Author: sophushelle

Danish. In the wake of Refaat Alareer’s killing by the Israeli occupation on December 7, 2023, his last poem, “If I Must Die,” posted on Twitter on November 1, 2023, was translated into dozens of language, to share his message of hope and resilience around the globe. Necessarily, these translations took place without his explicit permission, but were dedicated to his memory. My Danish translation was printed in the newspaper Information.

“Hvis jeg må dø” (“If I must die”), Information (15 December 2023). Link.

Danish. Written on the 40th anniversary of the publication of the first book in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, the essay reflects on being seen through the eyes of others—time, death, and loved ones. I asked my partner to read one of the books that shaped my youth, Pratchett’s Reaper Man, and the experience of her reading and reacting to it made me realize how central it became to mind. The book is about what it means to be alive—seen from the perspective of a personified, and hilarious, Death.

“Gennem dødens øjne” (“In Death’s Eyes”), Weekendavisen (8 December 2023). Link.

Danish. The late Roman poet Maximianus fulminates against the depredations of old age. In this review of the new Danish translation of his poems (or poem?), I compare him to other late Classical writers who blossomed in the Medieval curricula and then faded from memory, and reflect more generally—drawing on examples from Sappho and The Instructions of Ptahhotep—on the relation between aging in texts and of texts.

“Evigt ung alderdom” (“Forever Old”), Weekendavisen (27 November 2023). Link.

Danish. I was asked to review a new Danish translation of Seneca’s De Consolatione ad Helviam matrem. I read Seneca’s attempt to suppress grief with philosophical arguments up against the German police’s violent attempts to suppress vigils for Palestinian civilians killed by Israeli bombardment in the weeks following Oct. 7. How can we understand these two very different silencings of sorrow in light of each other? The editors opted not to run the piece, which is published here instead.

“Sorgens forstummelse” (“The silencing of grief”), sophushelle.com (30 October 2023).

Danish. Reviewing a collection of Latin quotations used in Asterix, I briefly survey the history of Classical quotations in Western culture and then delve into the strange history of how Et tu, Brute and Alea iacta est changed meaning as they passed from language to language and context to context – ending up in the hands of the spectacularly skilled Danish Asterix translator, Per Då.

“Cæsars blockchain” (“Ceasar’s Blockchain”), Weekendavisen (20 October 2023). Link.

Danish. I present two recent discoveries of cuneiform tablets that have shed light on ancient languages. A find at the ancient Hittite capital Hattusa revealed a previously unknown Indo-European language, Kalashmic, and a tablet from southern Iraq gave us the best possible introduction to Amorite, a language that is best-known for being Hammurabi’s native tongue, but of which we lacked almost any textual evidence.

“Amoritisk ABC” (Amorite ABC”), Weekendavisen (13 October 2023). Link.

Danish. A new Danish translation of four hymns by the Byzantine hymnist Romanos the Melodist contains a fascinating study of how Romanos drew on literary tropes and structures from Classical Greek theater. I explain Romanos’ engagement with these theatrical effects in the context of the entertainment culture in Byzantium under Emperor Justinian.

“Frelsens sang i forlystelsens by” (“The song of salvation in the city of entertainment”), Weekendavisen (13 October 2023). Link.

Danish. In a review of a new Danish introduction to tarot card readings, I sketch out the history of this form of divination, tracking its transformation from a card game in Renaissance Italy through the Occultism of eighteenth-century France and up to its most famous illustrator, Pamela Colman Smith. I also explain my own obsession with the cards, and with what I call “hot readings,” which help my emotionally confused friends (especially the men) talk about feelings they would otherwise struggle to articulate.

“Smutvej til dybdeterapi” (“Shortcut to Psychotherapy”), Weekendavisen (22 September 2023). Link.