Translators’ Seminar: Translating a Messiah

How do you translate a work that breaks all barriers – in scope, genre, language and historical depth? Nobel Prize winner Olga Tokarczuk’s The Books of Jacob is a literary masterpiece: over a thousand pages following the enigmatic Jacob Frank, a charismatic figure who divided the Jewish community in the 18th century with his visions, his teachings, and his ability to amass both devoted followers and bitter enemies.

Tokarczuk depicts a Europe in upheaval, where faith, power and identity are broken – and where the boundaries between truth and deception become dangerously permeable. Transferring this universe into another language is in itself a risky project.

Swedish translator Jan Henrik Swahn, whose early translation of the novel likely paved the way for Tokarczuk’s Nobel Prize, and Norwegian translator Julia Aagenæs Wiedlocha, who completed her monumental work ten years later, meet to discuss the challenges of recreating this world. How does one convey the distinctive language of the 18th century in Swedish and Norwegian? What happens in the transition between cultures, codes, and religious conflicts? And is there, in effect, a Swedish and a Norwegian Tokarczuk?

The conversation will be moderated by Polish translator Agnes Banach.

The conversation will be held in Norwegian and Swedish.

Literature thrives on movement – between people, languages and experiences. Translating is like bringing a work into a new landscape, with all that this entails in terms of trust, interpretation and creative choices. At a time when artificial intelligence threatens to reduce language to a mere function, the art of translation reminds us that language is first and foremost human: felt, experienced, and lived.

With the Translators’ Seminar, we shine a spotlight on translation as a creative act and a prerequisite for literary breadth and diversity. The world is bigger than Norway – and when literature is translated into Norwegian, it also becomes part of Norwegian literature. The series is a collaboration between LitFestBergen and the Norwegian Translators’ Association (NO).