Books in Translation: A List of Favorites
Books in translation really came on my radar when I was studying languages in university. The complexities of translating both the meaning and the flow of the author’s original writing fascinated me. I came across words that had no direct equivalent in English, and this, too, was compelling. I recognized modes of thinking that were entirely original to me, and yet resonated with a universal experience.
Since those days I have sought out books in translation. Even when I do not know the original language of their writing, I have found that they are often lyrical, full of depth, and richly rewarding as a window into another culture, another perspective. Without further ado, here is a list of my favourites.
The Summer Book by Tove Jansson, translated from the Swedish by Thomas Teal
Perhaps you’ve heard of Tove Jansson. She is most famous for her children’s stories, the series featuring the gentle and introspective Moomins. Jansson was a visual artist and writer born to Swedish-speaking Finnish parents in 1914. The Summer Book is one of a handful of novels that she wrote for adults, and it is a beautiful, tender, funny, and unflinching book. It chronicles one summer on a small island off the coast of Finland, and the relationship between young six-year-old Sophia and her elderly grandmother. In the manner of both the very young and the very old, life is lived unblushingly, with no punches pulled. Sophia and Grandmother have small adventures, tell brutal truths, and take in the sun and the sea. Hailed as a classic in Scandinavia, The Summer Book is a luminous portrait of a tender time.
The Vagabond by Colette, translated from the French by Enid McLeod
I can’t help but describe this novel as feminist, despite Colette’s 1910 declaration that the suffragettes deserved “the whip and the harem.” The narrator, Renée, tells of her life living independently in rented rooms in Paris, supporting herself as a music-hall dancer. Barely scraping by, a shame and an embarrassment to her former society friends, and acutely lonely, Renée has nevertheless chosen this life as preferable to her previous one, as the wife of a philandering artist socialite. When an ardent new suitor arrives on the scene, determined to whisk her away from this sordid existence and into a life of luxury, Renée must decide what the price of her freedom is. Colette vividly evokes the dance hall back rooms and the changing seasons of Paris, but it is Renée’s inner thoughts and her candid assessment of herself and others that are the true gems of this novel.
Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto, translated from the Japanese by Megan Backus
At its heart, this is a novel about grief. But don’t let that deter you, because this book is never anything other than simple, charming, and deceptively light. When Kitchen was first published in Japan in 1988, “Bananamania” swept the country, and the book has remained incredibly popular, both in its original language and in its English translation. It is the story of Mikage, reeling at the novel’s start from the death of her grandmother, who raised her. Left alone in the world, Mikage finds solace in food and cooking, and in her new friendships with Yuichi and his mother Eriko, who take her in. This slim little novella doesn’t take the course that you might expect, and its unpredictability is one of its pleasures. Mikage’s world and her grief are both real and whimsical, and the small details, the meditative nature of cooking, and the warm evocations of home all combine to make this an unusual and enchanting read.
Sweet Days of Discipline by Fleur Jaeggy, translated from the Italian by Tim Parks
A stark and perfectly honed book about a young girl in a Swiss boarding school in the 1950s, Sweet Days of Discipline is a novel cut from glass. The narrator, “Miss X,” describes her narrow life within the confines of school, and her friendship (that is at times more like a battle) with the new girl, Frédérique. Miss X is unemotional, detached, cutting. She is not your typical schoolgirl, abandoning her studies to instead paste reproductions of German Expressionist paintings and crime stories from newspapers into her exercise books. Jaeggy, born in Zurich in 1940, has had her work described as “small scale, intense, and impeccable focused.” Sweet Days of Discipline is no exception. This is a short book, so to say too much would be to give things away. Jaeggy’s prose is icy and perfect, and the minimal narrative touches on love and madness in a lucid and brilliant way.
Memory at Bay by Évelyne Trouillot, translated from the French by Paul Curtis Daw
Évelyne Trouillot is a Haitian author, writing in French and Creole. Memory at Bay is one of only two of her many works that has been translated into English. The novel is a fictionalized account of the despotic regime of “Papa Doc” Duvalier, the Haitian president from 1957-1971. In Memory at Bay, the names have been slightly changed, but the story is the same. Here we see the history relived through the lenses of two very different characters: Odile, the widow of the dictator, living out her last days in a care home in France, and Marie-Ange, one of the home’s employees who has been tasked with looking after her. Marie-Ange is a Haitian émigré, the daughter of a woman traumatized by the brutalities of the regime, and who in turn traumatized her daughter by her retellings and her endless grief. In intimate, introspective prose, the narrative takes the reader through the terror of the time, and shows the repercussions that continue to ripple through lives many years later. Memory at Bay, which received the 2010 Prix Carbet de la Caraïbe et du Tout-Monde, is gripping and full of the kind of thoughtful and thought-provoking prose that will linger in your mind long after you turn the final page.
