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"


Is There a Silver Lining to Loss? This Memoir Shows Its Shimmer.

In “Lost & Found,” Kathryn Schulz explores the confluence of death, love and hope. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2022-01-11 10:00:05 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Jami Attenberg on Building a Writing Life

At the Guardian, Jami Attenberg, author of the recent memoir I Came All This Way to Meet You, reflects on how a key moment of rejection allowed her to carve out her own path as a writer. “I’m old enough to realise that there is one more important part to carving out your creative life: … The... Continue reading at The Millions

[ The Millions | 2022-01-10 21:30:10 UTC ]
More news stories like this


How love, death and ampersands changed Kathryn Schulz's life

The Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and author of the memoir "Lost and Found" unpacks the meaning and importance of joy and grief — and conjuctions. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-01-10 14:00:30 UTC ]
More news stories like this


The Messay: An Introduction

A messay is a combination of memoir and essay. But something beautiful happens when you smash these words together. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2022-01-10 11:38:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Canbury Press lands first memoir by Uyghur survivor of China’s 're-education' camps

Canbury Press has landed the first memoir by a Uyghur survivor of China’s "re-education" camps. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2022-01-10 06:03:11 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Carl Bernstein’s Eulogy for the Newspaper Business

Bernstein’s memoir “Chasing History” is a personal and affectionate look at the past, when journalism was thriving. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2022-01-07 20:51:59 UTC ]
More news stories like this


What Is Autobiography? A Conversation with Debut Memoirist Victoria Chang, by Amy Wright

Interviews Victoria Chang’s new collection, Dear Memory, expands the field of the memoir for readers to explore a full-color archive of family photos and historical documents collaged between lines of poetry and letters. It prompts us to ask, with her,... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2022-01-05 19:50:39 UTC ]
More news stories like this


‘Lost & Found’ Ponders Profound Grief Alongside Newfound Love

Kathryn Schulz’s memoir places the totalizing experience of loss on a continuum with the summons of romantic and even religious love. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2022-01-04 20:12:44 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Our Favorite Essays about Unconventional Writing Teachers

For those of us who want to become real writers—whatever that means—the countless resources available can feel a bit dry and uninspired, ranging from tired but true clichés to well-lauded craft books (Stephen King’s On Writing: A Memoir on Craft sits dustily on my shelf). Many of us find... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2021-12-31 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Romantic fiction writers creating a more diverse happily ever after

How book-loving communities on social media are helping authors break barriers to become bestsellersTalia Hibbert was rewatching a Spider-Man film and eating a meal in her living room when she received life-changing news. Her romance novel Act Your Age, Eve Brown, which she wrote at the... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2021-12-30 08:00:44 UTC ]
More news stories like this


‘We would discuss how dislikable I was’ – what’s it like to see your life story on TV?

Telling your story in a book is hard enough. But what if it ends up on screen? Adam Kay, writer of This Is Going to Hurt, and Dolly Alderton, who penned Everything I Know About Love, relive the shocksMore cultural highlights of 2022Most people find seeing themselves on screen distinctly... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2021-12-29 14:00:23 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Joan Didion, American journalist and author, dies at age 87

The unsparing observer of US culture, politics and public life won huge acclaim for her memoir The Year of Magical Thinking• Read Alex Clark’s interview with Joan Didion from February 2021• Obituary: Joan DidionJoan Didion, the eminent journalist, author and anthropologist of contemporary... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2021-12-23 17:19:56 UTC ]
More news stories like this


For Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, memoir as resistance

Ai Weiwei’s memoir “1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows” pushes back against the Chinese government’s efforts to silence him and his poet father. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2021-12-20 22:31:48 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Goldsmiths winner Harrison moves to Serpent's Tail from Gollancz after 40 years

Serpent's Tail has bagged a post-apocalyptic novel and a memoir from 2020 Goldsmiths Prize winner M John Harrison, who is leaving his long-term publisher Gollancz after 40 years.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-12-19 23:45:16 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Richard Antoine White once had little more than his tuba. Now, he’s a musical pioneer.

White went from the streets of Baltimore to the philharmonic. In his memoir "I'm Possible," he tells the story of how he transformed his life. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-12-18 13:00:13 UTC ]
More news stories like this


The Author Behind ‘Maid’ Has a Room — and a Voice — of Her Own

Stephanie Land’s best-selling memoir inspired the popular Netflix series. She’s not done fighting for people navigating the red tape of poverty. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-12-16 10:00:03 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Nine Eight Books lands memoir from soul legend P P Arnold

Nine Eight Books, the music imprint of Bonnier Books UK, has acquired the “compelling and pertinent memoir” from 1960s soul legend P P Arnold.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-12-15 22:10:47 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Memoir by the late journalist Sarah Hughes to be published in March 2022

The beloved Guardian writer finished Holding Tight, Letting Go before she died of cancer earlier this yearA memoir by the late journalist Sarah Hughes, who died from cancer earlier this year, will be published next March, tackling topics from planning your own funeral to the importance of trashy... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2021-12-13 14:25:04 UTC ]
More news stories like this


What Happens When I Don’t Understand My Own Novel?

A student of mine was writing a memoir about being in an abusive marriage. She’d divorced her husband in middle age and returned to college, and her prose was stark and beautiful. After a few months, however, her classmates grew restless. “He was horrible,” they said. “A bullying jerk.” Still,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2021-12-13 09:51:42 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Mel Brooks looks back on his delightfully deranged career

But the legendary comedian’s joyful memoir doesn’t pause for introspection, or analysis. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-12-10 13:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this