Monday, June 4, 2012

'ohne je in sentimentale Klischees zu verfallen'


A parcel of attractive hardback books, (shrink-wrapped in plastic) arrived in the Janet Frame Literary Trust mailbox last week.  These 'author' copies were rather late in arriving and I was eager to see them. The cover jacket of the newest edition of WENN EULEN SCHREIN is lovely, featuring an owl flying over a berry-laden bough. This updated translation of OWLS DO CRY  has been giving rise to a bit of a buzz in Germany, following the very positive reception for Dem Sommer Entgegen (Towards Another Summer), which has been recently re-released by the publisher CH Beck in a paperback edition.

For some response to this updated German edition see:

"Ich glaube, es gibt Sturm"

and here

and here

and http://www.swr.de/bestenliste

The first edition of Wenn Eulen Schrein was published in 1961. That was the first translation of a Janet Frame title into any foreign language. Other editions of Wenn Eulen Schrein that I have been able to track down are dated 1981, 1991, 1996, 2002.

*  "ohne je in sentimentale Klischees zu verfallen" = "without ever lapsing into sentimental cliche" (from a review)

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