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| Gånglåt, med hjortronsylt (cloudberry jam). |
I've just finished reading Gånglåt (2016), a novel by the Jämtland author Elin Olofsson.
A "gånglåt" is a walking tune suitable for brisk country walks, such as the melody of "Vi går över daggstänkta berg, fallera!" The normal context is folk tunes, relevant to the novel's rural setting in Jämtland and to the musical career of Sonia, one of the lead characters. It also suggests the happy uncomplicated communing of people who are in harmony with each other... something that Gånglåt very devastatingly fails to portray.
Here's some language notes, basically addressed to myself and of interest only to other people who are learning Swedish (and are probably getting a bit beyond Duolingo).
I found it a perfect novel for that purpose: contemporary, realistic, unsentimental, concise with its details and poetry, exact in its rendering of ordinary speech. The rural setting also worked for me, though other learners might want something more urban.
SAOB, constantly referenced here, means Svenska Akademiens Ordbok, the Swedish equivalent of the Oxford English Dictionary but freely available online (though I hardly dare to mention this for fear of jinxing it). The definitions are massively detailed and not easy reading, but pasting bits into Google Translate is usually enough to get the gist.
Kattan
Men i mig bor en farlig katta
med mjuka tassen slår hon mus
hon åmar sig långt bort i natta
stryker trolöst varje hus (p. 5)
But in me lives a dangerous she-cat
With soft paws she kills the mouse
She stalks far away at night
Faithlessly swishes through every house
The chapter epigraph hints at Sonia's unsettled and jarring behaviour when she revisits the family homestead.
"Kattan" was Sonia's first hit record, back in 1979. "Katta" is a variant of "katt"; it just means a cat, or sometimes a female cat specifically; hence it's been used as a gendered insult directed at a woman.
"Stryker" carries the general sense of lightly smoothing or sliding over a surface, for example ironing. It can also have a connotation of swindling, like a cat who visits many houses for food.
Omission of "it" (det)
Vi sparar väl åt henne så att det finns när hon kommer... (p. 9)
We'll save it for her so it's there when she comes...
Note also the present tense "sparar" (where English uses the future tense) and the frequent use in speech of words like "väl" and "ju" and "minsann" which are pretty impossible to translate directly into English. They act like intensifiers that also propose a tone, inviting the listener's collusion in e.g. confidence or resignation or doubt.
E.g. the doctor allowing Sonia one glass of wine: "Det ska ju bara vara bra för hjärtat" (p. 117) -- "It's good for the heart, supposedly". Or Nancybeth arriving with a suitcase: "För ni tar väl emot mig?" (p. 143) -- "Because you'll take me in, right?"
Omission of has/had (har/hade)
Går ju att värma på om hon inte stannat längs vägen och ätit. (p. 9)
It can be heated up if she hasn't stopped along the way and eaten.
It's usual to miss out the first part of compound verbs in subordinate clauses. Despite the omission the meaning is evident because in Swedish the supine form (stannat, ätit) is only ever used in compound verbs.
Big and little sister / hålla
"Storsyrran," viskade Sonia medan hon höll om henne. (p. 10)
"Big sister," Sonia whispered as she held her.
"Storsyrran" and "lillsyrran" are intimate forms of "storasyster" and "lillasyster". Compare Sture's "dotra" (my daughter, p. 118).
"Hålla om" is to hold someone in the sense of hugging them. "Hålla i" is to hold someone in the sense of e.g. holding on to someone's hand to stop them slipping down a slope. "Regnet håller i sig" means the rain is holding on (persisting), not holding off! "Hålla på" is to support e.g. a football team; "hålla ordning på" is to keep [sth./sne.] in check; "hålla på här hemma", stay (continue) here at home; "hålla på med hennes bok", to carry on with (continue working on) her book.
The harp
"Så du spelar? Harpa, alltså? Eller är det efter patiensen?"
"So you play? The harp, I suppose? Or is it from the patience game?"
When Jenny hears that Sonia's companion is nicknamed Harpan, which means "the harp", her natural first assumption is that he's a musician like Sonia. But "harpan" is also the Swedish name of a popular patience game, the one that Microsoft simply calls Solitaire.
Out in the kitchen
"I'm going to get the roast," Gun-Britt said and disappeared.
Sture collected up the starter plates, put them on the tray and followed her out to the kitchen.
"Yes, I thought he'd be younger," Gun-Britt repeated. "And he was married too, he had a gold ring on his finger."
"Better not interfere. It's probably just someone she knows," said Sture.
"But I'd hoped that she... And she was so anxious about could he rent and was there a slot and it had to be Bergsstugan because it's the nicest."
"She just wanted to help, she knows we need paying guests," said Sture, scooping boiled potatoes into a large porcelain bowl.
"No, not that one. You can't wash it in the machine. The gilt comes off," said Gun-Britt and took the bowl from him.
She put it down on the kitchen side and took another from out the cupboards.
One by one she transferred the potatoes into it with a ladle.
"I thought she seemed so down last winter, but she's been happier on the phone this spring, so I thought she might have met someone."
Sture didn't answer, he carefully rinsed the porcelain bowl under the tap without using any washing-up liquid, then wiped it with a kitchen towel and put it back where he'd taken it.
"Don't get involved," he said. "You know how she gets mad when you do, she thinks you're sticking your oar in."
"I simply care about my daughter, how she's feeling and how she's getting on," replied Gun-Britt, and then they went out to the dining-room again, Sture with the potatoes and the plate for peelings, she with the roast and the carving-knife and the gravy in a jug.
She had to go back and get the salad before they could start on the main course.
*
"Jag går och hämtar steken", sa Gun-Britt och försvann.
Sture samlade ihop förrättstallrikarna, lade dem på brickan och gick efter henne, ut till köket.
"Ja, jag trodde han skulle vara yngre", sa Gun-Britt igen. "Och han var ju gift också, hade guldring på fingret."
"Lägg dig inte i det där. Det är väl bara någon hon känner", sa Sture.
"Men jag hade hoppats att hon. . . Och hon var så angelägen om att han skulle få hyra, att det fanns plats. Och just Bergsstugan skulle det vara. För att den är finast."
"Hon ville väl bara hjälpa till, hon vet att Vi behöver hyresgäster", sa Sture och öste upp kokt potatis i en stor porslinsskål.
"Inte den där. Den går inte att diska I maskin. Förgyllningen släpper", sa Gun-Britt och tog ifrån honom skålen.
Hon satte ner den på köksbänken och tog fram en annan ur skåpen.
En efter en puttade hon över potatiserna i den med en slev.
"Hon lät ju så nere i vintras tyckte jag, men hon har ju låtit gladare på telefon nu i vår så jag tänkte att hon kanske träffat någon."
Sture svarade inte, han sköljde försiktigt porslinsskålen under kraken utan att ta något diskmedel och sedan torkade han ur den med en kökshandduk och ställde tillbaka den där han tagit den.
"Ligg inte på henne om det", sa han. "Du vet att hon blir sur om du gör det. Att hon tycker att du lägger dig i."
"Jag bryr om min dotter bara, hur hon mår och hur hon har det", svarade Gun-Britt, och så gick de ut i salen igen, Sture med potatisen och skalfatet, hon med steken och kniven och brunsåsen i en snipa.
Salladen fick hon gå tillbaka och hämta innan de kunde börja med varmrätten.
(From Ch 2, pp. 50-51.)
Stek: a roast in this case, though "steka" is also "to fry". Gun-Britt's dinner began with some rather unusual blinis, but the main course is nothing fancy: roast beef, boiled potatoes, gravy with a bit of cream in it (though not much), and salad.
Skulle: three appearances in this extract, neatly showing its three main uses; "was going to", "would" and "should".
Guldring på fingret: literally "gold ring on the finger", where English uses a tautological possessive adjective ("his finger"). Compare "sonen" on p. 63 ("the son", where we'd say "his son").
Lägga sig i : to interfere with, get involved in. What you should never do when it comes to their daughter, according to Sture (see also p. 153). He's habitually a smoother-over. Underneath he's probably thinking just the same as his fiery wife, but he tries to stop her thinking or acting. Gun-Britt has a semi-functioning marriage (more than Sonia will ever have), and Sture seems a lovely guy, but Sture diplomatically sleeps through everything, she's on her own.
Snipa: any sort of pouring jug: a gravy-boat in this case, but the word's also used for a cream-jug. Related to "snip", a spout.
Snickarglädje
utan att det skar sig mot snickarglädjen (p. 52)
Snickarglädje (lit. carpenter's joy) is the fancy carved tracery with lots of piercings on the verandas and gables of wooden houses. It arrived in Sweden from Germany in the 19th century (a fashion that originated in Swiss chalets).
https://www.byggahus.se/bygga/snickargladje-da-nu
NB "Snickare" is a general word for woodworker, covering all kinds of furniture as well as house timbers, whereas "carpenter" in English tends to imply house-carpentry, i.e. in contrast to cabinetry or turnery which have become niche crafts now that everyday furniture is mass-produced.
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| Snickarglädje |
[Image source: https://www.gaveldekor.se/product/gavelornament-012-snickargladje-till-tak-taknock .]
On fastenings
Blixtlåset bak i ryggen hittade han men inte hyskan som satt längst upp. När hon skulle hjälpa honom fastnade en slinga av hennes hår i den och luggade henne i nacken. (p. 62)
He located the zip behind her back but not the fastener higher up. When she tried to help him a strand of her hair got caught in it and pulled back her neck.
Of course Per wants to undress her, he's that type of guy, but the new dress that Jenny already regrets buying is causing problems.
Strictly, a hake is a hook and a hyska is an eye or eyelet. A dressmaker would buy a pack of "Hakar och hyskor", meaning hooks and eyes. One of each constitutes a fastener, a häkta, so you might also see them sold as "häktor".
" Luggade" literally means tangled.
"Nacken" is the back of the neck, as opposed to "halsen" (the throat). The latter word is also what you'd use for "neck" in general, e.g. "Giraffen har en lång hals".
Since we're on the subject, "Hon knäppte upp knappen i byxorna" (p.127) means "She undid the button on her trousers" -- not "she did up the button", which would be "knäppte ihop knappen..." But watch out, because "Som tur var hade hon knäppt skjortan ända upp" (p. 131) means "Luckily she'd buttoned her shirt all the way up", just as in English.
The reverse sense of "upp" (from an English perspective) occurs elsewhere too. When Nancybeth gives the impression that she had "tänkt packa upp utomhus" (p.143), it means she looked like she was going to unpack outside, not pack up.
As we'll see when Jenny gets out the camera, knäppa is also to click or snap (take a picture).
Afterwards
När allt rasat ut, det man burit och längtat och trampat sönder, då skulle döden vara så här, utan villa.
When everything had raged itself to a standstill, everything you carried and yearned for and trampled on, then death would be like this, without will.
Another whole lot of missing auxiliary "had"s!
"Rasa" is a tricky word meaning violent and noisy bursting out, used for instance about a building collapsing, violent applause, the raging of a storm; also when plants fling ripe seeds. It has sometimes been just a slangy intensifier: "Det är en rasande tur att du leva min vän" (Evert Taube)... Roaring good luck, so to speak. "Rasa ut" implies something raging itself to a standstill e.g. a fury, a storm blowing itself out.
"Trampa" on its own just means "tread". "Trampa sönder" means "trample", literally "tread to bits".
Night cleaning
Hon sprejade handfatet, kranen och spegeln med en tjockt lager städsprej och hoppades att hon inte skulle bli sjuk själv, för det hade hon inte tid med. Fast hon blev aldrig sjuk, tänkte hon medan hon började gnugga kranen och handfatet med en disksvamp.
Aldrig sjuk och aldrig upplöst längre, som Nancybeth nyss. När sprejen runnit av spegeln såg hon sig själv. Som berget. Grå, grå, grå. Aldrig nygråten numera.
She sprayed the washbasin, tap and mirror with a thick layer of bathroom cleaner and hoped she wasn't going to get sick herself, she had no time for that. Though she never did get sick, she thought as she began wiping round the tap and basin with a sponge.
No, she was never sick any more, never in bits the way Nancybeth was just now. When the spray ran down off the mirror she saw herself. Like the mountain. Grey, grey, grey. Never wet with fresh tears, not any more.
This is Gun-Britt cleaning up the vomit and diarrhoea after getting Nancybeth back to bed.
Disksvamp: a sponge for household cleaning, normally a sponge-scourer these days. The marine animals that we call sponges are called "svampdjur" in Swedish, which itself derives from "svamp" (mushroom, fungus) + "djur" (animal). So "disksvamp" in this sense combines "diska" (cleaning) with "svamp" (a sponge). [But confusingly "disksvamp" also means discomycetes fungi such as Scarlet Elf Cup; in this case a combination of "disk" (a disc shape) with "svamp" (a fungus)!]
Upplöst: literally dissolved, disintegrated; emotionally in bits.
Nygråten: literally newly wept, i.e. when you've just been crying. You won't find this in SAOB, but it's common, e.g. describing people (usually proud mums and dads) with tears in their eyes on Instagram.
"Bortaflin" and "hemmagrin"
Bortaflin och hemmagrin hette det ju, men när de hyrde av henne eller kom till hennes gård var det som om hon tvingades ha bortaflinet på sig hemma också. Det tärde. (p. 99)
The "away grin" and the "home groan" as they say, but when people took her cabins or came up to the farm it was like she had to wear the "away grin" even in her own home. It was wearing thin.
So Gun-Britt's rhyming tag is about the bright smile you put on when in public, masking the real feelings that you only give way to in the privacy of your own home.
The only other place I could find this rhyming pair of expressions was in a post by Elin Olofsson herself, but I did come across another saying: "Efter flin kommer grin" (After grinning comes tears).
Both the words are nouns that are less common than their equivalent verbs (flina, grina).
Flin means "grin", with the same potentially disapproving implications as in English, e.g. a stupid or silly grin (as in Gun-Britt's saying), or the kind of jeering grin that so infuriates serious-minded adults (as in the other saying).
Grin means the distortion of the face when crying (SAOB grin 3). This is the predominant meaning in the north of Sweden (compare p. 152, "Sture började grina" -- began to cry), but in the south of Sweden it usually means just a grin (SAOB grin 4, an import from Danish as some think). Both senses are ultimately connected with the idea of showing your teeth. The southern sense would of course ruin the point of these sayings, which perhaps explains why they're not very common.
Here's a link to that blog post by Elin Olofsson (in Swedish). It reflects on this passage in Gånglåt and on the business of attracting tourism into the depopulated areas of Jämtland.
https://elinolofssondotcom.wordpress.com/2016/03/05/men-aldrig-vackra-vykort/
Jämtska or slang or what?
Hon hörde musiken i huvudet. Hörde piano, hörde gitarr, hörde de klanger hon hört från början när hon skrev låten. (p. 99)
She heard the music in her head. Heard the piano, heard the guitar, heard the sounds she'd heard when she first wrote the song.
Midsummer evening. Sonia is singing unaccompanied; she hasn't played guitar for years.
It's obvious what the sentence means, but I don't understand the construction. Does "hörde de klanger" mean "heard them sound (as she had heard them...)" or "heard the sounds (that she had heard...)"? Either way it doesn't seem to be standard Swedish.
On dishes
... när hon gick runt bordet och samlade ihop disken. (p. 99)
... as she went round the table gathering up the dishes.
Three words to choose between. A dish as in an item of fancy food that you serve up is "en maträtt". A dish as in a utensil is probably "en skål" (a bowl) or "ett fat" (a saucer, also barrel or basin) : e.g. Put it in a dish and cover it, "Lägg det i en skål och täck över". Dishes as in dirty dishes, washing-up, is "disken" or "diskarna" (SAOB disk II.1.b); the former is in definite singular form but with plural meaning, I think. More common than the noun is the verb derived from it: diska, to wash up.
To excess
"Midsommar. Det är nu det vänder", sa hon.
Hon ville att han skulle säga det han alltid sa, det hon hört till leda, att sommaren var lång, att det var mycket kvar än, det som han brukade säga när vedboden var tom eller fönstren behövde kittas om, "sommaren är lång, Gun-Britt, det hinns med sedan", men han sa ingenting. (pp. 103-104)
"Midsummer. Now is when it turns," she said.
She wanted him to say what he always said, what she had heard till she was sick of it, that summer was long, that there was still plenty more time, the things he usually said when the woodshed was empty or the windows needed caulking, "Summer is long, Gun-Britt, there's time for that later," but he said nothing.
"Till leda" is an informal expression meaning something repeated to the point of excess. In English we'd use expressions like "you've been told it a thousand times", "fed to the back teeth", "until I'm blue in the face" or "I've had it up to here with..." to express the same idea.
But now after the disastrous midsummer gathering a weakened Gun-Britt longs to hear Sture's timeworn reassurance, even if she'd only find fault with it.
One
Stigen han funnit gick snett över ena hörnet av en åker ... (p. 105).
The route he'd found cut across one corner of a field...
"Ena hörnet" looks weird; I never saw this on Duolingo! It literally means "the one corner"; ena is the definitive form of en or ett.
Snett means "diagonally" (or the obsolescent English word "athwart").
"Han funnit" is a concealed subordinate clause (that he had found), so "hade" is omitted.
Enastående (or enstående) means "extraordinary".
En can also be used as an impersonal pronoun, instead of man. Here Sonia uses both.
Alla namn tvingar en tillbaka, tänkte Sonia. De sliter och drar i en tills man finner det någon drömde om, tänkte ut och planerade för. (p. 111)
Every name forces you back, Sonia thought. They tear and pull at you until you find what someone dreamed of, thought out and planned for.
She knows her name (originally "Sonja") means "wisdom" (Slavic variant of Sophia) but doubts if her parents chose it for that reason. Gun-Britt means "battle-bright", if it comes to that.
Standing upright
När han fått åt sig lite mer luft reste Harpan på ryggen igen. (p. 106)
When he had taken in a bit more air Harpan straightened up again.
This is "resa" not in the sense of journeying but of setting something upright (SAOB resa v2), e.g the common expression "resa på sig", to get up (stand up from a sitting position). "Resa på ryggen" literally means to straighten up the back. (Harpan after running has bent forward panting with his hands on his knees.)
Vein-painting and gourd-painting
". . . Och ibland hittade han gamla möbler på stan som han tog hem, till och med en gammal ådermålad kista norrifrån med bröllopsdatum som han sa vi kunde låtsas var vårt." (p. 113)
". . . And sometimes he found old furniture in town that he brought home, even an old vein-painted chest from up north with a wedding date that he said we could pretend was ours."
Åder is a vein (blood-vessel, same figurative uses as in English). "Ådermålad" refers to Ådring or ådringsmålning (see Wikipedia), the technique of staining and patterning the surface of cheap wood such as pine to make it look a bit like mahogany or walnut. It's comparable to marble-effect and in English is called faux wood grain. It was very popular in Sweden at the beginning of the 20th century, then crashed out of fashion; I remember it on old furniture in our Jämtland summer cottage.
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| Commode with ådringsmålning |
[Image source: https://auctionet.com/sv/4586547-komod-adringsmalad-1800-tal .]
... där en av amerikanerna dessutom köpt två bursar hjortronsylt och ett kurbitsmålat skrin på loppisen. (p. 135)
... where one of the Americans also bought two jars of cloudberry jam and a gourd-painted box from the junkshop.
Gun-Britt's establishment is entirely typical. Like the coffee servery, the "loppis" is an integral part of any Jämtland farmstead that invites passing tourists; a repository for old furniture, obsolete farm tools, faded linen, bibles, paperbacks and CDs.
"Kurbitsmålning" is a decorative folk art that originated in Dalarna, characterized by richly coloured vegetable and flower shapes. "Kurbits" refers to the squash or pumpkin family (perhaps Jonah's gourd), but the botanical forms aren't meant to portray specific plants.
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| A box decorated with kurbitsmålning |
[Image source: https://auctionet.com/sv/653033-skrin-med-kurbitsmalning-1800-tal .]
Do bears whistle?
"Det säger att den visslar när den kommer, men jag vet inte om det är sant." (p. 120)
"They say it whistles as it approaches, but I don't know if that's true."
Widely credited in Sweden, and often attested (E.g. recently by rider Jhenny Larsson in Offerdal, just before being chased by a bear for 3 km (P4 Jämtland)). According to skansen.se, those who come into contact with brown bears generally say that they make a blowing sound that can resemble a soft whistle.
Jocular inversions
Swedish lends itself to stylistic inversions, much more than modern English. The auctioneer uses this colloquial one, to a child:
"Fråga pappa din om han har råd med en hundralapp..." (p. 127)
"Ask your dad if he has a spare hundred-note ...." (100 kronor note, roughly equivalent to a £10 note)
Compare Sture: "De har ju alltid haft mycket med tornen sina" (p. 144); " Yes, they've always had a lot going on with their towers". (Sture is carefully ignoring the emotional point of the conversation.)
Fika at the farm
Sonia is talking about what's going into her book.
"... Hur pappa alltid lyfte fram mig och såg min talang." (p. 130)
"... how dad always bigged me up and saw my talent."
"Framlyfta" means to highlight or emphasize, but unlike those terms it's also commonly applied to people. A good boss should "lyfta fram" his employees. On LinkedIn people say: I'm not writing this to "lyfta fram" myself but my marvellous team... Often the simplest English translation of "lyfta fram" would be "praise".
But Sonia has come down to the farm with all guns blazing, and she means her sister Gun-Britt to feel the full implication of a highlight standing out from a contrasted background: Dad always put me and my exceptional gift in the spotlight, but naturally he left you in the shade.
Gun-Britt is a bit slow to fire up this morning, possibly because she knows she has a bombshell to drop on Sonia. The conversation turns to Gun-Britt's daughter Jenny, who's feeling poorly.
"Men hon lär väl bli bättre lagom till kvällen", sa Sonia. (p. 131)
"But she will likely be better enough this evening," said Sonia.
Gun-Britt still doesn't see it coming, but the curiously poised expression ought to warn her that Sonia has come with her own bombshell.
"Lär" is an auxiliary verb for talking about the future, but with an element of doubt: translate as "will", "may" or "should". Sonia isn't usually so understated, and it's a warning sign.
"Lagom" (suitably, appropriately, right enough) can be just a harmless filler word, and Gun-Britt doesn't challenge it. But the hint is there. Jenny will be better enough for what?
Incidentally Sture talks about "bord för fikat" (p.144): tables for the fika on the wooden towers used by elk hunters. The term "fika" (originally a jocular transformation of "kaffi"?) only dates back to about 1910. It's more commonly a verb than a noun, and the noun's gender seems to be a matter of personal choice, so the rare definitive singular form is "fikat" for some people and "fikan" for others; there's similar variance on the plural forms, which are even rarer.
Knowledge and science
Jenny's period pains:
Det enda some gjorde smärtan uthärdlig var vetskapen om att den skulle gå över. (p. 132)
The only thing that made the pain bearable was the knowledge that it would pass.
Generally speaking,
vetskap is "knowledge" when it means the knowing of a specific bit of information;
kunskap is "knowledge" when it means knowing a lot (e.g. about a wider topic, or in general);
and vetenskap is the normal word for science.
SAOB says the distinctions are often blurred.
English-style plurals
Swedish has various ways to form the plural of nouns but none of them involves adding -s.
Nevertheless this plural ending turns up in borrowed English words: for instance Sonia talks about "mina fans" (my fans, p. 130), and people wear "jeans".
Sluta, weak and strong
Harpan during his run, comparing Ante's voice with his own:
... men orden var rundare och slöt om mer. (p. 142)
But the words were rounder and encompassed more.
When I looked it up I was surprised to find that "slöt" was a form of the extremely common verb sluta, which unusually has both strong and weak forms (compare "hung" and "hanged" in English). What I mostly seem to hear are the weak forms (E.g. "slutade" not "slöt") but it's down to local or personal preference. SAOB suggests the weak forms correlate with the meaning "to finish" (terminate, stop, end), the strong forms with "to close" (shut, fasten, lock, unite, occlude). The latter is the case here: omsluta means to encompass or surround.
Gone to pieces
"Tror du det har snurrat om för henne nu?" (p. 145)
"Do you reckon she's lost it now?"
This is one of those slangy expressions that SAOB isn't very up with, and typing the phrase into Google gives much better results.
Snurra basically means continuous sound (e.g. background hum, buzz), also applied to the whirring of a wheel. Hence it can mean spinning round, feeling dizzy, your mind in a whirl... and the phrase "det har snurrat om för henne" means she's completely lost it, gone to pieces: mental suffering and confusion after a traumatic event.
[Nancybeth's husband has deserted her, and now she's acting oddly. Gun-Britt's question to Sture is more practical than sympathetic: Does she really mean what she says, or has she gone completely off her rocker now? Gun-Britt is inviting her husband's collusion, but as usual he's a disappointment.]
Not pretending
Jenny tyckte det brände i högerhanden igen, men låtsades inte om det när hon klädde på sig så fort hon kunde. (p. 147)
Jenny felt the burning in her right hand again but ignored it and threw on her clothes.
(Earlier, Jenny had thrust her hand into a bed of stinging nettles.)
Tycka is one of several Swedish words (tro, tänka, anse) that usually translate to "think" in English. Most commonly tycka is used about opinions and tastes and preferences, but it can also be used about a sensory impression, as here. Perhaps a more exact translation would be "Jenny seemed to feel it burning..."
Låtsas usually translates as "pretend", but not always. In this case Jenny is far too angry to care what Per thinks. Yes, she acts as if the pain in her hand isn't there (she "ignored it"); but not because she wants to deceive anyone, it's simply the last thing on her mind, she just wants out.
The ranger's hut
Sture hade isolerat den, inte för vinternätter direkt men för juninätter och septembernätter i alla fall . . . (p. 147)
Sture had insulated it, not enough for full-on winter but for nights in June and September anyway . . .
Isolera means "insulate" as well as "isolate".
Direkt has lots of meanings, mostly to do with straightness or immediacy. Here it means "outright".
In Jämtland July and August are the only months of the year when you likely don't need some kind of insulation. June and September can be pretty cold, and cabin-owners often opt to extend the season with modest insulation, as Sture does here. (September is important because of the elk-hunt.) Making a cabin fit for a northern winter is a whole different ballgame.
Had been or would have been?
Alla tre stugorna var rödmålade utvändigt, samma nyans, men de var olika byggda så riktigt harmoniskt blev det inte. Ändå hade de blivit fint. Stugbyn, som de kallade de tre stugorna, var hennes idé från början. (p. 148)
All three cabins were painted red on the outside, the same shade, but they were built differently so were not truly harmonious. All the same they had turned out nice. The cabin village (as they called the three cabins) was her idea from the outset.
But have I translated the second sentence correctly, or does it mean "Still, they would have been nice" (if built differently) ?
Because in modern Swedish the past perfect is often used to talk about something that isn't the case, the same way Lady Macbeth used it:
Had he not resembled my father as he slept, I had done it. (i.e. I would have done it, but I didn't).
As some Swedes complain, this extension of the past perfect creates the potential for misunderstanding; it relies on the context to tell you whether the thing actually occurred or not.
In this case I'm fairly confident that Gun-Britt thinks the cabins really have turned out nice, unusual as it is for her to feel so unreservedly positive. The larger context, as we'll discover, is getting away with doing things on the cheap. (As well as preparing us for her horrified reaction to Sonia's Dollywood.)
While on this topic, the past perfect is commonly used to respond to a suggestion.
Vill du gå på bio?
Det hade varit trevligt.
The response literally means "That had been nice" and can be interpreted as either "That would be nice" ("Nice idea, I'm up for it") or "That would have been nice" ("Nice idea, but sorry I can't make it"). According to this post the former implication predominates in the south, the latter in the north. I think both implications contain an element of doubt.
Sonia's makeup bag
Hon städade aldrig sminkväskan så en del av det som låg där var väldigt gammalt. Spruckna puderkakor, läppglansförpackningar där sand, damm och döda bananflugor kletat sig fast, ögonpennor och läppennor med avbrutna spetsar, tuber med krämer som utlovade lifting effect. (p. 156)
She never tidied up her makeup bag so some of the contents were ancient. Cracked cakes of face powder, lip gloss packaging with sand, dust and dead fruit-flies stuck to it, eyeliners and lip liners with broken tips, tubes of creams that promised "a lifting effect".
In Sweden fruit-flies are most commonly called banana-flies (bananflugor).
There's an old-fashioned Swedish cake called a "puderkaka" but the term also occurs in the context of face powder, like here.
Drying cabinet
Där stod en rejäl tvättmaskin och en stor torktumlare och bredvid den en långsmalt torkskåp.
"Drar så mycket ström det där så det brukar vi inte använda. Men du kan hänga där ändå, om det är sådant som inte ska tumlas. Det blir ju blött om du hänger ute, för regnet verkar hålla i sig." (p. 166)
There was a decent washing-machine and a large tumble-dryer, and next to it a tall, thin drying cabinet.
"That thing uses so much electric we don't tend to use it. But you can hang your stuff in there anyway, if it can't be tumble-dried. It's sure to get wet if you hang it outside, because it looks like the rain's setting in."
A drying cabinet (torkskåp) is a niche product in Britain but common in Sweden where it's normal for apartment blocks to have a communal wash-house (tvättstuga). Developed in the 1980s, it's a tall electrically heated cabinet used for drying wet coats and shoes as well as delicates that can't be tumble-dried.
Gun-Britt is talking to Harpan. In the eyes of a city-dweller like him, the presence of a drying cabinet at the farm is a reassuring surprise. But Gun-Britt's offer is somewhat equivocal, especially as Sonia's entourage aren't paying guests.
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Elin Olofsson on sly in rural Jämtland and in her novels [Swedish with English translation]:
https://swedishenglish.org/news/selta-workshop/author-elin-olofsson-with-translators-in-london/
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Labels: Elin Olofsson, Jämtland, Specimens of the literature of Sweden
