Quote:
Originally Posted by beppe
Very good. At this very epidermic level I can agree to all that you wrote, even about the Scandinavian. Let me try some cliches:
English: understatement.
American: direct
French: turgid?
German: profound?
Scandinavian: Let me add Rohal Dahl to the bunch, although he looks more British by your standard.
After Andersen, Baroness Karen von Blixen-Finecke wrote absolute masterpieces. Her soul looks free as a bird. So you do not score with her. Although originally she wrote in English, n'est pas?
Not so Peter Høeg with Smilla that starts so well and then it becomes a James Bond thing. But the beginning is just wonderful.
I read and liked the books of Sigrid Undset and there I see all your points.
Nowadays, the Scandinavian crime books are really very interesting.
Sjöwall and Wahlöö started with their beautiful stories of Martin Beck. I see some of your elements there.
Then the trilogy of Stieg Larsson outscores everyone else. The penmanship and the tension it creates with his Swedish aplomb is just outstanding.
Henning Mankell is also very good.
They all look detached (and I would use this as a cliche) but I see and recognize your points. Thanks a lot.
|
Cliché is a good word for what I tried to say
Roald Dahl is all British as far as I'm concerned. I don't even think he's translated into Danish (or Swedish or Norwegian?). I admit I've barely heard of him except I've noticed the name a few times and wondered whether I should have known
No, give me Astrid Lindgren. She is the most famous and widely-read Scandinavian children's author, without ecxeption.
Karen Blixen is certainly something else and very international. A soul as free as a bird as you say. She wrote her first book in English and published it in USA precisely because she felt (and it was justified) that the Danish public (and literary critics) at that time wouldn't have understood what she was aiming at. Her African memoir published a few years later became very popular though.
I understand what you mean about Scandinavian crime fiction - but I think my points were more about the more literary writers, especially those I were 'subjected' to in school. I can recommend Herman Bang, and, if he's available in English; Johannes V. Jensen - he had a profound influence on language and writing in his time. I never read 'Smilla' (read another of his books and didn't like it - terribly pretentious), and it may be a long while until I read Stieg Larsson's 'Millenium' trilogy - it's too famous. It'll have to wait. I'm a little odd about that
