God save us from the wrath of the norsemen?

Maxinquaye · Mar 6, 2010

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...ultural-incursion-from-the-north-1917441.html

This is interesting. As one that stands both on the outside looking back in, and as one shaped by this culture, I find it fascinating that Stieg Larsson has reached the fame he has.

He is nearly iconic in Sweden, although I felt that his stories were pretty thin. Lisbeth Salander may be an unusual heroine, morally ambigous as she is, without the rightous drive of other famous swedish fictional MCs. Maybe this moral ambiguity is the reason why she became so prominent in Swedish popular literature?

Now, this is of course dubbed as mysteries, but I think the Larsson-books qualify as mainstream too.

But it is interesting, although the article exaggerates a fad into a phenomena, that Sweden has produced so many internationally acclaimed writers: from Sjöwall-Wahlöö, to Henning Mankell, to Marie Fredriksson, and now Stieg Larsson.

Chris P · Mar 6, 2010

Maxinquaye said:
Sweden has produced so many internationally acclaimed writers: from Sjöwall-Wahlöö, to Henning Mankell, to Marie Fredriksson, and now Stieg Larsson.

Too cold to do much else?

The public is fickle. To use music as an example, why are Status Quo huge in England and unheard of in the United States? Why were central (including German) and eastern European rock bands popular in the US in the 1980s? With films, why was Bollywood all the rage about 5 years ago?

For whatever reason, the public's attention becomes focused on one thing or another for a while. With the rock bands, the final throes of the cold war were responsible for that, and globalization for the Bollywood phenomenon. Why is it suddenly Swedish writers' turns? Go figure. Some stuff is just like that.

Maxinquaye · Mar 6, 2010

I also wonder about the cultural "translation" and how well it works, and the article contains a perfect illustration of this in this quote:

Sales of European crime fiction – spearheaded by Larsson – leapt 150 per cent in a year at the booksellers Waterstone's. His popularity has boosted interest in other Swedish crime novelists, including Hakan Nesser and Mari Jungstedt.

For a swede reading that we know, intelectually, that our slightly differing alphabet (we have three more letters than you do in English speaking countries) will present problems sometimes.

The bolded word should be "Håkan", and the first A should have a ring above it. It's pronounced as "awe". The name is pronounced as if it's spelled "Hawkan", with the stress on the first syllable.

As it stands now, the article is saying - to a swede - the following "including the jaw Nesser and Mari Jungstedt". Which is a very simple illustration of what might be lost to international audiences. Sort of like British humour is sometime completely incomprehensibl to foreigners.

kuwisdelu · Mar 6, 2010

Maxinquaye said:
I also wonder about the cultural "translation" and how well it works, and the article contains a perfect illustration of this in this quote:

For a swede reading that we know, intelectually, that our slightly differing alphabet (we have three more letters than you do in English speaking countries) will present problems sometimes.

The bolded word should be "Håkan", and the first A should have a ring above it. It's pronounced as "awe". The name is pronounced as if it's spelled "Hawkan", with the stress on the first syllable.

As it stands now, the article is saying - to a swede - the following "including the jaw Nesser and Mari Jungstedt". Which is a very simple illustration of what might be lost to international audiences. Sort of like British humour is sometime completely incomprehensibl to foreigners.

*shrug*

Most people are lazy about typing those kinds of characters.

I'm reading the translation of Låt den rätte komma in, or Let the Right One In, right now. I'm not sure how accurate the rest of the translation is, but you'll be pleased to know that my copy spells Håkan as Håkan.

I'm a quarter Swedish, but I don't speak it. I like the book so far though.

(And incidentally, I'm glad I know I've been pronouncing it right in my head hehe.)

(I just felt like reading some well-done vampire fiction, and I like Eastern European versions best.)

Maxinquaye · Mar 6, 2010

I know. It's not a problem. It was just a thought that struck me, and led me to a wider thought about cultural translation

kuwisdelu · Mar 6, 2010

Maybe this would be a good time to get in touch with my quarter of Swedish blood?

Just don't tell any of your kinfolk another quarter of it is Polish...

Priene · Mar 7, 2010

Chris P said:
why are Status Quo huge in England?

They're not. Their heyday was thirty-five years ago and nowadays are a byword for antediluvian rock stars. They've been a standing joke since taking Radio One to court to force them to play their latest chugging boogie. They lost.

gothicangel · Mar 19, 2010

Having read The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, I actually didn't think it was 'mainstream.'

If you are looking for mainstream Swedish fiction I would recommend Henning Mankell's Wallander books before Larsson.

I thought Tattoo was going to be mainstream, it turned out to be a very English closed-door mystery. There is just something so sublime about Kurt Wallander.

God save us from the wrath of the norsemen?

Maxinquaye

That cheeky buggerer

Chris P

Likes metaphors mixed, not stirred

Maxinquaye

That cheeky buggerer

kuwisdelu

Revolutionize the World

Maxinquaye

That cheeky buggerer

kuwisdelu

Revolutionize the World

Priene

Out to lunch

gothicangel

Toughen up.