Treading a Fine Line: On Translating Tove Ditlevsen’s Gift, by Michael Favala Goldman

On Translation Browsing a Copenhagen airport bookstore, a translator picks up a book. The journey between that impulse and his eventual translation of the memoir into English was both emotional and serendipitous. In the summer of 2016 I was passing through Kastrup Airport in Copenhagen with my wife, on our way home after a visit with family. We stopped to browse the bookstore, and I noticed a reprint of a book by Danish author Tove Ditlevsen called Gift, which had first been published in 1971. I hadn’t read much of her work, but I knew she was a big name, so I bought it, even though the cover was strange, a psychedelic skull on a gray background. It did not take more than a couple of sittings to devour this memoir of Tove Ditlevsen’s life from the ages of about twenty-three to thirty-five. It chronicles her rise as a best-selling author, while she also had four failed marriages, two back-alley abortions, and a five-year near-fatal addiction to the opioid Demerol. I distinctly remember laying the book down after the final page and thinking to myself, I think this is a masterpiece. This was an intuitive judgment, not a conclusion I had come to after analyzing the text. But looking back now, I think what caused me to deem this work a masterpiece is the combination of Ditlevsen’s writing style, which is concise, honest, and ironic, combined with the content of her story, which through her many troubling experiences pulls back the... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'

[ World Literature Today | 2021-04-06 13:12:22 UTC ]

Other news stories related to: "Treading a Fine Line: On Translating Tove Ditlevsen’s Gift, by Michael Favala Goldman"


Kara Swisher Is Sick of Tech People, So She Wrote a Book About Them

Silicon Valley’s top pundit dishes on her memoir Burn Book, immature billionaires, and whether she’s actually mean. Continue reading at Wired

[ Wired | 2024-02-15 11:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Can We Please Put an End to Overperformed Audibooks?

Britney Spears is perfect and her nasal voice with a Southern accent and just the right touch of vocal fry is perfect. Which is why I was so surprised to hear Michelle Williams, an actress who is also perfect, read the audio version of Britney’s memoir with a bit of a drawl but mostly very […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2024-02-15 09:55:31 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Lucy Sante Discusses Her Memoir and Her Gender Transition

In her memoir “I Heard Her Call My Name,” the author reflects on her life and embarking on a gender transition in her late 60s. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2024-02-14 10:02:14 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Book Review: ‘What Have We Here?,’ by Billy Dee Williams

His charming memoir “What Have We Here?” traces the path from a Harlem childhood to “Star Wars,” while lamenting the roles that never came his way. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2024-02-13 10:00:45 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Book Riot’s Deals of the Day for February 5, 2024

Murder at a school reunion, a memoir on motherhood, disaster bisexuals in love, and more of today's best book deals! Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2024-02-05 17:04:05 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Book Review: ‘I Heard Her Call My Name,’ by Lucy Sante

Lucy Sante recounts the trials and joys of her gender transition in the memoir “I Heard Her Call My Name.” Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2024-02-03 10:14:55 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Audiobook Review: ‘Collision of Power,’ by Martin Baron

The actor reads “Collision of Power,” a new memoir by the famed former editor of The Washington Post and The Boston Globe. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2024-02-02 10:00:17 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Life a Cold Crematorium: A Long-Lost Memoir from a Holocaust Survivor

The following is excerpted from Cold Crematorium:Reporting from the Land of Auschwitz,  József Debreczeni’s firsthand account of his deportation to Auschwitz, from Hungary, in May 1944. * The long train, comprised of low boxcars with German insignia, was grinding to a halt. “We’re stopping,” the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2024-01-25 09:53:48 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Hugh Hefner’s Widow Says He Filmed Celebs Having Sex In His Bed Without Their Consent

Crystal Hefner writes in her new memoir that she confronted her late husband about “little spy holes” in his bedroom. Continue reading at HuffPost

[ HuffPost | 2024-01-23 23:35:37 UTC ]
More news stories like this


How to Be Self-Revealing in Memoir When You’re Not In Real Life

Write-minded: Weekly Inspiration for Writers is currently in its fourth year. We are a weekly podcast for writers craving a unique blend of inspiration and real talk about the ups and downs of the writing life. Hosted by Brooke Warner of She Writes and Grant Faulkner of National Novel Writing... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2024-01-22 09:01:33 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Religion Book Deals: January 17, 2024

Scott Morrison, the former prime minister of Australia, is bringing a memoir to W; ‘Uncommon Answers’ to prayers land at Chosen Books; and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-01-17 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Annie Liontas on “Sex With a Brain Injury”

The new memoir in essays Sex With a Brain Injury from Annie Liontas, author of the novel Let Me Explain You, is a highly formally and thematically risky work of nonfiction exploring traumatic brain injury (TBI), queerness, addiction, mass incarceration, and chronic illness. Weaving “history,... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2024-01-16 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Lisa Marie Presley started writing a book before she died. Riley Keough completed it

Lisa Marie Presley's posthumous memoir will hit shelves later this year, with the help of her daughter Riley Keough, who picked up the pieces. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2024-01-11 20:25:14 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Lisa Marie Presley’s memoir to be posthumously published this autumn

Book co-written with the star’s daughter Riley Keough promises to reveal ‘the complexity of being a Presley’The posthumous memoir of Lisa Marie Presley written in collaboration with her daughter Riley Keough will be published later this year.The as yet untitled book about Lisa Marie’s life as... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2024-01-11 16:21:17 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A Rush of Indian Stories: A Review of Redolent Rush, by Dustin Pickering

A Rush of Indian Stories: A Review of Redolent Rush, by Dustin Pickering Book Reviews [email protected] Mon, 01/08/2024 - 14:12 In Redolent Rush, a recent short fiction collection published by Hawakal, based in New Delhi, India, we have nineteen... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2024-01-08 20:12:06 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Lit Hub Daily: January 8, 2024

Your reading list for a dry January (should you choose to accept it). | Lit Hub Motherhood is Antarctica: On the underexplored landscape of postpartum loneliness. | Lit Hub Memoir Beyond resolutions: A closer look at “The New Year Poem” as an act of resistance. | Lit Hub On the power of titles,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2024-01-08 11:30:16 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Priscilla: a bold feminist retelling of Elvis' dark fairytale marriage

Sofia Coppola’s biopic is adapted from Priscilla Presley’s memoir and exposes the dark side of her marriage to Elvis Presley. Continue reading at The Conversation

[ The Conversation | 2024-01-05 16:27:25 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Trial of Salman Rushdie’s attacker postponed because of author’s memoir

Rushdie’s book about the incident will be published in April, but the delay ‘will not change the ultimate outcome’ of the trial says district attorneyThe trial of the man accused of stabbing Salman Rushdie has been postponed because of the publication of the author’s memoir about the attack.A... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2024-01-04 13:18:47 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Salman Rushdie's upcoming memoir delays trial of man charged in 2022 stabbing

The trial of the man suspected in the near-fatal stabbing of Salman Rushdie has been delayed because of the writer's upcoming memoir about the knife attack. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2024-01-04 01:09:08 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Salman Rushdie memoir about stabbing could delay accused attacker’s trial

Judge says Hadi Matar, who pleaded not guilty to attempted murder charge after Rushdie was stabbed on stage in 2022, is entitled to see manuscript for trial preparationThe trial of the man charged with stabbing Salman Rushdie on stage in 2022 may be delayed because of plans to publish the... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2024-01-03 12:16:41 UTC ]
More news stories like this