![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nerakroseTop 100 science fiction and fantasy books
I've read some of the books on this list and some are on my to-read list, while some I've heard of and some I haven't. But I noticed something - none or very few have been translated into English from some other language (I know Verne is on the list, but are there others?). And it got me thinking.
Do you lovely people on my flist, know of a fantasy or sci-fi book/series in your mother tongue (if it's not English, that is) that is really good/popular and either not translated or not on the list?
I'm really curious, because this language thing intrigues me. Many English-language fantasy/sci-fi novels get translated into a zillion languages, but it seems to me that there's not much traffic the other direction. It's a bit like a one-way high way... I discovered the other day that the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare has been translated into Danish and most recently Clockwork Angel. Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle series has been translated into Danish. Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl series has been translated into Danish. Anne Rice has been translated into Danish. We all know JKR has been translated into everything. I could mention several more, but let's stop here.
I remember that most of the fantasy and sci-fi novels I read in my youth (and I say youth because I had a massive break of a few years between 15-20 where I didn't read much at all) all had foreign names on the cover.
I read *everything*. I've read several variations on witch!fantasy (magical-object-gives-you-powers, evil-neighbour-witch, witch-in-high-school, prophecied!witch, etc.), elf!fantasy (musical!elves, tree!lelves, secret!lelves, etc.), alien-invasion!sci-fi (alien!masters & human!servants, aliens-in-zoo, post-apocalyptic-alien-invasion, etc.), technologically-advanced-world!sci-fi (instant cloning, children in fake uteruses, children getting sucked into video games, etc.), and...a zillion others.
It was and probably always will be my favourite genre, but fact remains: all this shit was translated. A lot of it was read while I still lived in Iceland and Iceland has a rather terrifying amount of books to be released every year, of both translated and native lit. I never wanted for anything, but you know what? I can't recall a single Icelandic fantasy or sci-fi author. Maybe it's just because fantasy and sci-fi don't exist as separate genres in Icelandic lit - we usually split books into "fiction", "child lit", "poetry", "non-fiction" and "translated fiction" and "translated child lit". within "fiction" there's a subclass called "spennusögur" which roughly translates to "exciting stories". That's where we dump crime novels, adventure and probably also fantasy and sci-fi. I actually think it's pretty interesting because the Icelandic people is a remarkably literate nation. We have a literacy rate of 100% and the most common christmas gift is a BOOK. We read everything, regardless of what it is - the same tendency is very prevalent in the cinema. We don't classify films as anything but "films". Everyone sees everything and this is the main reason why many films premiere in Iceland weeks before they premiere elsewhere in the world; if the Icelanders like the film - it's a success. But I digress.
Some stuff in Danish (translated and untranslated):
The Shamer Chronicles by Lene Kaaberbøl which I have to confess I'm really surprised to discover has been translated. It's also the only one I've been able to find that's been translated into English. I read this series back in 2003, partially for class (the first book) and partially because I really liked it (the rest of the series). YA fantasy novels.
Something I think is worth mentioning - you all know the comic series W.I.T.C.H ? I used to be a big fan and I drew fanart and shit for it. also back in 2003 or earlier. Anyway, above mentioned author wrote 9 books for the series for Scandinavia/Denmark, but she was forced to write them in English and then have them translated to Danish for the Danish releases, instead of the other way around. (I've read these books too. I think I owned like three of them at some point...)
Jarastavens Vandring and Blodsbröder by Saga Borg (pseudonym). I thought these were Danish, but are actually Swedish. They've been translated to Danish and Norwegian only so far as I can see. I haven't read them but they've been on my to-read list since forever. YA fantasy novels.
Morganas Kilder by Helle Ryding, a trilogy that's been on my to-read list since forever as well. YA fantasy novels and quite famous. Not translated to any language at all. Draws heavily on nordic mythology, according to several online sources.
There's a bunch of other Danish authors that haven't been translated at all, such as Kenneth Bøgh Andersen.
And I wonder why this is so - Many of these are YA and it's tempting to think that they're not taken seriously as sci-fi/fantasy and therefore no one bothers translating them, but why should that be so? We have zillions English-language YA fantasy/sci-fi translated into Danish. Just look at the authors I mentioned in the beginning of this post. Or is it maybe that foreign language fantasy/sci-fi is deemed "unworthy" ? Must good fantasy/sci-fi be written in English to get recognition? One thing is recognition within a country's own boundaries (Kenneth Bøgh Andersen has won several awards, for example, and Lene Kaaberbøl is widely reknown for being one of the best children and YA lit authors we have), but is it necessary to get recognition outside of these boundaries (=be translated into English) to be deemed a good fantasy/sci-fi writer, someone who's worth reading?
Or is it maybe that Scandinavian fantasy/sci-fi is too nordic and not universal enough? We have proud mythological roots and we aren't afraid of exploiting them in our fiction. But maybe the key here is that good stuff must be unplaceable? generic? That it's only "good" if it's completely made up? Only, that argumentation doesn't hold much water since fantasy ultimately builds upon centuries-old superstitions and mystical creatures and beliefs that we thinking creatures have created. There's only so many ways you can re-create an elf or a dwarf, right? There's only so many supernatural powers you can afflict humans with, right? But is it true that fantasy derived from mythological sources isn't proper fantasy? HMM. Anyone remember Percy Jackson?
But maybe that doesn't count because it's Greek mythology and Greek and Roman stuff has a rather elevated cultural status in the Western world at large?
My mind is boggling and I seem to have forgotten what the point of this post was.
I've read some of the books on this list and some are on my to-read list, while some I've heard of and some I haven't. But I noticed something - none or very few have been translated into English from some other language (I know Verne is on the list, but are there others?). And it got me thinking.
Do you lovely people on my flist, know of a fantasy or sci-fi book/series in your mother tongue (if it's not English, that is) that is really good/popular and either not translated or not on the list?
I'm really curious, because this language thing intrigues me. Many English-language fantasy/sci-fi novels get translated into a zillion languages, but it seems to me that there's not much traffic the other direction. It's a bit like a one-way high way... I discovered the other day that the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare has been translated into Danish and most recently Clockwork Angel. Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle series has been translated into Danish. Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl series has been translated into Danish. Anne Rice has been translated into Danish. We all know JKR has been translated into everything. I could mention several more, but let's stop here.
I remember that most of the fantasy and sci-fi novels I read in my youth (and I say youth because I had a massive break of a few years between 15-20 where I didn't read much at all) all had foreign names on the cover.
I read *everything*. I've read several variations on witch!fantasy (magical-object-gives-you-powers, evil-neighbour-witch, witch-in-high-school, prophecied!witch, etc.), elf!fantasy (musical!elves, tree!lelves, secret!lelves, etc.), alien-invasion!sci-fi (alien!masters & human!servants, aliens-in-zoo, post-apocalyptic-alien-invasion, etc.), technologically-advanced-world!sci-fi (instant cloning, children in fake uteruses, children getting sucked into video games, etc.), and...a zillion others.
It was and probably always will be my favourite genre, but fact remains: all this shit was translated. A lot of it was read while I still lived in Iceland and Iceland has a rather terrifying amount of books to be released every year, of both translated and native lit. I never wanted for anything, but you know what? I can't recall a single Icelandic fantasy or sci-fi author. Maybe it's just because fantasy and sci-fi don't exist as separate genres in Icelandic lit - we usually split books into "fiction", "child lit", "poetry", "non-fiction" and "translated fiction" and "translated child lit". within "fiction" there's a subclass called "spennusögur" which roughly translates to "exciting stories". That's where we dump crime novels, adventure and probably also fantasy and sci-fi. I actually think it's pretty interesting because the Icelandic people is a remarkably literate nation. We have a literacy rate of 100% and the most common christmas gift is a BOOK. We read everything, regardless of what it is - the same tendency is very prevalent in the cinema. We don't classify films as anything but "films". Everyone sees everything and this is the main reason why many films premiere in Iceland weeks before they premiere elsewhere in the world; if the Icelanders like the film - it's a success. But I digress.
Some stuff in Danish (translated and untranslated):
The Shamer Chronicles by Lene Kaaberbøl which I have to confess I'm really surprised to discover has been translated. It's also the only one I've been able to find that's been translated into English. I read this series back in 2003, partially for class (the first book) and partially because I really liked it (the rest of the series). YA fantasy novels.
Something I think is worth mentioning - you all know the comic series W.I.T.C.H ? I used to be a big fan and I drew fanart and shit for it. also back in 2003 or earlier. Anyway, above mentioned author wrote 9 books for the series for Scandinavia/Denmark, but she was forced to write them in English and then have them translated to Danish for the Danish releases, instead of the other way around. (I've read these books too. I think I owned like three of them at some point...)
Jarastavens Vandring and Blodsbröder by Saga Borg (pseudonym). I thought these were Danish, but are actually Swedish. They've been translated to Danish and Norwegian only so far as I can see. I haven't read them but they've been on my to-read list since forever. YA fantasy novels.
Morganas Kilder by Helle Ryding, a trilogy that's been on my to-read list since forever as well. YA fantasy novels and quite famous. Not translated to any language at all. Draws heavily on nordic mythology, according to several online sources.
There's a bunch of other Danish authors that haven't been translated at all, such as Kenneth Bøgh Andersen.
And I wonder why this is so - Many of these are YA and it's tempting to think that they're not taken seriously as sci-fi/fantasy and therefore no one bothers translating them, but why should that be so? We have zillions English-language YA fantasy/sci-fi translated into Danish. Just look at the authors I mentioned in the beginning of this post. Or is it maybe that foreign language fantasy/sci-fi is deemed "unworthy" ? Must good fantasy/sci-fi be written in English to get recognition? One thing is recognition within a country's own boundaries (Kenneth Bøgh Andersen has won several awards, for example, and Lene Kaaberbøl is widely reknown for being one of the best children and YA lit authors we have), but is it necessary to get recognition outside of these boundaries (=be translated into English) to be deemed a good fantasy/sci-fi writer, someone who's worth reading?
Or is it maybe that Scandinavian fantasy/sci-fi is too nordic and not universal enough? We have proud mythological roots and we aren't afraid of exploiting them in our fiction. But maybe the key here is that good stuff must be unplaceable? generic? That it's only "good" if it's completely made up? Only, that argumentation doesn't hold much water since fantasy ultimately builds upon centuries-old superstitions and mystical creatures and beliefs that we thinking creatures have created. There's only so many ways you can re-create an elf or a dwarf, right? There's only so many supernatural powers you can afflict humans with, right? But is it true that fantasy derived from mythological sources isn't proper fantasy? HMM. Anyone remember Percy Jackson?
But maybe that doesn't count because it's Greek mythology and Greek and Roman stuff has a rather elevated cultural status in the Western world at large?
My mind is boggling and I seem to have forgotten what the point of this post was.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-08-12 03:25 pm (UTC)As for non-English fantasy/sci fi, the only one I can think of off the top of my head is Wolfgang Holbein. Otfried Preußler wrote "Krabat", which is a tale about a wizard's apprentice, that's the other thing that comes to my mind, but his books are mostly for children and feature elements that could just as well be called "fairy tale" (another point that makes me doubt the validity of the list above).
no subject
Date: 2011-08-12 03:58 pm (UTC)I also haven't read Outlander, but my mum loves it, so I kind of know what it's about. And as far as I understand it, the novel is rather a historical novel than fantasy. The only fantasy element, I think, is the fact that Claire travels back in time, but the world she travels back to is 100% realistic. (My mum keeps going on how pages and pages of detailed battle descriptions and politics bore her :P).
I wonder why Bram Stoker is not on that list. Or, well, Conan Doyle wrote sci fi as well. Making History was, I think nominated? awarded? some sci-fi prize as well?
I'm getting warier and warier of that list the longer I think about it. I'll go get cake now. XD
no subject
Date: 2011-08-12 04:09 pm (UTC)OUTLANDER IS PORN. Just plain porn. Mary-Sue ridden self-insertion rape-fantasy porn.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-12 04:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-12 04:50 pm (UTC)All my porn is Victorian or Victorian era LGBT.no subject
Date: 2011-08-12 06:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-12 06:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-12 04:34 pm (UTC)Yeah, the list is a bit pants (it was created on a reader/voter basis anyway), but it doesn't really change the fact that I've had a hard time finding foreign (as in, non-english) fantasy and sci-fi translated into English. There has to be some, but if there is, it hasn't been advertised as broadly as english-language stuff, which is what makes me wonder...
Yeah, there's some stuff missing. Also I think I saw Frankenstein on the list. I wouldn't call that sci-fi at all and those who do haven't understood what the book. *shrugs*
no subject
Date: 2011-08-12 04:44 pm (UTC)Might also be partly the audience - if you ask a primarily English-speaking audience, your results will be biased in one way or another.
Frankenstein... well, it could pass as an early form of fantasy, but I'd agree that it's rather to be fit into the horror/gothic novel corner. I assume it's the scientific and supernatural element that got it onto that list. But that makes me wonder where, e.g. Poe is - his stuff is supernatural as well. (Hell, Dorian Gray is fantasy if the mere mention of realistically impossible things is a criterion).
no subject
Date: 2011-08-12 04:52 pm (UTC)It makes me wonder whether what it takes to get internationally recognised. not a lot of stuff is translated into english and a lot of what is, has been translated after some kind of award - I highly doubt that Laxness would've been translated at all if he hadn't gotten the Nobel price of literature...
no, Dorian Gray isn't fantasy. :P If that's the criteria we go by, even normal ghost stories are fantasy...
no subject
Date: 2011-08-12 05:04 pm (UTC)I know. I think it's a matter of prestige, tbh. Or possibly tradition? I don't know, actually - it might be a mix of many factors. But as far as I know (at least that's what Eero-the-translator told us at the seminar back then - translating is a tough business and there's not much prestige in it, either. The industry can't keep up with all the stuff that gets put out, so efforts get geared towards the award winning stuff. Many translators just pick random novels they read and then translate and then offer the products to a publisher, etc.)
Exactly that. And I would say the same is true for a number of novels on that list.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-12 05:10 pm (UTC)very true. and translation business isn't exactly having an easy time of it either. dunno what it's like elsewhere, but here in DK the translator's guild is protesting because the publishing houses don't want to pay for the translations anymore.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-12 05:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-12 05:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-12 05:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-12 05:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-12 04:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-12 04:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-12 05:21 pm (UTC)I've worked at many bookstores and I always find it interesting how things are shelved. For example, at Borders several of those books (The Handmaid's Tale, The Time Traveler's Wife, The Princess Bride, Frankenstein, etc. were never shelved in Sci-fi/fantasy.
In bookstores, the issue is marketing. On the one hand, some people want to go right to a specific section (LGBT lit, romance, African-American lit, Fantasy) to find the kind of books they like, but those sections are also off-putting to some because there are stigmas attached. (For example, people are afraid they'll look gay/racist/geeky, etc. for being seen browsing in there.) Eventually, some of those sections end-up being "wastelands" of "crap books" because the "real books" end-up in lit. That is not so much true of sci-fi/fantasy, but it is for the rest. Toni Morrison? Sure she writes about African-American subjects, but she she's one numerous awards (including a Pulitzer), so she's often shelved in "Literature" (or both Lit and African-American Lit.) It almost becomes a snobby thing.
The problem is that, in the end, there is still the battle between authorial intent and personal interaction with the reader. To me, The Time Travelers Wife functioned much more as Magic Realism because it was set in the "real world" with only one aspect that as at all "magical." But that's just my opinion.
Theoretically, science-fiction contains aspects of science, space, technology, etc. and fantasy revolves around magic and the supernatural, but that's pretty basic and ill-defined. What do you call sci-fi, fantasy, etc.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-12 05:32 pm (UTC)I've been studying literature for 5 years and have examined all kinds of narrative texts on so many different textual aspects, I'm hesitant to call any novel any label. I prefer saying "it's got elements of a, b, c and d". It's never, NEVER just one.
But, of course, you are completely right that bookstores need to follow some line of procedure in order to work. That's an entirely different matter and I see the problem there. (Incidentally I've been wrecking my brain over how to organise my shelves and folders of literary texts in any kind of sensible order... it's horrible. >.<)
no subject
Date: 2011-08-12 05:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-12 05:44 pm (UTC)...I've now taken all my beloved books into the shelf in my room (alphabetically sorted) and the others outside in the other room (alphabetically sorted). Not sure how long it'll hold up, but... oh well, I just suck.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-12 05:45 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2011-08-12 06:29 pm (UTC)I am totally with you on that, my dear. In fact, I think that, considering most people's experience with computers and modern search techniques (Google, etc.), it is best to just use large categories (History, Biology, Cookery, etc.) and basically leave fiction as a large chunk that can be subcategorized only if necessary. Poeple can search to find subjects of interest (ghost stories, Renaissance settings, sports fiction, etc.) rather than browse though sub-sections.
As to my own books, I'll admit that I am very bad. I have general categories (novels, poetry, gardening books, spirituality books, etc.), but that's about it.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-12 06:42 pm (UTC)...and even if I don't, I can see whether it's a bodice ripper, a crime novel, classic literature, etc. from the spine of the book on the shelf. The stuff that's potentially interesting to me will attract my eyes automatically, no matter how jumbled up the genres, so give me chaotic secondhand bookstores any day.
But then again, I reckon different people will look for books differently and so big bookstores especially might prefer to sort by rough category... for those people who are less specific in their searches, perhaps.
I've now got them sorted alphabetically and divided up by preference. I want to sleep with my favourite babies as close as possible, never mind about the rest. ;P