Translated from Japanese by Ho-Ling WongPublished by Pushkin Vertigo, 2015, 228 pages. Original version published in 2007. The island of Tsunojima holds a dark secret. A year ago, the main house on the island burned down, killing four people—the architect, Nakamura Seiji and his wife, Kazue, and the couple working for them. Except that when …
Category: Books in translation
Novels in Translation: The Guardian
Nick Barley, director of the Edinburgh international book festival, complained that British "parochial" reading habits were "something of an embarrassment". In response, Alison Flood, former news editor at The Bookseller, came up with a list of her 10 favourite novels in translation. However, it does look like Barley was wrong—according to The Guardian, translated fiction is …
Cathedral of the Sea: Ildefonso Falcones
Translated from Spanish by Nick CaistorPublished by Black Swan / Dutton, 2008, 611 pages. Original version published in 2006. The first chapter of this book felt like a piece of music—flutes gently celebrating the wedding of Bernat Estanyol, a Catalonian farmer, and his bride, the lovely Fransesca. Then the approach of the feudal lord Llorenç …
Our Lady of the Nile: Scholastique Mukasonga
Translated from French by Melanie MauthnerPublished by Archipelago Press / Daunt Books, 2014, 240 pages. Original version published in 2012. Scholastique Mukasonga paints a picture of a country by focusing on the microcosm of a girls’ boarding school in Rwanda around 1980. Our Lady of the Nile is a secondary school for girls run by …
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My Brilliant Friend: Elena Ferrante
Translated from Italian by Ann GoldsteinPublished by Thorndike Press, 2016, 497 pages. Original version published in 2011. Elena Ferrante has become a literary sensation in the Anglophone world with The Neopolitan Quartet, books about a friendship between two women. The books not only chart the story of Elena and Lila’s friendship over several decades but …
The Bad Girl (Travesuras de la niña mala): Mario Vargas Llosa
Translated from Spanish by Edith GrossmanPublished by Farrar Straus & Giroux / Faber & Faber, 2007, 376 pages. Original version published in 2006. Review by Susanne Karine Gjonnes Do you believe in endless, unconditional love? The answer to this question is likely to shape one’s opinion of The Bad Girl. Mario Vargas Llosa is a …
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In Search of Lost Time; Volume 1: The Way by Swanns (Books 1 & 2): Marcel Proust
Translated from French by C. K. Scott Moncrieff and Terence KilmartinPublished by Penguin, 2003, 496 pages. Original version published in 1913. Marcel Proust had always struck me as the quintessential snob’s choice; pretentious, devoid of action and inundating readers with impenetrable vocab. All of these concerns proved spot-on as I laboured my way through endless …
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The Woman in the Dunes: Kobo Abe
Translated from Japanese by E. Dale SaundersPublished by Vintage Books, 1964, 239 pages. Original version published in 1962.Review by Benedict Craven I recently put down Kobo Abe’s The Woman in the Dunes after three intense reading sessions. It is not an especially long book but for me this signified a new record in reading determination, …
War and Peace: Leo Tolstoy
Translated from Russian by Anthony BriggsPublished by Penguin, 2007, 1440 pages. Original version published in its entirety in 1869. The first English translation by Clara Bell was published in 1886. Such a joy to have read Tolstoy's absolute, unparalleled, masterpiece now, without the spectre of deadlines and exams. This time around, I wonder what, if …
Moogavani pillanagrovi (Ballad of Ontillu) – Kesava Reddy
Translated from Telegu by the author.Published by Oxford University Press, 2013, 152 pages. Original version published in 1993.Review by Sadhana Ramchander Oxford Novellas are a unique series and present to the world, socially relevant themes from languages and genres not published in English earlier. They are translations of not only famous names but also of …
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