M. Mitchell - translation

Translations by Mike Mitchell

“One of the major strengths [of Ariadne Press] has been its ability to attract first-rate scholars and translators … One outstanding example of this talent is Michael Mitchell …” — Francis Michael Sharp, Austria Kultur

Click here for Mike Mitchell's home page.

German classics Modern German fiction

German plays Biography

History, art, science and thought German travel

Anthologies French fiction

German classics
Theodor Fontane	Effi Briest with an introduction and notes by Ritchie Robertson, 2015, Oxford University Press, World Classics ISBN 978-0-19-967564-7 “ … the translation by Mike Mitchell is excellent — I never had the sense that I was even reading a translation, which is high praise from someone as fussy as I am. So — highly recommended.” — Harriet, Shinynewbooks, Reprints Issue 5 Click here to see a sample.
Karl Emil Franzos Click here for more information.	Leib Weihnachtskuchen and his Child 2005, (UK) Ascog Press ISBN 0-9545989-0-3 / (US) Ariadne ISBN 1-57241-137-6 Click here to see a sample.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe	The German Refugees 2006, Dedalus ISBN 1-903517-44-3 Click here to see a sample.
Grimmelshausen	The Adventures of Simplicissimus(1669) Dedalus, 1999 ISBN 1-873982-78-X Click here to see a sample. See also Prizes and awards. The Life of Courage (1670) Dedalus, 2001 ISBN 1-873982-56-9 Tearaway(1670) Dedalus, 2003 ISBN 1-903517-18-4 Click here to see a sample. The Continuation of Simplicissimus(1669) Dedalus, 2019 ISBN 978-1-910213-92-6; (ebook) 978-1-912868-15-5 Click here to see a sample.
Franz Kafka	The Trial with introduction and notes by Ritchie Robertson, OUP, Oxford World's Classics, 2009 ISBN 9780199238293 Click here to see a sample.
Oskar Kokoschka	Stories from my life (1956/1974), Ariadne, 1998 (with E. Wilkins, E. Kaiser) ISBN 1-57241-062-0 Click here to see a sample. Plays and Poems, Ariadne, 2000 ISBN 1-57241-041-8
Alfred Kubin	The Other Side (1909) Dedalus, 2000 ISBN 1-873982-69-0 “ … this superb new translation …” — Keiron Pinn, Time Out Click here to see a sample.
Paul Leppin	The Road to Darkness Dedalus, 1997 ISBN 1-873982-33-X containing two novels, Daniel Jesus (1905) and Severin's Road to Darkness (1914) and a short story, The Ghost of the Jewish Ghetto (1914-1915). Click here to see a sample.
Gustav Meyrink	The Angel of the West Window (1927), Dedalus, 1991 ISBN (UK) 0-946626-65-0, (US) 0-929497-44-9 The Green Face (1916), Dedalus/Ariadne, 1992 ISBN (UK) 0-946626-92-8, (US) 0-929497-37-6 Click here to see a sample. Walpurgisnacht (1917), Dedalus/Ariadne, 1993 ISBN (UK) 1-873982-50-X, (US) 0-929497-71-6 Click here to see a sample. The White Dominican (1921), Dedalus/Ariadne, 1994 ISBN (UK) 1-873982-55-0, (US) 0-929497-88-0 Click here to see a sample. The Golem (1915), Dedalus/Ariadne, 1995 ISBN 1-873982-91-7 Hardback edition with 25 illustrations by Hugo Steiner-Prag, Tartarus Press, 2004, ISBN 1-872621-85-6 “A new and quite superb translation” — Chris Gilmore, Interzone Click here to see a sample. See also Prizes and awards. The Dedalus Meyrink Reader, Dedalus, 2010 ISBN 978 1 903517 85 7 an anthology of newly translated stories and articles by Meyrink together with extracts from previously published translations Click here to see a sample. The Short Stories of Gustav Meyrink, volume II Dedalus, 2023 ISBN 978 1 915568 05 2 ebook ISBN 9781 915568 37 3 Click here to see a sample. Volume I (2023), also from Dedalus, contains stories mostly translated by Maurice Raraty. ISBN 9781915568045
Robert Musil	The Confessions of Young Törless with introduction and notes by Ritchie Robertson, OUP, Oxford World's Classics, 2014 ISBN 978-0-19-966940-0 Click here to see a sample.

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Modern German fiction
Catali Dennhof	A Houseful of Ghosts Arabeskenverlag, 2017 (ebook) ISBN 9783981881929 Click here to see a sample. GuiltLESS. The Long Journey of Amadeus Glückskind Arabeskenverlag, 2019 ISBN 978-3-981881981 Click here to see a sample.
Karen Duve	The Prepper Room (Macht) Dedalus, 2017 ISBN 9781910213728 “It is excellent to see work of this versatile writer translated from German — and so effectively. More please!” Silvia Sovic, European Literature Network. Click here to see a sample.
Eugen Egner	Androids from Milk Dedalus, 2001 ISBN 1-903517-02-8-064-7 Click here to see a sample.
Max Frisch	An Answer from the Silence: a story from the mountains (1937) Seagull Books, 2011 ISBN 13 978 9064 792 7 Click here to see a sample.
Friedrich Glauser Click here to see an interview with Peter Rozovsky on this work.	Thumbprint (1936) Bitter Lemon Press, 2004 ISBN 1-904738-00-1 Click here to see a sample. In Matto's Realm (1936) Bitter Lemon Press, 2005 ISBN 1-904738-06-0 Click here to see a sample. See also Prizes and awards. Fever (1937) Bitter Lemon Press, 2006 ISBN 1-904738-14-1 Click here to see a sample. The Spoke (1937) Bitter Lemon Press, 2008 ISBN 978-1-904738-27-5 Click here to see a sample. The Chinaman (1938) Bitter Lemon Press, 2007 ISBN 978-1-904738-21-3 Click here to see a sample.
Petra Hammesfahr	The Lie (2003),Bitter Lemon Press, 2009 ISBN 9781904738428 “Hammesfahr makes this story, preposterous in outline, work with great success, largely through the quality of her writing which, in Mike Mitchell's translation, tells a compelling tale.”— Jane Jakeman, The Independent Click here to see a sample.
Florian Kalbeck	The House of the Linsky Sisters (1990) Ariadne, 1996 ISBN 1-57241-026-4 Click here to see a sample. His Pencil's Sharp Strokes / Mit seines Stiftes Spitze (bilingual edition) Mandelbaum, Vienna, 2004 ISBN 3-85476-126-0 Click here to see a sample.
Anna Kim	Frozen Time (2008) Ariadne, 2010 ISBN 9781572411722 Click here to see a sample.
Helmut Krausser	The Great Bagarozy (1997), Dedalus, 1998 ISBN 1-873982-04-6 Click here to see a sample. The Babel Denotation (1999), ARD, 1999 long poem; the libretto of a radio piece that won an award at 1999 Prix Italia Click here to see a sample. The Little Gardens of Maestro Puccini, film script; for Rowohlt Medien, 1999 Click here to see a sample. Eros (2006), Europa Editions, New York, 2008 ISBN 978-1-933372-58-7 Click here to see a sample.
Thomas Lehr	September: Mirage (2010), Seagull Books, 2013 ISBN 9780857420787 Click here to see a sample.
Matthias Mander	The Cassowary (1979), Ariadne, 1994 ISBN 0-929497-73-2 Click here to see a sample.
Andreas Okopenko	Child Nazi (1999),Ariadne, 2003 ISBN 1-57241-116-3 “Michael Mitchell has succeeded brilliantly with Okopenko's often lyrical text”— David Scrase, Modern Austrian Literature Click here to see a sample.
Markus Orths	The Staff Room (2003), Dedalus, 2008 ISBN 978-1-903517-55-0 “For the last 25 years Dedalus — the withdrawal of Arts Council funding notwithstanding — has made an important contribution to British culture by publishing European fiction in translation. They love writers who deal in what they call distorted reality — the unusual, bizarre and surreal — such as this wonderful satire, translated from German by Mike Mitchell, which is as funny as it is savage.”— David Sinclair, Tribune Click here to see a sample.
Martin Prinz	On the Run (2002), Dedalus, 2005 ISBN 1-903517-36-2 Click here to see a sample.
Herbert Rosendorfer	The Architect of Ruins (1969), Dedalus, 1992 ISBN (UK) 0-946626-91-X, (US) 0-7818-0001-3 Click here to see a sample. See also Prizes and awards. German for Gastarbeiter in The London Magazine, October/November 1993 Click here to see a sample. Stephanie (1977), Dedalus, 1995 ISBN 1-873982-17-8 See also Prizes and awards. Letters Back to Ancient China (1983), Dedalus, 1997 ISBN 1-873982-97-6 Click here to see a sample. See also Prizes and awards. Grand Solo for Anton (1976), Dedalus, 2006 ISBN 1-903517-45-1 Click here to see a sample.
Ralf Rothmann	Fire Doesn't Burn, Seagull Books, 2012 ISBN 13-978-0-8574-2-047-3 Click here to see a sample.
Franz Rottensteiner (editor)	The Black Mirror & Other Stories: An Anthology of Science Fiction from Germany & Austria (1871–2008), with introduction and notes, Wesleyan University Press, 2008 ISBN 978-0-8195-6830-4 hardback; 978-0-8195-6831-1 paperback “Mitchell seems to have relatively little prior experience with SF, but he persuasively captures the tone of the different eras without homogenizing the language into some contemporary version of SF-speak…”— Gary K. Wolfe, Locus Click here to see a sample.
Frank Schätzing	Death and the Devil (1999), William Morrow, 2007 ISBN 978-0-06-134948-5 Click here to see a sample.
Hansjörg Schneider	The Basel Killings (2021), Bitter Lemon Press PB ISBN 978-1-913394-547 eB USC ISBN 978-1-913394-554 eB ROW ISBN 978-1-913394-561 German title: Hunkeler macht Sachen Click here to see a sample. Silver Pebbles (2022), Bitter Lemon Press PB ISBN 978-1-913394-622 eB USC ISBN 978-1-913394-639 eB ROW ISBN 978-1-913394-646 German title: Silberkiesel Click here to see a sample.
György Sebestyén	The Works of Solitude (1986), Ariadne, 1991 ISBN 0-929497-21-X A Man too White, Ariadne, 1993 ISBN 0-929497-27-9 Click here to see a sample.
Uwe Tellkamp	The Tower (2008), Allan Lane, 2014 ISBN 9780241004579 “Mitchell does a masterful job of translating Tellkamp's prose in a nuanced and balanced manner without sacrificing reading fluidity. His sensitive rendering also makes it possible to follow Tellkamp's stylistic shift from a kind of bourgeois realism à la Thomas Mann in the first half of the novel to echoes of so-called socialist realism in the second.” — Bradley Schmidt in Asymptote November, 2014 Click here to see a sample.
Hermann Ungar	The Maimed (1928), Dedalus, 2002 ISBN 1903517109 “Ungar's understated prose (perfectly captured by veteran translator Mitchell)” — Kirkus Reviews Click here to see a sample. The Class (1927), Dedalus, 2004 ISBN 1903517192 Click here to see a sample.
Keff Vidala	Until Love finds us (2016), BoD-Books on Demand, Norderstedt 2019 ISBN-13: 9783750416024 Click here to see a sample.
Josef Winkler	The Serf (1987), Ariadne, 1997 ISBN-13: 1-57421-021-3 Click here to see a sample.

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German plays
Ingeborg Bachmann	The Radio Family with afterword by Joseph McVeigh — 15 episodes written for the popular radio soap opera broadcast in the American sector of occupied Vienna in the 1950s — Seagull Books, 2014 ISBN 978-0-8574-2-191-3 Click here to see a sample.
Thomas Bernhard	Over all the Mountain Tops , Ariadne, 2004 ISBN 1-57241-128-7 Click here to see a sample.
Peter Handke	Till Day You Do Part: A Question of light , Seagull Books, London, New York, Calcutta, 2010 ISBN 9781906497736 Click here to see a sample.
Ödön von Horváth	Tales from the Vienna Woods & Other Plays (1931-1933) Ariadne, 2002 ISBN 1-57241-108-2 containing also The Italian Evening Casimir and Caroline Faith, Love, Hope Click here to see a sample.
Werner Schwab	An Anthology of Plays Ariadne, 2000 ISBN 1-57241-064-7 containing First Ladies First Ladies was produced at the Trap Door Theatre Chicago in March 2011. “…First Ladies is a laugh-out-loud, sickening, gasp-inducing, ridiculous, revelatory, hypnotic masterpiece. It is marvelous and macabre. It is splendid and sordid. It is clever and carnal. It is vicarious, vicious and vile. It is glorious and gruesome. It is preposterous and pathetic. It is lovely and lethal. It is ravaging and resplendent. It is Trap Door at its most morbidly magnificent and it is a once in a lifetime theatrical treasure. Fortunately for you, this production has just opened so you can see it without the need of a time machine. Don't wait until it is too late.” —Venus Zarris in Chicago Stage Review OVERWEIGHT, unimportant: MISSHAPE OVERWEIGHT was produced at the Trap Door Theatre Chicago in October/November 2011. “With hilarious chill, Werner Schwab's OVERWEIGHT, unimportant: MISSHAPE plunges into the dark, unknowable depths of human longing, Never before has degradation, perverse loneliness, and mankind's toxic ego been so funny. Steppenwolf member Yasen Prankov directs the U.S. premiere.” The Round of Pleasure The Round was produced at the New Stage Theatre Company, New York, November/December 2007. “The … production of Schwab's The Round of Pleasure is a Viennese treat, a rich dessert from Mittel Europa that breaks all the artificially imposed rules of political correctness … Round has no social conscience, while also having as complete a picture of society's moral hypocrisies and ethical duplicities as one can get in an hour and a half.” — Larry Litt in The New York Theatre Wire, 2007 Click here to see a sample.

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Biography
Asmaa Alghoul and Selim Nassib (from French)	A Rebel in Gaza: Behind the Lines of the Arab Spring, One Woman's Story Doppelhouse Press, 2018 ISBN 9780998777054 (pb) 9780998777023 (hb) Click here to see a sample.
Ingeborg Bachmann	War Diary Seagull Books, 2011 ISBN 9780857420084 Click here to see a sample.
Pascal Bruckner (from French)	A Dutiful Son Dedalus ISBN 978-1-910213-16-2 paperback; 970-1-910-213-17-9 ebook (2015) Click here to see a sample.
Erwin Blumenfeld	(with Brian Murdoch) Eye to I: the Autobiography of a Photographer (1976) Thames & Hudson, 1999 ISBN 0-500-01907-X Click here to see a sample.
Hans Magnus Enzensberger	Tumult Seagull Books, 2016 ISBN 978-0-8574-2-370-2 paperback Click here to see a sample. Gone but not forgotten Seagull Books, 2022 ISBN 978-0-8574-2-977-3 hardback A collection of ideas and outlines for film and theatre projects. Click here to see a sample. This is the complete outline for a film The three wise Men from the Orient.
Max Frisch	Drafts for a third sketchbook Seagull Books, 2013 ISBN 978-0-85742-169-2 Click here to see a sample.
Erich Hackl	Three Tearless Histories Doppelhouse Press ISBN 9780997003437 hardback, 978-0-9970034-3-7 paperback (2016) Click here to see a sample.
Katrin Himmler	The Himmler Brothers: A German Family History (2005), Macmillan, 2007 ISBN 978-0-230-52907-6 hardback; 978-0-330-44814-7 paperback (2017) Click here to see a sample.
Sarah Kaminsky (from French)	Adolfo Kaminsky: A Forger's Life, Doppelhouse Press ISBN 9780997003406 hardback; 0780997003475 paperback (2016) Click here to see a sample.
Hans A. Neunzig	Brahms (1973), Haus Publishing 2003 ISBN 0-904341-17-9

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History, art and thought
Arthur Brühlmeier	Head, Heart and Hand: Education in the Spirit of Pestalozzi Sophia Books, 2010 ISBN 9781906924997 Click here to see a sample.
Hans Magnus Enzensberger	Anarchy Seagull Books, 2018 ISBN 9780857426000 Click here to see a sample.
Stefan Klein	(UK) On the Edge of Infinity, Cassell, 2018 ISBN 9781788400602 (US) How to love the Universe: a scientist's odes to the hidden beauty behind the visible world The Experiment, LLC, 2018 ISBN 9781615194865; ebook 9781615195084 The German title is Das All und das Nichts. Click here to see a sample.
Kai Kupferschmidt	BLUE, The Experiment, New York, 2021 ISBN 9781615197521 “In readily accessible prose, Kupferschmidt, an experienced science reporter, walks readers through intricate material in chapters that describe blue in stones, vision, plants, language, and animals… The complexities are laid out with wonderful diagrams and illustrations in an engaging and approachable manner… BLUE is charming and readable.”—: *Booklist*
Adolf Loos	Ornament and Crime: Selected Essays Ariadne, 1998 ISBN 1-57241-046-9 “Loos's essays, well translated into English for the first time by Michael Mitchell [are] the unquestioned gem of this or any publishing season” — Robert Dassanowsky, American Book Review Click here to see a sample. On Architecture Ariadne, 2002 ISBN 1-57241-098-1 Click here to see a sample.
Heinz Politzer	Freud & Tragedy Ariadne, 2006 ISBN 1-57241-146-5
Maurice Rajsfus (from French)	(with Phyllis Aronoff) Operation Yellow Star,Doppelhouse Press 2017 ISBN 9780997818406 (hardback), 9780997003499 (paperback) Click here to see a sample.
Leopold Schwarzschild	Chronicle of a Downfall: Germany 1929-1939, editor Andreas Wesemann, I.B. Tauris (2010) ISBN 9781848852891 A collection of articles from Das Tage-Buch and Das Neue Tage-Buch Click here to see a sample.

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German travel
Roland Hill	Scotland Tauris Parke, 2002 with photographs by Ulrich Müller Click here to see a sample.

Anthologies
Mike Mitchell (editor and translator)	The Dedalus/Ariadne Book of Austrian Fantasy: The Meyrink Years 1890-1930(1992) Dedalus ISBN 0 946626 93 6 Ariadne Press ISBN 0 929497 63 5 This contains 31 stories, four of which were translated by Maurice Raraty. Click here to see a sample. The Dedalus Book of Austrian Fantasy: 1890-2000(2003) Dedalus ISBN 1 903517 13 3 This contains 43 stories, 11 of which are also in the earlier volume. This is one of the best anthologies – as an anthology – I have ever read. It now has 43 tales in it, all of them exciting, all beautifully translated … It also has an excellent introduction, describing the particular qualities of Austrian – as opposed to German, or any other – literatures. AS Byatt The Guardian Click here to see a sample.

Anthologies

Mike Mitchell (editor and translator)

The Dedalus/Ariadne Book of Austrian Fantasy: The Meyrink Years 1890-1930(1992) Dedalus ISBN 0 946626 93 6 Ariadne Press ISBN 0 929497 63 5 This contains 31 stories, four of which were translated by Maurice Raraty.

Click here to see a sample.

The Dedalus Book of Austrian Fantasy: 1890-2000(2003) Dedalus ISBN 1 903517 13 3 This contains 43 stories, 11 of which are also in the earlier volume.

This is one of the best anthologies – as an anthology – I have ever read. It now has 43 tales in it, all of them exciting, all beautifully translated … It also has an excellent introduction, describing the particular qualities of Austrian – as opposed to German, or any other – literatures.
AS Byatt The Guardian

Click here to see a sample.

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French fiction
Jean-Marie Blas de Roblès	Where Tigers are at Home Dedalus, 2011 ISBN (hardback) 9781907650161 ISBN (e-book) 9781907650581 “… Long in the making, and rejected by thirty-five publishers, this clever, exuberant philosophical novel, the winner of three major French prizes, now appears in a splendidly complicit, fluent, vivid translation by Mike Mitchell…” David Coward, Times Literary Supplement 27.07.12 See also Prizes and awards. Click here to see a sample.
Pascal Bruckner	My Little Husband Dedalus, 2013 ISBN 978-1-909232-31-0 (printed); 978-1-909232-59-4 (ebook) Click here to see a sample.
Mercedes Deambrosis	Milagrosa Dedalus, 2002 ISBN 190351701X Click here to see a sample. An Afternoon with Rock Hudson Dedalus, 2005 ISBN 1903517354 Click here to see a sample.
Sylvie Germain	Hidden Lives (2008) Dedalus, 2010 ISBN 9781903517925 Click here to see a sample.
Stéphanie Hochet	Ink in the Blood Dedalus, 2015 ISBN 9781910213117 “‘Hochet’ is French for ‘rattle’; this is a good rattling, as in unsettling, story.” Nicholas Lezard, Guardian, 10.10.15 Click here to see a sample.
Jean-Pierre Ohl	The Lairds of Cromarty Dedalus, 2012 ISBN 9781907650741 (from Les Maîtres de Glenmarkie, 2008) Click here to see a sample. The Devil's Road Dedalus, 2019 ISBN 9781910213933 ebook 9781912868131 Click here to see a sample.
Georges Rodenbach	Bruges-la-Morte Dedalus, 2005 ISBN 1903517230 (Introduction by Alan Hollinghurst; with Death Throes of Towns translated by Will Stone) Click here to see a sample. The Bells of Bruges Dedalus, 2007 ISBN 9781903517543 “There are few novels that quickly astound. This is one of them. Flawlessly translated,…” Herald 03.11.07 See also Prizes and awards. Click here to see a sample. Hans Cadzand's Vocation and Other Stories Dedalus, 2011 ISBN 9781903517864 Click here to see a sample.

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Click here for Michael Mitchell's home page.
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Click here for more details of Dedalus Ltd, England.
Click here for more details of Bitter Lemon Press, England.
Click here for more details of Doppelhouse Press, Los Angeles, California.
Click here for more details of Seagull Books, Kolkata, India.

Translations by Mike Mitchell

Contents