Reading List: Books in Translation

Posted by univnebpress on August 23, 2017 in Jewish Publication Society, Reading List | Leave a comment

Over the years, we’ve published nearly 400 books in translation. Some are quite well-known, like UNL professor Jordan Stump’s translation of Out of the Dark by Nobel Prize-winning French author Patrick Modiano. But the University of Nebraska Press has a rich backlist of diverse translations, from Ancient Greek plays to turn-of-the-century science fiction. We invite you to delve into the world of books in translation with some of our favorite titles.

The Self-Propelled Island by Jules Verne

Translated by Marie-Thérèse Noiset

Jules Verne (1828–1905), the world’s most translated author, wrote numerous classics of adventure and science fiction, including The Meteor Hunt, Lighthouse at the End of the World, The Golden Volcano, and Magellania, which are all available from UNP.

The Bacchae of Euripides: A New Translation with a Critical Essay by Euripedes
A new translation with a critical essay by Donald Sutherland

This new translation of The Bacchae—that strange blend of Aeschylean grandeur and Euripidean finesse—is an attempt to reproduce for the American stage the play as it most probably was when new and unmutilated in 406 B.C.

The Torah: The Five Books of Moses, the New Translation of the Holy Scriptures According to the Traditional Hebrew Text

The Jewish Publication Society has published a number of translations of traditional Hebrew texts, including the Torah and the Book of Psalms. You can learn more about the Jewish Publication Society here.

Afro-Cuban Tales by Lydia Cabrera
Translated by Alberto Hernandez-Chiroldes and Lauren Yoder

The first English translation of one of the most important writers on African culture in the Americas, the collection provides a fascinating view of how African traditions, myths, stories, and religions traveled to the New World—of how, in their tales, Africans in the Americas created a New World all their own.

The World of Yesterday by Stefan Zweig
Newly translated by Anthea Bell

From the author who inspired Wes Anderson’s film, The Grand Budapest Hotel, this new translation by award-winning Anthea Bell captures the spirit of Stefan Zweig’s writing in arguably his most revealing work.

Koasati Traditional Narratives translated by Geoffrey D. Kimball

Koasati Traditional Narratives is the first published collection of oral literature of the Koasati Indians, presented in the original Koasati verse and in English translation.

Winter’s Child by Dea Trier Mørch
Translated by Joan Tate

Dea Trier Morch depicts with uncommon skill an experienec that pays no attention to language differences or national boundaries: childbirth. Joan Tate’s superb translation of the European best-seller introduces Dea Trier Morch to American readers.

Perla (October 2017) by Frédéric Brun
Translated by Sarah Gendron and Jennifer Vanderheyden

Winner of France’s Goncourt Prize for a first novel, Frédéric Brun’s semiautobiographical novel considers the seemingly irreconcilable multiplicities of life—past and present, personal and collective, self and other, life and death.