This book of short wonder tales was first published as Troldskab in 1892, and this new English translation reproduces the work almost exactly as it was, including illustrations and the original, atmospheric introduction to the subject matter, but also with the very useful addition of a translator’s note and a chronology of the author’s life. Theodor Kittelsen (1857–1914) was a popular Norwegian artist whose illustrations have played an important part of Norwegian tourism for more than a hundred years and have graced the works of other keystone authors of that country, including early editions of Asbjørnsen and Moe’s Norwegian folk tales. This book is a reminder that he also wrote short prose collections. Nunally had already accomplished an admirable translation of Asbjørnsen and Moe (2019), adding a greater fluidity and colloquialism than previous translators, and she brings this same sense of balance to the task of translating Kittelsen’s lesser known...
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