The Swedish-English Literary Translators’ Association

Eric Dickens

Smålandsvägen 28

757 58 UPPSALA

Tel.: 018-406 1221

Fax: -

E-Mail: eric.dickens@comhem.se

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I studied Swedish at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, England, in the early 1970s and did my year abroad at Åbo Akademi in Finland. Since then, I have become especially interested in Finland-Swedish literature. In the 1970s, I lived in what is termed "Svenskfinland" (Vasa, Jakobstad and Helsingfors, as well as Åbo) and am especially attached to Österbotten / Ostrobothnia. In 1979-80-81, I published several poems in "Swedish Books" written by Thomas Wulff, Johan Donner, Martin Enckell, Joakim Groth, Lars Sund and Stina Ekblad. I have only published book-length translations of non-fiction Swedish books such as "Drottningholm - the Palace by the Lakeside" and "Residences", both by Jan Mårtenson, but am eager to translate novels. On the other hand, I have twice won the Estonian national prize for translation into a foreign language - in 2004 and again in 2007 - for 300-page novels: the realist "Treading Air", Jaan Kross, Harvill, London; and two postmodernist novels "Things in the Night" and "Brecht at Night" by Mati Unt, The Dalkey Archive Press, Champaign, Illinois, USA. I am eager to translate work by the late Mare Kandre, and by a number of other Swedish and Finland-Swedish authors including Lars Sund, Ulf Eriksson and Inger Edelfeldt.

• Jan Mårtenson, Drottningholm - The Palace by the Lakeside
  (Swedish: Drottningholm - slottet vid vattnet)
  Wahlström & Widstrand (i.e. the English translation), 1985
  ISBN: 91-46-1493
  An illustrated 180-page book covering the history of the palace at Drottninghom, focusing especially on Gustav III and his era of French influence and chinoiserie. Drawings by Gunnar Brusewitz.
• Jan Mårtenson, Sophia Albertina - The Palace of a Princess
  (Swedish: Sophia Albertina)
  Wahlström & Widstrand (i.e. the English translation), 1997
  ISBN: 9789146214
  Similar to the Drottningholm book, above. A 140-page book with photographs by Ralf Turander about the Stockholm palace once belonging to Sophia Albertina. Reprinted in 2006.
• Jan Mårtenson, Residences
  (Swedish: Residenser)
  Wahlström & Widstrand / Swedish Foreign Ministry (i.e. the English translation), 1997
  ISBN: 91-46-1718
  Yet another book by Jan Mårtenson about palaces. This time where the Swedish ambassadors live in the various capitals of Europe (e.g. Bonn, Brussels, Copenhagen, Paris, Rome). Co-translator with Rod Bradbury.
• Various authors, Royal Artists of Sweden
  (Swedish: Kungliga svenska konstnärer)
  The American Swedish Historical Museum in Philadelphia / Wahlström & Widstrand, 1994
  ISBN: 91-46-1780
  A book describing the background to the Royal Artists of Sweden exhibition in Philadelphia. Co-translator with Rodney Bradbury, Stephanie Eklund and Gillian Karnéus.
• Jan Mårtenson, The Swedish Horse Guards
  (Swedish: Beridna Högvakten)
  The Swedish Horse Guards Association, 2007
  
  A book, with photographs by Ralf Turander, about the Swedish Horse Guards and their history.
• Jaan Kross, Treading Air
  (Estonian: Paigallend)
  The Harvill Press, 2003
  ISBN: 1 84343036
  A 300-page novel covering the life of one Ullo Paerand, taking us from grammar school life in the late 1920s, via the Second World War and the occupation of Estonia by the Soviet Union, to the 1980s. Translated from the Estonian.
• Mati Unt, Things in the Night
  (Estonian: Öös on asju)
  The Dalkey Archive Press, Illinois, 2006
  ISBN: 1-56478-38
  A wacky 300-page postmodernist novel with electricity, urban cannibalism and cacti as leitmotifs. Translated from the Estonian
• Jaan Kross, The Conspiracy and Other Stories
  (Estonian: Silmade avamise päev)
  Harvill, London, 1995
  ISBN: 1-86046-00 | 186046-006-2
  Six stories describing life in the GULAG and in German captivity by someone who experienced it (German captivity - three months; Russian captivity - 8 years).
• Friedebert Tuglas, The Poet and the Idiot
  (Estonian: Poeet ja idioot)
  Central European University Press, Budapest, 2007
  ISBN: 978-963-73
  Gothic Symbolist stories by the major cosmopolitan Estonian short-story writer, critic and traveller, Friedebert Tuglas (1886-1971). He lived in Finland (Åggelby), on Åland (Önningeby), in Paris and travelled through Spain, Italy and the Maghreb. His stories are often morbid, except the delightful "Day of the Androgyne", a commedia dell'arte story that appeared three years before Virginia Woolf's "Orlando" and covers a similar theme.
• Mati Unt, Brecht at Night
  (Estonian: Brecht ilmub öösel)
  The Dalkey Archive Press, 2009
  
  A rather humorous postmodernist novel about the German-Jewish playwright Bertolt Brecht when he is in Finnish exile in 1940 with his wife, his mistress, also meeting the Estonian-born Finnish playwright, Hella Wuolijoki. The novel describes in tongue-in-cheek fashion how, while Brecht is thinking about dialectics and the alienation effect for his plays, Estonia is being occupied by the Soviet Union as a result of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. The keynote is irony and synchronicity.
• Jørgen Kieler, Resistance Fighter
  (Danish: Hvorfor gjorde I det? (abridged))
  Gefen, 2007
  ISBN: 9652293970 | 978-965229397
  Memoirs of the Danish WWII resistance fighter Jørgen Kieler who smuggled Jews to Sweden and later helped sabotage Danish factories run by collaborators with the Nazi occupying forces. Kieler was caught and spent some time working as a slave labourer in the notorious underground engineering works at Porta Westfalica.
• Various Authors, The Baltic Quintet
  (Swedish: not applicable)
  Wolsak & Wynn, Toronto, 2008
  
  Poetry anthology. I translated poems by Johanna Ekström, Mårten Westö, Lars Huldén and Ann Jäderlund