Not Before Sundown
Not Before Sundown (orig. fin. Ennen päivänlaskua ei voi, United States: Troll - a love story) is a novel by Finnish writer Johanna Sinisalo published 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 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 its chapters are taken from a Finnish song Päivänsäde ja Menninkäinen by Tapio Rautavaara and Reino Helismaa, which says "Kas, menninkäinen ennen päivänlaskua ei voi milloinkaan olla päällä 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 Wahlström & Widstrand, Stockholm, 2002, translator Ann-Christine Relander.
- Latvia: Pirms saulrieta nav lauts, publisher Atena, Riga, 2002, translator Maima Grinberga.
- Lithuania: Trolis, Vaga Publishers [lt], Vilnius, 2011, translator Danutė Sirijos Giraitė.
- 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 před slunce západem, publisher One Woman Press, Prague, 2003, translator Viola Parente-Capková.
- 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 słońca, publisher slowo/obraz terytoria, 2005, translator Sebastian Musielak.
- Spain: Angel y el troll "Una fábula sólo para adultos", publisher Ediciones Poliedro 2006, translator Bengt Oldenburg.
- Russia: Troll, publisher Amphora, Moscow, 2006, translators E. Ioffe, L. Virolainen
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winners
- Motherlines and Walk to the End of the World by Suzy McKee Charnas
- The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
- The Female Man and "When It Changed" by Joanna Russ
- A Woman of the Iron People by Eleanor Arnason (1991, tie)
- White Queen by Gwyneth Jones (1991, tie)
- China Mountain Zhang by Maureen F. McHugh (1992)
- Ammonite by Nicola Griffith (1993)
- "The Matter of Seggri" by Ursula K. Le Guin (1994, tie)
- Larque on the Wing by Nancy Springer (1994, tie)
- Waking the Moon by Elizabeth Hand (1995, tie)
- The Memoirs Of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Theodore Roszak (1995, tie)
- "Mountain Ways" by Ursula K. Le Guin (1996, tie)
- The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell (1996, tie)
- Black Wine by Candas Jane Dorsey (1997, tie)
- "Travels With The Snow Queen" by Kelly Link (1997, tie)
- "Congenital Agenesis of Gender Ideation" by Raphael Carter (1998)
- The Conqueror's Child by Suzy McKee Charnas (1999)
- Wild Life by Molly Gloss (2000)
- The Kappa Child by Hiromi Goto (2001)
- Light by M. John Harrison (2002, tie)
- "Stories for Men" by John Kessel (2002, tie)
- Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls by Matt Ruff (2003)
- Camouflage by Joe Haldeman (2004, tie)
- Not Before Sundown by Johanna Sinisalo (2004, tie)
- Air by Geoff Ryman (2005)
- The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden by Catherynne M. Valente (2006, tie)
- Half Life by Shelley Jackson (2006, tie)
- James Tiptree Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon by Julie Phillips (2006, special recognition)
- The Carhullan Army by Sarah Hall (2007)
- The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness (2008, tie)
- Filter House by Nisi Shawl (2008, tie)
- Cloud and Ashes: Three Winter’s Tales by Greer Gilman (2009, tie)
- Ōoku: The Inner Chambers by Fumi Yoshinaga (2009, tie)
- Baba Yaga Laid an Egg by Dubravka Ugrešić (2010)
- Redwood and Wildfire by Andrea Hairston (2011)
- The Drowning Girl by Caitlín R. Kiernan (2012, tie)
- Ancient, Ancient by Kiini Ibura Salaam (2012, tie)
- Rupetta by N. A. Sulway (2013)
- The Girl in the Road by Monica Byrne (2014, tie)
- My Real Children by Jo Walton (2014, tie)
- "The New Mother" by Eugene Fischer (2015, tie)
- Lizard Radio by Pat Schmatz (2015, tie)
- When the Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore (2016)
- Who Runs the World? by Virginia Bergin (2017)
- "They Will Dream in the Garden" by Gabriela Damián Miravete (2018)
- Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi (2019)
- Ife-Iyoku, the Tale of Imadeyunuagbon by Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki (2020)
- Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki (2021, tie)
- Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon (2021, tie)
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