Translingual Divinations - stargazing for untranslated literary gems

"Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, 

so that they will not understand one another's speech."

-- Genesis 11:7 

The confusion of tongues is a real mess. With no language barriers each one of us would have access to so many more great books other than those currently available in one's native tongue. There is a myriad hidden literary gems suspended amidst the swirls of galaxies of untranslated sentences, but with the curse of confusio linguarum it is all just dark matter.

Translingual Divinations is a special space on my blog dedicated to the practice of stargazing in search of untranslated literary voices in the fields of visionary, horror and weird fiction in an attempt to foresee future translations of their respective works into several European languages. Unlike webpages announcing forthcoming publications, Translingual Divinations is part bibliomancy, part a result of my desire to accelerate the future of untranslated publications I'm particularly fond of, part an attempt at finding order in the chaos caused by the biblical confusion of tongues. I see this page as the very heart of this blog's translingual journeys, which consist of my explorations of foreign language publications.


I will also be including here obscure titles yet to be published for the first time in the original language as well as those that have become obscure following their first publication and deserve to be reprinted.

The planned list of works will be gradually expanded as new authors are explored or at least mentioned on the blog or my Twitter or elsewhere. Each item on the list will be followed by the date of when the author/title was first spotted and the link to the reference. I will also be trying to keep track of translations that have been successfully predicted (except for uncollected short story translations).

This is organized based on the target language with each section containing a list of titles I predict one day will be translated or published for the first time in that particular language:

English

Uncollected Stories by Joel Lane (spotted throughout 2017 and reported here, to be reported on CL separately)

The Missing Tracks by Joel Lane [non-weird] (spotted December 2016, reported here and here)

The Collected Prose Poems by Thomas Wiloch (spotted c. 2007, reported here)

Die darbenden Schatten by Eddie M. Angerhuber (spotted in 2005 reported here)

Powrót, Nie ma Wędrowca by Wojciech Gunia (spotted 2016, reported here)

Der Orchideengarten [magazine] (spotted c. 2007, later reported here, published: Zagava, July 2017)

Untranslated short story collections by Thomas Owen (spotted c. 2007, later reported here)

Sortilège by Michel de Ghelderode (spotted c. 2012, later reported here, published: Spells, Wakefield Press 2017)

Fantasy/weird fiction short story collections by Franz Hellens (spotted c. 2012, later reported here)

Another collection of the best stories assembled from the Weirdmonger Wheel by D. F Lewis (first spotted August 2005 here)

Novels, Plays by Stefan Grabiński (spotted c. 2004, to be reported on CL)

Polish

Dramaty by Stefan Grabiński (spotted c. 2004, to be reported on CL)

The Lost District by Joel Lane (spotted December 2016, reported here)

Short story collections by Thomas Ligotti (spotted November 2004, later reported here and elsewhere, Teatro Grottesco - published: Okultura, May 2014)

Nocturnal Products, Die darbenden Schatten by Eddie M. Angerhuber (spotted in 2005 reported here)

Any short story collection/novels by Tommaso Landolfi (spotted c. November 2007, later reported here,  II mar delle blatte e altre storie, Morze Karaluchów - published: Biuro Literackie,  Nov. 2016)

The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce (spotted c. 2003, reported here)

The House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski (spotted c. November 2006, later reported on my previous blog and here. Published: Dom z Liści, Mag, October 2016)

Unblemished by Conrad Williams (spotted 2010, unreported)

The Divinity Student, or other novels by Michael Cisco (spotted c. 2006, later reported here)

Any short story collection by Mark Valentine (spotted c. 2010, later reported here)

Divinations of the Deep by Matt Cardin (spotted c. 2005, later reported here)

Any short story collections or novels by Quentin S. Crisp (spotted c. 2007, later reported here)

The Red Tree [novel], any short story collection by Caitlín R. Kiernan (spotted c. 2009, later reported here)

Any short story collection by Reggie Oliver (spotted c. 2007, later reported here)

Any short story collection by Mark Samuels (spotted c. 2006, later reported here)

Any short story collection by Brian Evenson (spotted c. 2006, later reported here)

Any short story collection by Thomas Owen (spotted c. 2007, later reported here and here)

Sortilège by Michel de Ghelderode (spotted c. 2012, later reported here)

Fantasy/weird fiction short story collections by Franz Hellens (spotted c. 2012, later reported here)

Any collection of the best stories assembled from the Weirdmonger Wheel by D. F Lewis (first spotted August 2005 here)

Die Nacht aus Blei by Hans H. Jahnn (spotted c. 2010, later reported here)

Any story collection by Robert Aickman (spotted c 2006, previously unreported)

French

Unblemished by Conrad Williams (spotted 2010, previously unreported)

Nocturnal Products, Die darbenden Schatten by Eddie M. Angerhuber (spotted in 2005 reported here)

Powrót, Nie ma Wędrowca by Wojciech Gunia (spotted January 2017, reported here)

Der Orchideengarten [magazine] (spotted c. 2007, later reported here)

Any collection of the best stories assembled from the Weirdmonger Wheel by D. F Lewis (first spotted August 2005 here and reported in various other places)


Italian
Unblemished by Conrad Williams (spotted 2010, previously unreported)

Nocturnal Products, Die darbenden Schatten by Eddie M. Angerhuber (spotted in 2005 reported here)

Powrót, Nie ma Wędrowca by Wojciech Gunia (spotted January 2017, reported here)

Der Orchideengarten [magazine] (spotted c. 2007, later reported here, published: Der Orchideengarten. Il giardino delle orchidee, Edizioni Hypnos, April 2016)

Any collection of the best stories assembled from the Weirdmonger Wheel by D. F Lewis (first spotted August 2005 here and reported in various other places)



Spanish
Unblemished by Conrad Williams (spotted 2010, previously unreported)

Nocturnal Products, Die darbenden Schatten by Eddie M. Angerhuber (spotted in 2005 reported here)

Powrót, Nie ma Wędrowca by Wojciech Gunia (spotted January 2017, reported here)

Der Orchideengarten [magazine] (spotted c. 2007, later reported here)

Any collection of the best stories assembled from the Weirdmonger Wheel by D. F Lewis (first spotted August 2005 here and reported in various other places)



German
Unblemished by Conrad Williams (spotted 2010, previously unreported)

Powrót, Nie ma Wędrowca by Wojciech Gunia (spotted January 2017, reported here)

Der Orchideengarten [reprint of a magazine] (spotted c. 2007, later reported here)

Any collection of the best stories assembled from the Weirdmonger Wheel by D. F Lewis (first spotted August 2005 here and reported in various other places)