New Swedish Books, autumn 2019 1
31 Autumn 2019 TRANSLATOR'S CHOICE Marianne Ségol
-Samoy What books from contemporary literature deserve to be re-discovered? We ask three translators to name books particularly close to their hearts. A book I love, and which I have just finished translating, is Man is the Most Beautiful City by Sami Said. My first impression was: it’s a literary sensation, what language! My next thought was: how can I, as its translator, convey this sense of flowing creativity? The narrator, San Francisco, is the story’s errant wanderer. A dynamic, liberal and multicultural character who invents his own world, his own language, and his own relationships when faced with a society that shows him very little consideration. His nomadic existence, his vulnerability and the material poverty in which he survives are all described in his own distinctly positive way. He prefers to call himself an explorer in search of freedom. He, who belongs to the ‘wind people’. With its unique literary form the novel explores ideas of migration, the situation of undocumented migrants and the challenges they face when trying to fit in to a world where they don’t belong. The language, scattered with cultural references, is often ambiguous and leaves room for different interpretations. Each word and image is infused with Sami Said’s own perspective on the world. He toys with the Swedish language and its grammar, creating a new, personal tongue. The novel demonstrates a timeless originality, combining its lyricism with multiple linguistic registers and an impressive command of the form. Sami Said (b. 1979) Man is the Most Beautiful City, novel, 2018, 367 p. Publisher Natur & Kultur www.nok.se Rights Partners in Stories French edition Le Seuil (soon to be published) Marianne Ségol-Samoy Translates from Swedish to French, lives in Paris, France