Finnegan’s List 2014 « Bridging cultures, crossing languages « The European Society of Authors 1 «The European Society of Authors – created in the spring of 2008 – is a network open to all authors, publishers, translators and cultural actors who wish to participate in the creation of an intellectual community in a multilingual and multicultural Europe. Placing translation at the heart of our projects and our thoughts, we favour an approach that takes on differences in terms of sharing and dialogue. The European Society of Authors proposes an annual list of under- translated or forgotten works called Finnegan’s List – the personal choices of a committee of 10 eminent authors from different countries. Each writer selects three titles that make up the committee’s “elective affinities”. With this project, the European Society of Authors strives to revive a literary canon encompassing all languages spoken and written in Europe and beyond. Each author has explained his or her reasons for choosing the books they have in brief articles. Excerpts of these texts can be found in the brochure but we also invite you to visit our website, www.seua.org, to discover all of them and to find out more about Finnegan’s List and our other projects. If you wish to participate, to contribute or to support our projects, please contact us at: [email protected]. Finnegan’s List by Mathias Énard The beauty of the impossible: in the translation of literature there is something of a magnificent equation without a solution, of an elusive mathematical construction whose terrible complexity we are all too capable of anticipating. We know that when we read a translated work, we are faced with a projection – at moment t and in language L – of b, an original object (a book), and that the function f that takes us from b where b = Die Leiden des jungen Werthers to t f L (b) = Az ifjú Werther szenvedései is in reality not so easily described, even if, evidently, nobody would ever doubt the close relation b has with its image t f L (b), so close indeed that Az ifjú Werther szenvedései (and although the latter is an autonomous text functioning on its own) should have no chance of existing without b, Die Leiden des jungen Werthers. The translation of literature creates connections. Certainly, it brings together languages and cultures; it offers readings, understandings. On the way, it also generates diversity and otherness. To a given ensemble C of a target culture, it 2 introduces dissonant, different, foreign elements from the source culture 1C even t if these elements have been through the mill of f L . In this sense, Finnegan’s List is a subversive machine. It sets out to draw attention to works that have been important for one country, one culture, or one author but whose effects haven’t yet been felt in other countries, by other cultures, and by other authors, for several reasons, the first of which being the randomness of today’s publishing world where certain “powerful” or “strong” languages are increasingly dominant and the merits of a work are too often confused with the number of copies it might t sell. Unfortunately, the f L function is not continuous on the Set of all Languages. There are Ls that appear still very rarely in the equation, and there are large gaps t in f L (b) to fill in. The Finnegan’s List is an attempt to contribute to this effort – this wonderful effort of building an impossible algebra. 3 Schwob – The World’s Best Unknown Books Since May 2013, Finnegan’s List has been part of a new, Europe-wide initiative for the promotion and translation of modern classics – the Schwob project, supported by the European Union. The project is named after French writer, essayist and translator Marcel Schwob (1867-1905), an erudite reader of world literature who introduced various authors to French readers via translation. A Schwob title is a modern literary classic (prose, poetry or quality non-fiction written in the last 100 years) that can travel through time and between languages. The project partners will work closely with authors, publishers, translators, academics, journalists and readers, looking out for cult books and must-reads that deserve to be better known. The selected titles will be published and promoted on a multilingual website with sample translations, background information and articles on the books as well as information on translation funding. The proposed titles express the multilingual diversity of our rich literary heritage; they take the reader on a journey from the Transylvanian mountains and its long- vanished palaces to the battlefields of various wars, passing through the misery of one city’s suburbs... The Finnegan’s List authors will recommend Schwob titles, speaking about their proposals and the importance of literature in translation at events throughout Europe. Potential Schwob titles recommended by the authors from this year’s list are identified by the pink Schwob stamp . Schwob is a collaboration of the Dutch Foundation for Literature (project organiser), the Ramon Llull Institute, the Finnish Literature Exchange, the Polish Book Institute, the Wales Literature Exchange, the Flemish Foundation for Literature and the European Society of Authors. We invite you to visit the Schwob website at schwob-books.eu and to leave your own suggestions. For further information, please contact us at [email protected]. 4 Schwob – The World’s Best Unknown Books Finnegan’s List 2014 « Janne Teller Janne Teller (born in 1964) is a Danish writer. After studying macroeconomics, she was a humanitarian aid and development worker in several different countries. She made her literary debut in 1999 with the novel Odin’s Island, a modern Nordic saga about political and religious fanaticism. Her book Nothing, an existential novel for young adults, earned her the Best Children’s Book Prize from the Danish Ministry of Culture. Her oeuvre, which also includes political and philosophical essays as well as short stories, has received numerous literary awards and has been translated in over twenty languages. Janne Teller spends her time in New York and Berlin where she lives and works. Janne Teller recommends Ludvig Holberg (1684-1754), Epistler & Moralske tanker (Epistles and Moral Reflections), several editions. Translated into Dutch, English, French, German, Norwegian and Swedish (most out of print). Villy Sørensen, Sære historier (Strange Stories, 1953), Ufarlige historier (Harmless Stories, 1955) & Vejrdage (Weather Days, 1980), Copenhagen: Gyldendal Forlag. Strange Stories translated into Czech, French & Italian, various stories into English (out of print) & German. Harmless Stories translated into Czech, English, French, various stories into Dutch (out of print), German & Polish (out of print). Weather Days, no translations. Inger Christensen, Sommerfugledalen (Butterfly Valley), Copenhagen: Brøndum, 1991. Translated into English, German and Latvian, excerpts into French (literary review). 5 « Gonçalo M. Tavares Gonçalo M. Tavares (born in 1970 in Angola) made his literary debut in 2001 and is one of the foremost contemporary Portuguese writers. His work embraces diverse literary forms including drama, poetry, short prose, novels and essays. One of his most famous works is a series of four novels entitled O Reino (The Kingdom), one of which, Jerusalem, won the José Saramago Prize in 2005. His short prose cycle O Bairro (The Neighbourhood) is inhabited by famous protagonists taken from literary history, amongst them, Italo Calvino, Bertolt Brecht and Paul Valéry. Tavares’ books have been widely translated around the world and he has received many national and international literary awards. Besides his work as a writer, he teaches epistemology at the University of Lisbon. Gonçalo M. Tavares recommends Agustina Bessa-Luís, A Sibila (The Sybil), Lisbon: Guimarães Editores, 1954. Translated into German, French, Italian, Romanian and Spanish. Vergílio Ferreira, Em nome da terra (In the Name of the Earth), Lisbon: Bertrand Editora, 1990. Translated into Catalan, French and Spanish. Carlos de Oliveira, Finisterra (Finisterre), Lisbon: Livraria Sá da Costa/Assírio & Alvim, 1978. Translated into French, Italian and Spanish. 6 « Angharad Price Angharad Price (born in 1972) is a Welsh academic and novelist. She studied Modern Languages and completed a DPhil on the work of Welsh writer Robin Llywelyn. She has published three novels. The second one, O! Tyn y Gorchudd (Gomer, 2002), translated into English under the title The Life of Rebecca Jones, is her most famous work to date. The book was awarded the coveted Welsh National Eisteddfod Prose Medal in 2002 and the Welsh Arts Council’s Book of the Year award in 2003. Angharad Price has published several critical volumes on contemporary Welsh literature, as well as translations from German into Welsh. She is currently a lecturer in Welsh at the University of North Wales, Bangor. Angharad Price recommends T. H. Parry-Williams, Casgliad o Ysgrifau (Collected Essays), Llandysul: Gwasg Gomer. No translations. Friederike Mayröcker, Gesammelte Prosa 1949-2001 (Collected Prose), Berlin: Suhrkamp Verlag, 2007. brütt oder Die seufzenden Gärten translated into French & English; Heiligenanstalt translated into English & French; Die Abschiede & Magische Blätter III translated into Italian; Requiem für Ernst Jandl translated into Czech and Korean; Blumenwerk translated into Romanian; Je ein umwölbter Gipfel translated into Turkish & English; Reise durch die Nacht translated into English, Hungarian, Italian & Lithuanian; Gesammelte Prosa 1949-75, excerpts translated into English. Mihangel Morgan, Melog (Melog), Llandysul: Gwasg Gomer, 1997. Translated into English. 7 Vladimir Arsenijević « Vladimir Arsenijević was born in 1965 in Pula, SFR Yugoslavia. He works as a novelist, editor, translator, columnist, musician and publisher. His debut novel, Upotpalublju (In the Hold), an anti-war story, won the prestigious NIN prize for Serbian literature, thus establishing him at the age of 29 as the award’s youngest recipient. The book has been translated into twenty languages.