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 ]
Spiegel & Grau takes on actor Rob Delaney’s memoir about the death of his young son, Julia Fine sells a novel set in 18th-century Venice to Flatiron, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-06-17 04:00:00 UTC ]
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A memoir of Ativan withdrawal, a British Jamaican coming-of-age on the streets of Bristol, a tour of the sensory world of the animal kingdom, and more. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-06-16 09:00:27 UTC ]
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Ada Calhoun hoped to finish a biography of O’Hara once started by her father, the art critic Peter Schjeldahl. Instead, she wrote a searching memoir about creativity and family. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-06-15 02:06:51 UTC ]
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“In a perversion of all laws of the universe, I’m about to read my father a story before bedtime.” Séamas O’Reilly on reading his memoir to the man who taught him to love books (and skipping over the hardest bits). | Lit Hub Memoir Lousy at first impressions: When tomatoes made their debut in... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-06-11 10:30:34 UTC ]
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In her memoir “Also a Poet: Frank O’Hara, My Father, and Me,” Ada Calhoun set out to write a poet’s biography and found a connection to her father instead. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-06-09 09:00:19 UTC ]
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The comedian’s memoir was funny. But when the new show based on it tries for something deeper, it sinks into bathos. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-06-08 02:00:06 UTC ]
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In the memoir “James Patterson by James Patterson,” the best-selling author opens up — kind of — about how he came to be such a force in the literary world. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-06-06 11:00:41 UTC ]
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The actress who became America’s sweetheart in “Dirty Dancing” explores how her looks -- and her alteration of them -- affected her career Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-06-05 17:44:52 UTC ]
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Charles McGrath’s “The Summer Friend” recounts happy days and the gut punch of an untimely death. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-06-04 09:00:03 UTC ]
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In "Mean Baby," "Cruel Intentions" star Selma Blair discusses the very long road to her diagnosis of multiple sclerosis with charm and candor. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-06-03 13:00:52 UTC ]
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The best audiobooks 2022 has to offer includes everything from memoir to literary fiction and even poetry. Find your next listen! Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-05-31 10:39:00 UTC ]
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'Harvey Weinstein: My Story,' a memoir allegedly written by the convicted producer, went up for sale on Amazon on May 10 but was pulled Friday. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-05-27 21:49:53 UTC ]
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“It is a fact that if you are looking to raise llamas with another person, you are seriously considering a lifelong commitment to each other.” Aileen Weintraub on finding love in upstate New York. | Lit Hub Memoir When everyone in London was trying to learn Marilyn Monroe’s signature, sultry... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-05-27 10:30:44 UTC ]
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An 18-year-old student and a 98-year-old survivor teamed up to write “Lily’s Promise,” a best-selling memoir of Auschwitz and its aftermath. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-05-26 09:00:09 UTC ]
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This New York City Children’s Theater adaptation of Maya Angelou’s celebrated memoir faces the challenge of faithfully telling a story that encompasses a great deal of pain. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-05-25 20:59:11 UTC ]
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Sisters confront racism with humor, a fantasy novelist delves into short stories, a military history expert salutes the civil rights movement, and a movie star's memoir goes behind the scenes. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-05-25 04:00:00 UTC ]
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The late night host pointed out a hilarious irony in the new memoir by the former counselor to Trump. Continue reading at The Huffington Post
[ The Huffington Post | 2022-05-24 05:21:45 UTC ]
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“To live with other people is to be responsible for protecting them from your moods. Or perhaps, to protect the delicate gift of your moods from them.” Seema Reza on the joy of being (completely) alone. | Lit Hub Memoir Hilary A. Hallett investigates the romance genre’s radical roots, from... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-05-21 10:30:28 UTC ]
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She was accused of ‘betraying motherhood’ when she was revealed as the author of the Guardian’s Living With Teenagers column. Will her novel about a child with addiction issues reopen old wounds?Few writers have published and been damned with quite the ferocity Julie Myerson was back in 2009 for... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-05-21 08:00:14 UTC ]
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Being fired as an advertising executive freed him to write a blistering memoir about his Southern family and an erotic novel that became a best seller. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-05-21 00:03:50 UTC ]
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