He said:
Philanthropy is simply vanity.
Charity is the way
ambitious ladies
keep score.
You with your little
gender equality department.
Who cares.
He said:
When do you ever think
about anything other than
how injured you are
and how appalling it is
that people don’t think
you’re a great authority.
Why should I play a role in your farce
when you won’t play one in mine?
Or do you think yours is less farcical?
How blind can you be?
She said:
I am playing a role in your farce
though it’s more of a sordid tragedy.
It’s sad that
all you can do is
sneer at me
but that’s fine
I’m used to it.
I’ve done the weekend shop.
Don’t destroy it
please.
YOU CAN GET A LOT DONE BETWEEN THE TEARS
She said:
In The Night of the Tribades
Siri cries
I’m so alone.
Enquist gets it spot on there.
But then the play is from 1975.
Women were on the move.
And new men too.
He said:
I hate the seventies.
No-one noticed me.
He said:
It’s emancipation.
It put ideas in women’s
heads.
Feminism is
a fixed set of opinions.
I despise that kind of thing.
He said:
Man is superior to woman.
It’s how it’s always been
and how it’s going to stay.
Haven’t you got any nails
to bite
or chairs
to hit?
She said:
The mechanism in place.
Half the brain switched off.
Your Google translate
takes the things I say.
Prints out
evasive
derisive
dismissive
contemptuous
words.
Nonsense.
Are you a human being or a platitude generator?
He said:
Watch your step.
I can be a really nasty person.
She said:
Think that’s news?
Today my sister
saw the bruises
in the bath.
By Ebba Witt-Brattström
Translated by Kate Lambert
LOVE/WAR
Written by Ebba Witt-Brattström
Translated by Kate Lambert
Published by Nordisk Books, 2017
Born in Stockholm to a German father and Estonian mother who had sought refuge in Sweden during the war, Ebba Witt-Brattström has won numerous awards for journalism and criticism. She was Swedish newspaper, Expressen’s, runner up in their ‘Women of the Year 2017’ survey.
Kate Lambert has been a freelance translator for over 20 years, following stints as, amongst other things, an English language teacher at a hydropower station in Arctic Finland. As well as having translated a number of titles from Swedish and Finnish, Kate has made contributions to the Dorothy L Sayers Society and has reviewed various works for the Swedish Book Review. She lives in Somerset.