Aednan: An Epic.
By Linnea Axelsson. Ed. by Saskia Vogel. Read by Angela Dawe.
2024. 3hr. Books on Tape, DD, $15 (9780593788653).
There is a chapter in Scandinavian history yet unpublished in the global conscience. In the beautiful, heart-rendering epos (land, soil), the listener finds portrayed the history of the Sámi, the only Indigenous people of Europe. Over the twentieth century, the Sámi endured abuse from the governments of the Northern European countries that resulted in a loss of cultural identity and a near disappearance of the Sámi language. Bravely fighting negative self-images imposed by the colonizers, women’s From the excellent translation from Swedish by Saskia Vogel, Dawe lends her gentle, dreamlike voice to the haunting, melancholic tonality of this epic verse novel, messaging to us, outsiders, a revival—yet reminding us that scars will remain. —
