The True Deceiver (novel)
Encyclopedia
The True Deceiver is a novel by Swedish-Finnish author Tove Jansson
. It was translated into English by Thomas Teal and won the Best Translated Book Award
in 2011.
The novel was first published in 1982 by Schildts Förlags Ab, Finland. The English translation was first published in the UK by Sort Of Books, then in the US through NYRB Classics, an imprint of The New York Review of Books
.
Tove Jansson
Tove Marika Jansson was a Swedish-Finnish novelist, painter, illustrator and comic strip author. She is best known as the author of the Moomin books.- Biography :...
. It was translated into English by Thomas Teal and won the Best Translated Book Award
Best Translated Book Award
Best Translated Book Award is an annual literature award given by Three Percent, the online literature magazine of Open Letter Books, which is the book translation press of the University of Rochester. It is awarded to the best original translation published that year. A long list and short list...
in 2011.
The novel was first published in 1982 by Schildts Förlags Ab, Finland. The English translation was first published in the UK by Sort Of Books, then in the US through NYRB Classics, an imprint of The New York Review of Books
The New York Review of Books
The New York Review of Books is a fortnightly magazine with articles on literature, culture and current affairs. Published in New York City, it takes as its point of departure that the discussion of important books is itself an indispensable literary activity...
.
Summary
"Snow has been falling on the village all winter long. It covers windows and piles up in front of doors. The sun rises late and sets early, and even during the day there is little to do but trade tales. This year everybody’s talking about Katri Kling and Anna Aemelin. Katri is a yellow-eyed outcast who lives with her simpleminded brother and a dog she refuses to name. She has no use for the white lies that smooth social intercourse, and she can see straight to the core of any problem. Anna, an elderly children’s book illustrator, appears to be Katri’s opposite: a respected member of the village, if an aloof one. Anna lives in a large empty house, venturing out in the spring to paint exquisitely detailed forest scenes. But Anna has something Katri wants, and to get it Katri will take control of Anna’s life and livelihood. By the time spring arrives, the two women are caught in a conflict of ideals that threatens to strip them of their most cherished illusions."Themes
From the back matter: "Deception—the lies we tell ourselves and the lies we tell others [...] solitude and community, art and life, love and hate."Editions
- The True Deceiver, NYRB Classics. Accessed 11 May 2010.