Faroese Literature
- Thread starter Stewart
- Start date
. Eric, I'm looking forward to hearing your opinion of the Faroese poets. Enjoyed the link to the Wiki article on Faroese literature, by the way. Very concise and informative. I'll do a bit of reading. The same translator did a good job with several Icelandic poets. Since the recent obsession with Scandinavian thrillers and crime novels, I was beginning to fear that Scandinavian poetry and serious general novels would be dumped by the usual bestseller-soundbite-bloodbath publishing houses, out to make a killing (sorry).
Well, I've read the first two poets in the anthology "Windvlinders", in which the works of eight Faroese poets (4 men, 4 women) are presented in Dutch translation.
This is evidently the first collection of Faroese poets ever to appear in the Dutch language. For that we have to thank the compiler and translator, Roald van Elswijk, and the part-translator of the afterword into Dutch, Jytte Kronig, both attached to the University of Groningen, plus the person who wrote the afterword, Malan Marnersd?ttir, of the University of T?rshavn on the Faroes.
So: teamwork. Eight poets and three compilers and editors.
The blurb on the back says the following:
Ga?ni has a Faroese mother and an Iranian father and was brought up in Norway and on the Faroes. She has published three collections of poetry and has been translated into Estonian and Hungarian.
Helmsdal is the first Faroese poet to have published a monograph collection of poetry in the Faroese language. She worked as a nurse and has been translated into Danish, English, Swedish and German.
I'll comment more on the differing styles when I've read all eight poets.
This is evidently the first collection of Faroese poets ever to appear in the Dutch language. For that we have to thank the compiler and translator, Roald van Elswijk, and the part-translator of the afterword into Dutch, Jytte Kronig, both attached to the University of Groningen, plus the person who wrote the afterword, Malan Marnersd?ttir, of the University of T?rshavn on the Faroes.
So: teamwork. Eight poets and three compilers and editors.
The blurb on the back says the following:
The two poets of the eight I've read so far are Sigri M. Ga?ni (born 1975) and Gu?ri? Helmsdal (born 1941).
Ga?ni has a Faroese mother and an Iranian father and was brought up in Norway and on the Faroes. She has published three collections of poetry and has been translated into Estonian and Hungarian.
Helmsdal is the first Faroese poet to have published a monograph collection of poetry in the Faroese language. She worked as a nurse and has been translated into Danish, English, Swedish and German.
I'll comment more on the differing styles when I've read all eight poets.
I read another ten Faroese poems this evening, in parallel text from the same anthology, this time by Sigga-Maria Hjalmarsd?ttir H?jgaard (born 1990). She is definitely the youngest poet of the eight, and I have no idea what models, national or international, she follows with her poetry. But it is good. About everyday life, me-and-you, feelings, even a lullaby. She only published her first collection in 2007, but already somehow has a clear profile. After secondary, school she has now gone to work in Denmark. I hope she continues to write poetry.
In the University of Groningen annual publication "Scandinavian Newsletter", the Faroese literary scholar Malan Marnersd?ttir has written a short article about Faroese literature now, entitled "Wonders - the state of literary art in the Faroes". She is the woman who wrote the afterword to the new Dutch anthology of Faroese poetry mentioned above.
In her article she mentions that a new literary magazine has started appearing in the Faroes called "Vencil". This title has been constructed from the name of Vencelaus Ulricus Hammershaimb (1819-1909) whom Marnersd?ttir tells us was the creator of modern Faroese spelling. This magazine will publish new literature, plus translations of world literature. There may only be 48,000 Faroese, but they've got an up-to-date literary mag that takes on board translations.
Three issues have appeared so far, and have included translations of the Finland-Swedish poet Edith S?dergran, Alan Ginsberg's "Howl" in translation, and stories by Borges, M?rquez and the Swiss-German author Peter Bichsel.
As Marnersd?ttir says:
In her article she mentions that a new literary magazine has started appearing in the Faroes called "Vencil". This title has been constructed from the name of Vencelaus Ulricus Hammershaimb (1819-1909) whom Marnersd?ttir tells us was the creator of modern Faroese spelling. This magazine will publish new literature, plus translations of world literature. There may only be 48,000 Faroese, but they've got an up-to-date literary mag that takes on board translations.
Three issues have appeared so far, and have included translations of the Finland-Swedish poet Edith S?dergran, Alan Ginsberg's "Howl" in translation, and stories by Borges, M?rquez and the Swiss-German author Peter Bichsel.
As Marnersd?ttir says:
Here are the names of a few Faroese authors and their descriptions in English:
B?kadeild F?roya L?rarafelags - Faroese Authors
This is the website of a book publisher that specialises in children's books and a children's and teacher's magazine.
And an online bookshop:
Rit og R?k b?kas?la b?kur f?royskt b?k b?khandil F?royar mentan t??indi
B?kadeild F?roya L?rarafelags - Faroese Authors
This is the website of a book publisher that specialises in children's books and a children's and teacher's magazine.
And an online bookshop:
Rit og R?k b?kas?la b?kur f?royskt b?k b?khandil F?royar mentan t??indi
I'm reading about Faroese literature at the moment, but the difficulty is getting hold of the actual texts, in any language. So I was interested to read about this Canadian poet and translator, George Johnston, and I shall try to get hold of the anthology of Faroese poems in translation which he had published here in Scotland, in Paisley - of all places - in 1981.
http://www.uwo.ca/english/canadianpoetry/cpjrn/vol31/keith.htm
Harry
http://www.uwo.ca/english/canadianpoetry/cpjrn/vol31/keith.htm
Harry
waalkwriter
Reader
You speak Dutch Eric? Is there any European language you can't read or at least understand?
Liam
Administrator
I'm thinking, Greek, Romanian, Irish, Welsh, Breton, Armenian, Lithuanian, Basque, Maltese.
But seriously, Eric's proficiency in a number of languages (not just one, as is usually the case with most of us) as well his intimate familiarity with a dozen more ought to be a cause for envy but also inspiration to the rest of us. Not everyone can be a translator, it's true, but everyone is most certainly capable of learning a language or two in addition to their native one.
Waalkwriter asks:
The painful inadequacy in the English-speaking world when it comes to understanding simple things about language and languages is appalling. You don't collect languages, like you collect postage stamps, you learn them. And as most of us non-freaks who learn languages have the difficulty most adults have, we people who know a couple of languages also have to put effort into learning them.
Unlike the show-offs who say they "speak six languages", meaning they can say five sentences of banalities in all six, plus the words for cock, cunt, fuck and wank, I claim to know two languages "properly". One is Swedish, the other Dutch. This means that in those two languages, and only those two, I have a facility in the four cardinal skills: speaking, understanding, writing, and reading. I read several other languages, sometimes to a high degree of comprehension, and as I keep boasting, translate books from Estonian. But in all "my" other languages, including nota bene Estonian, I do not have the kind of nine-out-of-ten ability in all four skills that I do in Dutch and Swedish.
Sorry, but that really is a bum question. If you read what I've just written on the "Are languages important?" thread, you will perhaps realise that learning loads of languages is something that only freaks do.
The painful inadequacy in the English-speaking world when it comes to understanding simple things about language and languages is appalling. You don't collect languages, like you collect postage stamps, you learn them. And as most of us non-freaks who learn languages have the difficulty most adults have, we people who know a couple of languages also have to put effort into learning them.
Unlike the show-offs who say they "speak six languages", meaning they can say five sentences of banalities in all six, plus the words for cock, cunt, fuck and wank, I claim to know two languages "properly". One is Swedish, the other Dutch. This means that in those two languages, and only those two, I have a facility in the four cardinal skills: speaking, understanding, writing, and reading. I read several other languages, sometimes to a high degree of comprehension, and as I keep boasting, translate books from Estonian. But in all "my" other languages, including nota bene Estonian, I do not have the kind of nine-out-of-ten ability in all four skills that I do in Dutch and Swedish.
waalkwriter
Reader
If you can translate Estonian literature, I would say you are understand that language. You've also spoken before of how you can understand Finnish, (and lived in Finland as part of an exchange student or some such matter, as you said when discussing communism), and that you can also follow Russian somewhat both as a listener and a reader. If you are truly fluent in Swedish, then that would also imply you have a functioning understanding of Danish and Norwegian.
I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong impression, if it seemed mocking. I was rather impressed, because I'd lost track of all the various European languages you've displayed moderate to extensive knowledge of at some point or another.
I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong impression, if it seemed mocking. I was rather impressed, because I'd lost track of all the various European languages you've displayed moderate to extensive knowledge of at some point or another.
This thread is supposed to be about Faroese literature, not about me. That's why I started the other thread. But very briefly:
My Russian means I can read the alphabet with ease. I know most of the grammar. I am desperately short of sophisticated vocabulary. But I can read a newspaper article with a dictionary. Many people naïvely think that all they have to do is learn the alphabet and all will be plain sailing. It's after the alphabet that the problems start, not stop.
I can read Finnish to a slightly better level than Russian. But again, when I lived for four years in Finland, I lived among the Finland-Swedes and learnt to speak Swedish well. Look up Finland-Swedish on the Wikipedia.
I am truly fluent in Swedish. But that does not give me an automatic understanding of either Danish or Norwegian. They are hard to understand when spoken, yet childishly easy to read, once you get past the faux amis. If you spoke one of the three, you would soon understand what I mean. But Icelandic, and Faroese, about which this thread is, are inflected versions of "Scandinavian", thus much more complex. I cannot, unlike Harry, even read those two languages.
I hope we can discuss a few more Faroese authors. The Faroe Isles seems to live rather a secretive life if you know no Danish. That's the only language into which any contemporary Faroese authors tend to get translated.
My Russian means I can read the alphabet with ease. I know most of the grammar. I am desperately short of sophisticated vocabulary. But I can read a newspaper article with a dictionary. Many people naïvely think that all they have to do is learn the alphabet and all will be plain sailing. It's after the alphabet that the problems start, not stop.
I can read Finnish to a slightly better level than Russian. But again, when I lived for four years in Finland, I lived among the Finland-Swedes and learnt to speak Swedish well. Look up Finland-Swedish on the Wikipedia.
I am truly fluent in Swedish. But that does not give me an automatic understanding of either Danish or Norwegian. They are hard to understand when spoken, yet childishly easy to read, once you get past the faux amis. If you spoke one of the three, you would soon understand what I mean. But Icelandic, and Faroese, about which this thread is, are inflected versions of "Scandinavian", thus much more complex. I cannot, unlike Harry, even read those two languages.
I hope we can discuss a few more Faroese authors. The Faroe Isles seems to live rather a secretive life if you know no Danish. That's the only language into which any contemporary Faroese authors tend to get translated.
I'm reading up about Faroese literature in the book I've mentioned before, written in Danish by a Faroese scholar based in Copenhagen, and infuriatingly he turns all his quotations into Danish - not using a single word of Faroese in his whole book - so you have to take on trust what he says about the literary merit of his writers. Faroese literature is incredibly recent, and it's strange to read what he says about the first woman to write a novel in Faroese, then to turn over to a photo of her looking remarkably attractive and trendily-dressed and to realise that she is still going about as large as life, whereas the first women novelists in English date back several hundred years. The author of the textbook is quite sarcastic about his fellow-islanders, pointing out that on the Faroes anyone sitting around reading a book is looked on as a bit weird, and schoolteachers were traditionally recruited from the ranks of those on invalidity benefit, whereby the parishes killed two birds with one stone (I suppose he means making shirkers on benefits work for a living - shades of Ian Duncan Smith in our own dear country). He awards brownie points to any writer who wrote/writes about the world beyond the islands ("pretty unusual for a Faroese writer"). You wonder what kind of picture of his native land he gives impressionable young students in Copenhagen.
I brought back from Tórshavn a copy of the main Faroese newspaper, Dimmalætting (Daybreak or Dawn) and have been enjoying deciphering articles about the whale-slaughter and the latest power-cut. Regarding the impenetrability of the Faroese language, here's the headline and sub-headline of an article in the paper for you to work out (answers at the end) -
Fáir føroyskir menn røkka 90. Átta av hvørjum tíggju føroyingum, sum blíva eldri enn 90 ár, eru kvinnur.
Harry
(Fewer Faroese men are reaching 90. Eight out of every ten Faroese who become older than 90 are women).
I brought back from Tórshavn a copy of the main Faroese newspaper, Dimmalætting (Daybreak or Dawn) and have been enjoying deciphering articles about the whale-slaughter and the latest power-cut. Regarding the impenetrability of the Faroese language, here's the headline and sub-headline of an article in the paper for you to work out (answers at the end) -
Fáir føroyskir menn røkka 90. Átta av hvørjum tíggju føroyingum, sum blíva eldri enn 90 ár, eru kvinnur.
Harry
(Fewer Faroese men are reaching 90. Eight out of every ten Faroese who become older than 90 are women).
It is interesting how the imperialist mind works. You don't think of 21st century Denmark as an imperialist-colonialist nation, but it certainly has been in the past. The Faroese may be wise to stick to Denmark for various subsidies, but that is no excuse for condescension - especially from one of their own number who has gone over to the enemy.
One problem is, of course, that the nearest big university is indeed in Copenhagen. And once Faroese scholars get everything paid for by the Danes, they may mellow and become more Danish than the Danes themselves.
The fact that their literature is recent should make people offer at least a few quotes in the national tongue to show off a bit that they have maintained their language through thick, thin, and Danish domination. So this bloke doesn't strike me as much of an ambassador for his country, more a psychological lackey of the powers that be.
They must have a group of feminists on the Faroes who practise the art of using the Viking club for old doddering males, as the wild men of the ships did in days of yore. Because it's a bit suspect that nearly all the ancient survivors, according to Dimlighting at least, are of the female gender.
I once had a bit of e-mail correspondence with some writer on the Faroes who had one of thse split surnames with two or three parts. But I can't remember his name now.
One problem is, of course, that the nearest big university is indeed in Copenhagen. And once Faroese scholars get everything paid for by the Danes, they may mellow and become more Danish than the Danes themselves.
The fact that their literature is recent should make people offer at least a few quotes in the national tongue to show off a bit that they have maintained their language through thick, thin, and Danish domination. So this bloke doesn't strike me as much of an ambassador for his country, more a psychological lackey of the powers that be.
They must have a group of feminists on the Faroes who practise the art of using the Viking club for old doddering males, as the wild men of the ships did in days of yore. Because it's a bit suspect that nearly all the ancient survivors, according to Dimlighting at least, are of the female gender.
I once had a bit of e-mail correspondence with some writer on the Faroes who had one of thse split surnames with two or three parts. But I can't remember his name now.
P.S. Harry. It seems odd that you have to go to Finland to get a list of Faroese books, but the public library in Jakobstad has a list of about a thousand books dealing with the Faroes or in Faroese:
http://62.72.244.98/KiWebRes/WebForm2.aspx?kword=*&kcode=&bcode=01&acode=31&lang=sv
But I still haven't found the name of that contemporary Faroese author I had some e-mail correspondence with.
http://62.72.244.98/KiWebRes/WebForm2.aspx?kword=*&kcode=&bcode=01&acode=31&lang=sv
But I still haven't found the name of that contemporary Faroese author I had some e-mail correspondence with.
Harry, have you come across this literary magazine before:
http://www.vencil.fo/savn.htm
It has, apart from Faroese authors, short-stories, poetry and other things in Faroese translation by, for instance, Södergran, Corso, Dickinson, Maupassant, Ginsberg, Celan, Kafka, Lovecraft, Pope, Nabokov, Carver, Creeley, Heaney, Parland. So this tíðarrit does appear to be trying to introduce foreign literature of quality to a Faroese readership.
http://www.vencil.fo/savn.htm
It has, apart from Faroese authors, short-stories, poetry and other things in Faroese translation by, for instance, Södergran, Corso, Dickinson, Maupassant, Ginsberg, Celan, Kafka, Lovecraft, Pope, Nabokov, Carver, Creeley, Heaney, Parland. So this tíðarrit does appear to be trying to introduce foreign literature of quality to a Faroese readership.
No, that's a good discovery, thanks very much for that.
The late lamented public library in my home village in Fife used to have a shelf of Faroese books for the benefit of women from the islands who had married local fishermen. Long before the days of cheap foreign holidays, our steam-drifter men used to fish up at the Faroes and put into Tórshavn. It was rumoured that one of our skippers, who spent months up there, had another 'wife' and family in Tórshavn. Even my civil servant son managed to get to the Faroes before me, when he was assigned to the Ag. & Fisheries dept. in what was then the Scottish Executive (now the Scottish Government). Although I only managed to visit the islands very recently, the Faroes have been a familiar concept to me all my life, whereas Sweden was a discovery I made for myself in my mid-20s, and however many marvellous books and translations the Faroese produce, I'm afraid I will always associate them with fish (they have now, with the Icelanders, discovered mackerel for the first time, and have declared unilateral quotas to squeeze out our mackerel men. Anyone for a 'mackerel war'?).
I had to laugh at an article in today's Scottish sports pages about the Faroese footballer Atli Gregersen, who is now playing for Ross County in the Scottish Highlands and living in the glamorous metropolis of Dingwall. "People look at the Faroes and see only sheeps", he says mournfully.
It's funny when two footballers want to insult and wind up each other, but don't have a common language, so have to resort to broken English. Gregersen found himself up against a top Serbian internationalist who said to him "What are you saying, fisherman? Go away and fish for fish!" To which Gregersen adroitly replied, "Why don't you go back and sit on the bench at Inter Milan?"
Having played for the Faroes against a top Italian team, and marked his opposite number rather energetically, he asked to swap shirts at the end of the game. "He told me to fuck off, but I have been standing on his toes all through the game, so it's fair enough." A filosofical Faroese.
Harry
The late lamented public library in my home village in Fife used to have a shelf of Faroese books for the benefit of women from the islands who had married local fishermen. Long before the days of cheap foreign holidays, our steam-drifter men used to fish up at the Faroes and put into Tórshavn. It was rumoured that one of our skippers, who spent months up there, had another 'wife' and family in Tórshavn. Even my civil servant son managed to get to the Faroes before me, when he was assigned to the Ag. & Fisheries dept. in what was then the Scottish Executive (now the Scottish Government). Although I only managed to visit the islands very recently, the Faroes have been a familiar concept to me all my life, whereas Sweden was a discovery I made for myself in my mid-20s, and however many marvellous books and translations the Faroese produce, I'm afraid I will always associate them with fish (they have now, with the Icelanders, discovered mackerel for the first time, and have declared unilateral quotas to squeeze out our mackerel men. Anyone for a 'mackerel war'?).
I had to laugh at an article in today's Scottish sports pages about the Faroese footballer Atli Gregersen, who is now playing for Ross County in the Scottish Highlands and living in the glamorous metropolis of Dingwall. "People look at the Faroes and see only sheeps", he says mournfully.
It's funny when two footballers want to insult and wind up each other, but don't have a common language, so have to resort to broken English. Gregersen found himself up against a top Serbian internationalist who said to him "What are you saying, fisherman? Go away and fish for fish!" To which Gregersen adroitly replied, "Why don't you go back and sit on the bench at Inter Milan?"
Having played for the Faroes against a top Italian team, and marked his opposite number rather energetically, he asked to swap shirts at the end of the game. "He told me to fuck off, but I have been standing on his toes all through the game, so it's fair enough." A filosofical Faroese.
Harry
I like this magazine's meaty invitation to its readers. I don't suppose there are too many veggies on the Faroes -
an extract from their home page, followed by my translation:-
Vencil 9. komin
Nú heystfjøllini eru gingin og ásarnir tyngjast við góðum kjøti, so er aftur ein góður og feitur Vencil komin út. Hetta er níggjundu ferð, at Vencil kemur út til føroysku lesararnar. Meðan kjøtið hongur og ræstnar, er gott at seta seg upp afturá og lesa teir framúr góðu og forvitnisligu tesktirnar, sum Vencil borðreiðir við.
Now that the autumn hills are over and the roof-beams are hanging down with good meat, once again a good, fat Vencil has come out. This is the ninth time that Vencil has appeared for Faroese readers. While the meat is hanging up and drying out [hung, dried mutton is a Faroese speciality], it's good to sit back and read these exceptionally good and interesting texts that Vencil serves up (borðreiða normally refers to serving up food at table).
I've got to the stage where I can recognise a typo in Faroese. "Tesktirnar" should be "tekstirnar".
Harry
an extract from their home page, followed by my translation:-
Vencil 9. komin
Nú heystfjøllini eru gingin og ásarnir tyngjast við góðum kjøti, so er aftur ein góður og feitur Vencil komin út. Hetta er níggjundu ferð, at Vencil kemur út til føroysku lesararnar. Meðan kjøtið hongur og ræstnar, er gott at seta seg upp afturá og lesa teir framúr góðu og forvitnisligu tesktirnar, sum Vencil borðreiðir við.
Now that the autumn hills are over and the roof-beams are hanging down with good meat, once again a good, fat Vencil has come out. This is the ninth time that Vencil has appeared for Faroese readers. While the meat is hanging up and drying out [hung, dried mutton is a Faroese speciality], it's good to sit back and read these exceptionally good and interesting texts that Vencil serves up (borðreiða normally refers to serving up food at table).
I've got to the stage where I can recognise a typo in Faroese. "Tesktirnar" should be "tekstirnar".
Harry