Danish Literary Sensation Helle Helle To Harvill Secker

fra press announcement:

Michal Shavit, Editorial Director at Harvill Secker, has acquired World English language rights to Danish novelist Helle Helle's THIS SHOULD BE WRITTEN IN THE PRESENT from Sofie Voller at Gyldendal Agency in Denmark. Harvill Secker will publish in autumn 2014. (...) Michal Shavit, Harvill Secker's Editorial Director said: 'We are very proud to welcome Helle Helle to Harvill Secker. Helle is the Scandinavian master of the quiet existence, the unparalleled portrayer of everyday lives in out-of-the-way places, the consummate modern minimalist in whose books nothing and yet everything happens, mostly between the lines, and whose readers are never left unmoved.'

The novel is an intense study of the psychology of a young woman, Dorte Hanson, at a pivotal stage in life, crossing over into adulthood, at odds with herself, not knowing what to do, how to get a hold, where to go. Hanging on to the simple things that are easiest to grasp: making something to eat, getting on a train, washing a pair of jeans, buying a melon, having sex. Restless and uncertain, striving to keep a life together, powerless to move on. Helle's characters say the things people say, and yet everything seems to be left unsaid, and to exist vividly between the lines. It's a style reminiscent of Raymond Carver.


Det lyder jo fantastisk fint og meningsfuldt: At minimalisere den hele engelsktalende verden! Men må jeg ikke have lov til at insistere på, at Dortes efternavn ikke bliver oversat: Dorte Hansen er Dorte Hansen (og i romanen er der jo faktisk 2 DH'er) er Dorte Hansen også på engelsk, lige så meget som en melon er en melon er en melon fx.