BOOK REVIEW: MAJA LUNDE, “ISTORIA ALBINELOR (BIENES HISTORIE)”, TRADUCERE DE SANDA TOMESCU BACIU, BUCUREȘTI, EDITURA HUMANITAS FICTION, 2019, 384 P.

Abstract

The dystopian novel, Istoria albinelor written by Norwegian author Maja Lunde, presents a fiction with a terrifying potential to become reality in the near future. Initially written as a standalone book, Istoria albinelor becomes the first pillar in the tetralogy called The Climate Quartet. The second one, Blå (2017) and the third, Przewalski’s hest (2019) are both new-born international bestsellers. The fourth is yet a mystery. What the novels have in common is the multivalent perspective when it comes to main characters, periods and places.

Istoria albinelor appeared in Romanian in year 2019, with the support of Norwegian Literature Abroad (NORLA) in the Raftul Denisei Collection of the Humanitas Fiction Publishing House, translated by Sanda Tomescu Baciu professor and founder of the Norwegian language and literature bachelor programme at the Faculty of Letters, Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca. She has translated a number of Norwegian authors into Romanian such as Henrik Ibsen, Lars Saabye Christensen and Knut Hamsun. Regarding this translation, it gives the Romanian public the opportunity to encounter with a novel of high magnitude internationally, as being sold in millions of copies and published in over 35 countries. The translation of Bienes historie (Istoria albinelor) was published with the support of NORLA (Norwegian Literature Abroad).