Switzerland

Proleterka is a short novel by Swiss author, Fleur Jaeggy. Written in Italian, it was originally published in 2001 and translated into English in 2019 by Alastair McEwen. I read And Other Stories' paperback edition, which I recently found on the shelves of Blackwells in Oxford.

The language used in this novel was intellectual, crisp and to the point. "Irremediable," "physiognomies," often it felt that no word was placed without looping back into Jaeggy's characters, their lives, their bodies, McEwen's work in translating this novel must have been highly considered when taking care to convey that precision of language. The reader has to do much of the work of introspection because of that precision. It can be read in one sitting but not fully considered in that time, take time to ponder Proleterka.

#womenintranslation #SwissFiction #Italian #translatedfiction #novel #shortnovel