WeaverPublished by Picador / Vintage / HarperVia, 1983, 502 pages. Original version published in 1980. “Now I realized that not infrequently books speak of books: it is as if they spoke among themselves. In the light of this reflection, the library seemed all the more disturbing to me. It was …
Dealing with the Dead: Alain Mabanckou
Translated from French by Helen StevensonPublished by Serpent's Tail, 2025, 207 pages. Original version published in 2022. “Once you’ve been laid in the earth, time will start to do its work, and for all their good intentions, the people who knew you will gradually forget, till one dry season comes when not a soul ventures …
The Double: José Saramago
Translated from Portuguese by Margaret Jull CostaPublished by The Harvill Press, 2004, 292 pages. Original version published in 2002. Tertuliano Máximo Afonso, a history teacher, is depressed. His colleague, the Mathematics Teacher (never named), suggests he watch a light video to cheer himself up. The video he recommends is one made five years ago called …
