Translator says Nobel laureate Anne Carson defies categorisation

Canadian writer Anne Carson has won the Nobel Prize in Literature, and translator Hanneleele Kaldmaa says her work is difficult to fit into a single category, ERR reports. Carson is well educated and versatile, Kaldmaa said.

Kaldmaa said she had not expected Carson to win. Although Carson had appeared on potential laureate lists for years, Kaldmaa said she had stopped hoping after she did not win in previous years.

Carson’s only book published in Estonian so far is The Life of Cities, translated by Kaldmaa. It brings together texts from several of Carson’s collections, selected by Kaldmaa based on her own preferences and on how well the pieces fitted together.

Kaldmaa said Carson also translates extensively from Ancient Greek and works with the culture of Ancient Greece, bringing different areas of knowledge together in her writing.

A translation of Carson’s verse novel Autobiography of Red is also in progress at publisher Hunt. Kätlin Kaldmaa is translating the book, which forms a complete work from beginning to end. The translators hope to publish it early next year; the work is nearing completion, Hanneleele Kaldmaa said.