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This is the blog of Eivor Martinus - a novelist, playwright and theatre director. In 2001, Martinus' biography of Strindberg, Strindberg and Love, was published in the UK. This site is inspired by that project and covers not only her interest in this great literary figure but also her wider work.

Eivor Martinus was born in Sweden but moved to England in1963. She has translated and adapted plays by Ben Jonson, Thomas Dekker, Stephen Lowe and Caryl Churchill for Swedish theatres, but since the mid eighties she has translated fifteen of Strindberg´s plays into English for the stage and adapted several Swedish classics for the BBC Radio.

Eivor took her degree in English and Swedish Literature. Four of her own plays have been produced in England and the U.S and seven of her Strindberg translations have been done in New York.

She has translated and directed The Soldier's Tale, The Magic Flute and Shakespeare on Love for the Lyckå Chamber Music Festival in Southern Sweden.

She has received awards for her work from the Swedish Writers' Union, the Swedish Academy and the British Comparative Literature Association.

1 comment:

  1. Dear Eivor (if I may),

    My name is Chien-kang Tseng, and I live in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan. Friends call me Thomas. I’m a literary translator. I’m 44 (b. 1970). I’m teaching English Literature (the early modern period, mostly, such as John Donne and Shakespeare) and Literary Translation at a local university as Assistant Professor. I got my PhD in English from Newcastle University in 2007. My PhD thesis is about Donne’s Elegies, a series of his early love poems.

    My publications, scholarly and non-scholarly, include:
    ---an annotated, bilingual edition(English-Chinese) of the Elegies of John Donne (July 2011). This edition is based on the Donne variorum published by the Indiana University Press
    ---Norwegian novelist/pianist/composer Ketil Bjornstad’s novel Til musikken (To Music) in a Chinese translation (June 2014).
    ---a Chinese translation of the Canadian painter/novelist Paul Hartal’s novel The Kidnapping of the Painter Miró (December 2014).

    I’ve been Ketil Bjørnstad’s friend for 18 years, and now I’m his literary sub-agent in charge of all his books in Chinese. I have an agreement with his publisher/agency, Aschehoug (Oslo).

    Bjørnstad wrote the following recommendation for me:

    Oslo 20 August 2013 –

    TIL HVEM DET MÅTTE ANGÅ

    Jeg har kjent professor Thomas C. K. Tseng siden 1996, og jeg anbefaler ham på det sterkeste som oversetter og samarbeidspartner. Hans måte å oversette min roman Til Musikken på gjorde inttrykk, også på grunn av hans omtanke for hver minste detalj. Han er åpenbart en av de beste til å oversette fra engelsk til kinesisk. Han har stor kunnskap og kan imponere hvem som helst når det kommer til engelsk litteratur og spesielt John Donne. Han har også stor kunnskap om musikk.

    Siden jeg også har hatt gleden av å møte ham på mine to turneer i Taiwan, kan jeg trygt si at alle som får samarbeide med ham er heldige. Han er klok, inspirerende og spirituell, og han fortjener stor oppmerksomhet. Jeg håper at han kan oversette mange bøker direkte fra, eller via, engelsk i tiden fremover, og at han også ender opp som en strålende forlegger en dag.

    Ketil Bjørnstad


    In addition, I’m Paul Hartal’s art/literary agent in charge of his books (Chinese edition) and paintings.

    A local Taiwanese publisher has asked me if I’d like to translate your English translation, My Life as a Dog, into complex Chinese. I have started translating the opening chapter and found it very beautiful, although I have to say that the language itself is heavily gloomy and sad. I watched the film as a college student many years ago and I really loved it. And then I bought the DVD several years ago, and I have watched it many times since then myself and introduced it to my students here. I don’t read Swedish, but the film back then, as well as the novel now, is really unforgettable.

    I’m writing to ask if there could be any possibility for us to work together. It could be My Life as a Dog or your own original works that have been translated into English. I am able to translate them into complex Chinese, find a publisher here, and be your agent in charge of some other related issues. Please let me know what you think.

    Looking forward to hearing from you!

    By the way, I play the electric guitar and a little bit of rock and roll.

    Thomas Tseng
    Kaohsiung, Taiwan
    25/12/14
    Email: chienkangtseng@gmail.com

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