Marzie's Reads: The Complete and Original Norwegian Folktales of Asbjørnsen and Moe

Review of The Complete and Original Norwegian Folktales of Asbjørnsen and Moe

A new, definitive English translation of the celebrated story collection regarded as a landmark of Norwegian literature and culture

Translator Tiina Nunnally first caught my attention in 2005 with her spectacular modern translations of the Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales which removed all the syrupy sweet Disney coating and looked at the astonishingly sharp lessons Andersen offered up to Danish children. As such, I was eager to review Nunnally's latest translation of folktales, modern translations of the much loved Norwegian Folktales collected over decades by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe. If you are a lover of folktales, this is a wonderful edition. Nunnally's well-worded translations (she points out all the efforts translators make to capture the intent of the original in terms understood by modern readers.

 

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