The Love Story of the Century (English and Swedish Edition)

By Märta Tikkanen

Book Overview

Hailed an immediate classic of Finnish literature on its publication in 1978 and an international bestseller that has been translated into 19 languages, M rta Tikkanen's verse novel is a haunting,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0884962091
• ISBN13: 9780884962090
• Release Date: January 1
• Publisher: Capra Press
• Length: 132 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Great poem-novel, pedestrian translation

Marta Tikkanen's poem-novel (diktroman) is one of the classics of recent Swedish language writing. This bittersweet account of her marriage to the alcoholic and egomaniac Henrik Tikkanen, (himself a prominent finlandsswedish writer) is told in a series of separate but linked poems. As in her other works from the 70s, Marta Tikkanen tempers her feminism and criticism with an ironic humor.My only reservation is the quality of the translations by Stina Katchadourian. While Katchadourian is a native Finland-Swede, her translations in this volume seem to me to be overly literal, translating the words while missing the the alliteration and rhythm.As a bonus, Henrik Tikkanen was also a talented illustrator, and contributed to the second edition (rather decent of him, given the scathing portrait).