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Not Before Sundown
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Wikipedia article
'Not Before Sundown' (orig. fin. 'Ennen pivnlaskua ei voi', United States: 'Troll - a love story') is a novel by Finnish writer Johanna Sinisalo in 2000. In the same year it won a Finlandia Prize for literature. Since then it has won several awards including The James Tiptree Jr. award in 2004 for works of science fiction or fantasy that expand or explore our understanding of gender.
Plot
The story is about a homosexual photographer Mikael, who finds a young and injured troll from his home yard and takes it to his home. This troll is inspired by Finnish folklore and is an intelligent, almost human-like animal that in appearance resembles a cat and a monkey. In the world of the novel trolls are existing animals instead of mythical creatures, although quite rare.
The book has multiple narrative levels, and each chapter is broken into short segments that alternate between viewpoints of different characters. Interspersed between the story are newspaper articles, old stories, novel segments, jokes and other slightly altered history that illustrates the long relationship between humans and trolls in the world of the novel. By concentrating on gay characters the story explores power structures in interpersonal relationships without the need to consider how gender roles affect them.
Name
The name of the book as well as the names of it chapters are taken from a Finnish song 'Pivnsde ja Menninkinen' by Tapio Rautavaara and Reino Helismaa, which says "Kas, menninkinen ennen pivnlaskua ei voi milloinkaan olla pll maan" (translated "A troll cannot ever stay above the ground before sundown").
Translations
The novel has been translated into the following languages:
*Sweden: 'Bara sedan solen sjunkit', publisher Wahlstrm & Widstrand, Stockholm, 2002, translator Ann-Christine Relander.
*Latvia: 'Pirms saulrieta nav lauts', publisher Atena, Riga, 2002, translator Maima Grinberga.
*Lithuania: 'Trolis', publisher Vaga, Vilnius, 2011, translator Danut Sirijos Girait.
*Japan: 'Tenshi wa mori e kieta', publisher Sunmark Publishing, Tokyo, 2002, translator Mei Yumi.
*UK: 'Not Before Sundown', publisher Peter Owen Publishers, London, 2003, translator Herbert Lomas.
*France: 'Jamais avant le coucher du soleil', publisher Actes Sud, Arles, 2003, translator Anne Colin du Terrail.
*Czech: 'Ne ped slunce zpadem', publisher One Woman Press, Prague, 2003, translator Viola Parente-Capkov.
*United States (edited from the British version): 'Troll A Love Story'; publisher Grove/Atlantic, translator Herbert Lomas, 2004.
*Germany: 'Troll - Eine Liebesgeschichte', Tropen, 2005 (other information missing).
*Poland: 'Nie przed zachodem soca', publisher slowo/obraz terytoria, 2005, translator Sebastian Musielak.
*Spain: 'Angel y el troll "Una fbula slo para adultos"', publisher Ediciones Poliedro 2006, translator Bengt Oldenburg.
*Russia: 'Troll', publisher Amphora, Moscow, 2006, translators E. Ioffe, L. Virolainen
Category:Fantasy novels
Category:20th-century Finnish novels
Category:James Tiptree Jr. Award-winning works
Category:2000 novels
Category:Novels with gay themes
Category:LGBT speculative fiction novels
Category:2000 fantasy novels
Category:Tammi (company) books
Category:2000s LGBT novels
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