WOW, yes, you know so much about this book! Thank you!
(Any hypothetical person seeing these comments who hasn’t yet read the book but wants to, stop here! Big spoilers ahead, and the surprises in this novel are definitely much of the fun!)
. . .
Well, the pedophilia thing was because of the intense aphrodisiac effect that troll pheromones have on humans… The main character keeps getting extremely turned on in the troll’s presence (with the troll being clearly presented as a very young child!) and just barely managing to pull away and subvert those feelings into more appropriate channels, like hook-ups with his various flings and exes. But it keeps seeming like he’s right on the verge of slipping up WITH the (child!) troll, and because I was perhaps also misled by the English “love story” title, there was a while in the story where I was pretty worried and definitely squicked. That’s why I was so relieved by the ending, where the MC seems to identify himself as kind of family to the troll, to the point of leaving everything and following him into the wild – that’s why I felt like, in *way*, okay, it is a love story – but a family one, not a romantic one.
(I mean, not that anything about the MC’s actions was good or rationally thought out…but I found myself weirdly on board with the idea of the trolls’ impending violent uprising, given the way they’ve clearly been treated! From everything you've said, I now see that this must read VERY differently if you’re steeped in the folklore that inspired the book and are primed to think of trolls as dark beings – rather than as an allegory for present-day oppressed and marginalized people, the way I read it? Then again, from what you said about Sinisalo's anti-environmental-destruction messages, maybe I'm not entirely wrong that her sympathies seem to be with the trolls, not the humans, here?)
But I agree, the other English translation of the title, Not Before Sundown, is better – and I think it works even without knowing the source song/poem. At least, I’m familiar with the folklore of trolls and how they turn to stone in sunlight (I think British and mainland European folklore has that too, not just Scandinavian? I’ve certainly seen it in other fantasy works, not just Scandinavian-based ones.) But I’m guessing they assumed that most Americans wouldn’t have any cultural reference point for that, which is why they changed it. That’s FASCINATING, though, that the poem was added into the English version, and that it’s not even in the Finnish original because everyone already knows it so well! Not the choice I would have made as the translator (probably: would have left the text intact, with the other poem) and added the Reino Helismaa song as an epigraph/prelude up front. hm, man, I do miss being a translator and getting to grapple with these things!)
By the way, I definitely thought it was brilliant how Sinisalo creates this whole alternate reality where trolls have always existed, popping up in scientific works, children’s stories, even Tom of Finland! Really brilliant, and totally convincing. Because, as you say, she’s building on existing folklore, but then also crafting this whole world where trolls have just always been there alongside humans, popping up in references of all sorts.
Oh, also, here’s an interesting thing about this English translation, that I think does work: I didn’t even know the character’s name was actually Enkeli! In the English, if I remember right, his name is Mikael, but he’s also often referred to as “Angel” by the other characters, because he has the nickname Michaelangelo because of his beauty. So his name is essentially Michael, but Michael as in the Archangel Michael, and he also gets called Angel. Again, I don’t think it’s the choice I would have made as the translator (I think I would have kept his name, and maybe also used the nickname Angel? I think it’s clear enough that Enkeli must mean angel, as long as it’s mentioned once or some kind of hint given…though maybe that’s my German speaking!)
Yes, though, it’s clear to me that there’s a ton of meaning I’m missing out on as a non-Finnish reader who hasn’t grown up with the source material, and all the wider folklore about trolls: like, I wouldn’t have known that in the source poem, it’s presented as “leave the darkness so you don’t die” and that this is clearly being presented in contrast with Enkeli’s choice to JOIN the darkness. I wonder if that’s even possible to convey in the translation? Because even if you have the song lyrics in the book, a reader just skims over it once and doesn’t absorb its themes deeply, the way you do if you’ve grown up hearing it all the time. FASCINATING. I love these thorny translation theory questions. :-D
Thanks for giving me all this background on the book!
no subject
(Any hypothetical person seeing these comments who hasn’t yet read the book but wants to, stop here! Big spoilers ahead, and the surprises in this novel are definitely much of the fun!)
.
.
.
Well, the pedophilia thing was because of the intense aphrodisiac effect that troll pheromones have on humans… The main character keeps getting extremely turned on in the troll’s presence (with the troll being clearly presented as a very young child!) and just barely managing to pull away and subvert those feelings into more appropriate channels, like hook-ups with his various flings and exes. But it keeps seeming like he’s right on the verge of slipping up WITH the (child!) troll, and because I was perhaps also misled by the English “love story” title, there was a while in the story where I was pretty worried and definitely squicked. That’s why I was so relieved by the ending, where the MC seems to identify himself as kind of family to the troll, to the point of leaving everything and following him into the wild – that’s why I felt like, in *way*, okay, it is a love story – but a family one, not a romantic one.
(I mean, not that anything about the MC’s actions was good or rationally thought out…but I found myself weirdly on board with the idea of the trolls’ impending violent uprising, given the way they’ve clearly been treated! From everything you've said, I now see that this must read VERY differently if you’re steeped in the folklore that inspired the book and are primed to think of trolls as dark beings – rather than as an allegory for present-day oppressed and marginalized people, the way I read it? Then again, from what you said about Sinisalo's anti-environmental-destruction messages, maybe I'm not entirely wrong that her sympathies seem to be with the trolls, not the humans, here?)
But I agree, the other English translation of the title, Not Before Sundown, is better – and I think it works even without knowing the source song/poem. At least, I’m familiar with the folklore of trolls and how they turn to stone in sunlight (I think British and mainland European folklore has that too, not just Scandinavian? I’ve certainly seen it in other fantasy works, not just Scandinavian-based ones.) But I’m guessing they assumed that most Americans wouldn’t have any cultural reference point for that, which is why they changed it. That’s FASCINATING, though, that the poem was added into the English version, and that it’s not even in the Finnish original because everyone already knows it so well! Not the choice I would have made as the translator (probably: would have left the text intact, with the other poem) and added the Reino Helismaa song as an epigraph/prelude up front. hm, man, I do miss being a translator and getting to grapple with these things!)
By the way, I definitely thought it was brilliant how Sinisalo creates this whole alternate reality where trolls have always existed, popping up in scientific works, children’s stories, even Tom of Finland! Really brilliant, and totally convincing. Because, as you say, she’s building on existing folklore, but then also crafting this whole world where trolls have just always been there alongside humans, popping up in references of all sorts.
Oh, also, here’s an interesting thing about this English translation, that I think does work: I didn’t even know the character’s name was actually Enkeli! In the English, if I remember right, his name is Mikael, but he’s also often referred to as “Angel” by the other characters, because he has the nickname Michaelangelo because of his beauty. So his name is essentially Michael, but Michael as in the Archangel Michael, and he also gets called Angel. Again, I don’t think it’s the choice I would have made as the translator (I think I would have kept his name, and maybe also used the nickname Angel? I think it’s clear enough that Enkeli must mean angel, as long as it’s mentioned once or some kind of hint given…though maybe that’s my German speaking!)
Yes, though, it’s clear to me that there’s a ton of meaning I’m missing out on as a non-Finnish reader who hasn’t grown up with the source material, and all the wider folklore about trolls: like, I wouldn’t have known that in the source poem, it’s presented as “leave the darkness so you don’t die” and that this is clearly being presented in contrast with Enkeli’s choice to JOIN the darkness. I wonder if that’s even possible to convey in the translation? Because even if you have the song lyrics in the book, a reader just skims over it once and doesn’t absorb its themes deeply, the way you do if you’ve grown up hearing it all the time. FASCINATING. I love these thorny translation theory questions. :-D
Thanks for giving me all this background on the book!