Read by Eric Wagoner.
Listen above or download here.
Show Notes
Today, we present Karlsson by Anatoly Belilovsky whom you may remember from Episode 24, Kulturkampf. He came from the Ukraine to the US in 1976, learned English from watching Star Trek reruns, and is now a paediatrician in Brooklyn, NY. Anatoly has been published in Nature Magazine, Andromeda Spaceways, Immersion Book of Steampunk, Ideomancer and Kasma (where this story was originally published).
Of this story he says, “In the original Swedish book by Astrid Lindgren, Karlsson is a more selfish, more obnoxious version of Dr Seuss’ Cat in the Hat, a negative character. The translation into Russian was wildly successful; without changing the literal meaning of a single sentence, it changed Karlsson into a hero. The cartoon provided an iconic image for Karlsson, and added several of the greatest voice talents of the last century. Karlsson became symbolic of the so-called ‘internal emigres’ – members of various suppressed counterculture movements.”
Your narrator is Eric Wagoner of The Grimm Lunch Break. A few times a week, over his lunch break, Eric records, edits, and publishes one of the original 250 fairy tales collected by the Brothers Grimm and translated to English by Dr. Jack Zipes. You can find The Grimm Lunch Break at http://grimmlunch.org/.
Links to some Karlsson episodes on YouTube:
- Part 1 of the original Karlsson cartoon
- The sequel that introduces Frekken Bock
- A very short INCEPTION spoof with Karlsson
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