What do you think?
Rate this book
Ramoth-Bezer
Danish
- GenresMagical Realism
224 pages, Unknown Binding
First published January 1, 1994
4 people want to read
About the author
Niels Brunse
82 books4 followersFrom website http://www.nielsbrunse.dk :
I was born 1949 in Silkeborg, Denmark. Spent my childhood in Elsinore, the right place for a future Shakespearean. Studied languages, but dropped out of university with half a degree in Russian language and literature and went on to do what I had always wanted to do: writing and translating. My first translations were poems by the Austrian expressionist Georg Trakl, published 1969, and the first of my own books was a collection of essays on everyday life in Moscow in the late seventies (I was a visiting student at the State University there), published 1980. After that, I turned to fiction – short stories, drama, and three novels so far. The first, “Ramoth-Bezer” (1994), and the third, “Havmanden” (2005), have been published in German as “Die erstaunlichen Gerätschaften des Herrn Orffyreus” (2007) and “Der Meermann” (2008, both translated by Ulrich Sonnenberg), and the second, “I lyset af en kat” (2000), has come out in German as “Die träumende Katze” (tr. Dagmar Lendt) and in Dutch as “De dromen van een kat” (tr. Edith Koenders).
My translations of mostly English, German, and Russian literary works, more than 200 titles, have usually been quite well received. They have earned me several awards, including the life-long grant from the Danish Arts Foundation, the Thornton Niven Wilder Award (Columbia University, New York), and the Übersetzerpreis der Kunststiftung Nordrhein-Westfalen. My main project in the years ahead (a project both delightful and daunting, to be honest) is to finish a complete new Danish translation of Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets, made possible by the generous support of the Bikuben Foundation in Copenhagen. The first volume was published November, 2010, and got some pretty enthusiastic reviews.
Over the years, I have held posts in the Danish Writers’ Association, the Danish Dramatists’ Association, the Danish Arts Foundation, and the Danish Arts Council, and I have been writing reviews of literature, drama, and films for several Danish newspapers and magazines.
I am married to musicologist and opera singer Nila Parly, Ph.D., we live in Copenhagen and have two daughters, Zaina (born 1999) and Isala (born 2002).
I was born 1949 in Silkeborg, Denmark. Spent my childhood in Elsinore, the right place for a future Shakespearean. Studied languages, but dropped out of university with half a degree in Russian language and literature and went on to do what I had always wanted to do: writing and translating. My first translations were poems by the Austrian expressionist Georg Trakl, published 1969, and the first of my own books was a collection of essays on everyday life in Moscow in the late seventies (I was a visiting student at the State University there), published 1980. After that, I turned to fiction – short stories, drama, and three novels so far. The first, “Ramoth-Bezer” (1994), and the third, “Havmanden” (2005), have been published in German as “Die erstaunlichen Gerätschaften des Herrn Orffyreus” (2007) and “Der Meermann” (2008, both translated by Ulrich Sonnenberg), and the second, “I lyset af en kat” (2000), has come out in German as “Die träumende Katze” (tr. Dagmar Lendt) and in Dutch as “De dromen van een kat” (tr. Edith Koenders).
My translations of mostly English, German, and Russian literary works, more than 200 titles, have usually been quite well received. They have earned me several awards, including the life-long grant from the Danish Arts Foundation, the Thornton Niven Wilder Award (Columbia University, New York), and the Übersetzerpreis der Kunststiftung Nordrhein-Westfalen. My main project in the years ahead (a project both delightful and daunting, to be honest) is to finish a complete new Danish translation of Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets, made possible by the generous support of the Bikuben Foundation in Copenhagen. The first volume was published November, 2010, and got some pretty enthusiastic reviews.
Over the years, I have held posts in the Danish Writers’ Association, the Danish Dramatists’ Association, the Danish Arts Foundation, and the Danish Arts Council, and I have been writing reviews of literature, drama, and films for several Danish newspapers and magazines.
I am married to musicologist and opera singer Nila Parly, Ph.D., we live in Copenhagen and have two daughters, Zaina (born 1999) and Isala (born 2002).
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 24, 2011
Der dänische Germanistikprofessor Robert Zahme lebt aufgrund einer Phobie - er bekommt Panikattacken, sobald er das Haus verlässt - seit einigen Jahren zurückgezogen in seinem Reihenhaus. Erst nach dem Tod seiner Studentin Ulla, für die er mehr als nur Zuneigung empfunden hat, findet er eine neue Aufgabe, der er sich widmen kann: Die Reinschrift eines von Ulla übersetzten Reiseberichts aus dem 18. Jahrhundert. In dem Manuskript ist von einer geheimen Stadt die Rede, in der alle gleichgestellt sind und möglicherweise das Perpetuum Mobile erfunden wurde.
Die Sprache ist schlicht, aber ausdrucksstark; manchmal nachdenklich, manchmal rätselhaft erzählt es abwechselnd die Geschichte vom Freiherrn in der utopischen Stadt und von Zahme in seinem Reihenhaus. Ich muss zugeben, dass ich nicht immer wusste, worauf das Buch letzten Endes hinauswollte - bis dann die letzten Seiten beide Handlungsstränge doch wieder zusammenfügt. Für den Protagonisten ist es eine Art Epiphanie, für den Leser eher ein Aha-Moment, der einen aber befriedigt das Buch zuklappen lässt. Inhaltlich geht es gerade so an der Sparte Magical Realism vorbei, was ich persönlich etwas schade finde, denn gerade die surrealen Elemente fand ich besonders spannend. Alles in allem ist "Die Gerätschaften" vielleicht kein Meisterwerk, aber dennoch ein lohnenswertes, nachdenkliches Buch, das einige interessante Ansätze beinhaltet.
Die Sprache ist schlicht, aber ausdrucksstark; manchmal nachdenklich, manchmal rätselhaft erzählt es abwechselnd die Geschichte vom Freiherrn in der utopischen Stadt und von Zahme in seinem Reihenhaus. Ich muss zugeben, dass ich nicht immer wusste, worauf das Buch letzten Endes hinauswollte - bis dann die letzten Seiten beide Handlungsstränge doch wieder zusammenfügt. Für den Protagonisten ist es eine Art Epiphanie, für den Leser eher ein Aha-Moment, der einen aber befriedigt das Buch zuklappen lässt. Inhaltlich geht es gerade so an der Sparte Magical Realism vorbei, was ich persönlich etwas schade finde, denn gerade die surrealen Elemente fand ich besonders spannend. Alles in allem ist "Die Gerätschaften" vielleicht kein Meisterwerk, aber dennoch ein lohnenswertes, nachdenkliches Buch, das einige interessante Ansätze beinhaltet.
January 22, 2013
One of my all time favorite books!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews