opinionated commentary on literary matters - from the complete review

       Gert Jonke (1946-2009)

       Austrian author Gert Jonke has passed away; Dalkey Archive Press have published several of his books -- see, for example, our review of Homage to Czerny.
       No English language reports that we've seen yet, but among the German-language tributes, see:

• Der wachste aller Träumer by Paul Jandl in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung
• Der Wortmusiker by Richard Kämmerlings in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
• Gert Jonke gestorben: Ein wahrer Poet by Norbert Mayer in Die Presse

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

---

       New Words without Borders

       The January issue of Words without Borders is now up, offering: 'Tropical Currents: Writing by Indonesian Women'.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

---

       'Popular Penguins' -- in Australia

       Tom Reilly reports in The Age that Novel idea of an old-fashioned bargain a big hit, as Penguin offer a line of 'Popular Penguins' -- "a low-budget collection that has become a publishing sensation in Australia".
       Yes:

Penguin hoped the eclectic mix of 25 fiction and 25 non-fiction titles would sell 250,000 copies in six months. It reached that target in almost half that time and reprints are still selling strongly for most of the titles.

       Amusingly enough, however:

According to one company source in London, bosses were so doubtful about the concept that they limited the sales area to Australia, New Zealand and India, a decision which cost them dearly in Britain's Christmas market.

       Simplicity, uniformity, cheapness -- hey, we're sold.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

---

       Solstad reviews

       The most recent additions to the complete review are our reviews of two novels by Norwegian author Dag Solstad:

• Novel 11, Book 18, which just came out in English (in the UK -- no US publisher in sight yet)
• The still untranslated footnote-novel (subtitled: Fotnoter til en uutgravd roman ), Armand V.

       Definitely one of the most interesting writers out there.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

       الفاعل takes Naguib Mahfouz Medal (and a plea for uniform transliteration)

       For some two weeks now we've been looking for information about who took this year's Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature (and no, they don't have the information there at the official page for it) and finally find brief mention in Sayed Mahmoud's look at '2008 in the balance' in Al-Ahram Weekly, Double entry ledger. Yes:

young novelist Hamdi Abu Galil won the Naguib Mahfouz Prize awarded by the American University in Cairo.

       (Okay, we could have found it in the Arab-language media -- see, for example, the AFP report -- but that's too much work even for us ..... Though that is where we had to go to find what the title this Bedouin author won the prize for is -- which would be الفاعل.)
       So: Hamdi Abu Galil won.
       Or is it: Hamdy Abowgliel -- as they have it at Banipal.
       Or is it: Hamdi Abu Golayyel -- as they have it at Syracuse University Press (where they published an earlier novel of his, Thieves in Retirement -- see an excerpt at Words without Borders, or get your copy at Amazon.com (where, just to add to the fun, they have his name as: Hamdi Abu Julayyil) or Amazon.co.uk)).
       Sure, the easiest and least confusing way to write the name is, properly, as: حمدي أبوجليل -- but let's be honest, how far does that get most of us ?
       We've often complained about the lack of uniform transliteration of author-names from the Korean, but this is pretty bad too. Come on ! -- just settle on one spelling and stick to it ! Please !

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

---

       New Literary Review at The Hindu

       The January Literary Review is up at The Hindu, with a few articles of interest -- including Urvashi Butalia's look at the thriving Indian book publishing scene, New horizons, new challenges.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

---

       NYTBR catching the translation bug ?

       As longtime readers know, we've often complained about how the Sam Tanenhaus-led The New York Times Book Review seems to have an aversion to covering literature in translation, but for a few weeks now they've actually been ... well, not quite doing their fair share, but at least taking a stab at it. So also in today's issue, where they take on Amélie Nothomb's Tokyo Fiancée (ahead of the rest of the American reviewing pack, no less) as well as Alaa Al Aswany's Chicago (though that has been out for a while).
       Okay, reviewing any Nothomb is hitting us in one of our soft spots (and they actually have a decent track record of covering her), but still.
       Of course, it's premature to jump to any conclusions from a few issues -- especially around the Christmas-season, when people are off on vacation and it's easier to slip things in/by ... but we do have to begin to wonder whether it wasn't in fact recently departed (for daily book-coverage, a different department at The New York Times) Dwight Garner that was the roadblock to literature-in-translation coverage .....

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

       Per Petterson profile

       In The Guardian James Campbell profiles the Norwegian author, in A life in writing: Per Petterson.
       About the recurring character of Arvid Jansen in his works he says:

"He's not my alter ego, he's my stunt man. Things happen to him that could have happened to me, but didn't. He has my mentality."

       See also our reviews of the three available-in-English Petterson titles:

• Out Stealing Horses
• To Siberia
• In the Wake

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

---

       Abdelfattah Kilito on Arabic translations

       In Prison-house of language in The National Kanishk Tharoor writes about Abdelfattah Kilito's interesting-sounding Thou Shalt Not Speak My Language, as:

The book, itself translated from Arabic, privileges anecdote over argument, drifting playfully through the centuries to explore the relationship between the Arab and the foreign. Kilito indulges in a wide panoramic view, taking into account writings of numerous periods and styles

       See also the Syracuse University Press publicity page, or get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

---

       Johannes Mario Simmel (1924-2009)

       Bestselling Austrian author Johannes Mario Simmel has passed away. His very entertaining popular fiction has repeatedly been underestimated -- and it really never took hold in English translation.
       See death-notices at the AFP and AP.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

---

       More 2009 previews

       Yet more 2009 previews, as in The Guardian they consider the (UK) Treats in store for 2009, while in The Times 'Nicholas Clee picks some of the likely highlights for the new year' in The Hottest Reads of 2009.
       Meanwhile, Matilda covers Australia and lists the local Forthcoming Books for 2009.

       (Updated - 4 January): For a stomach-churning top ten of books to avoid -- the titles of three (!) of which begin with the word "I" (you can imagine how much we love those -- and that doesn't even account for the Tori Spelling title) -- check out (or, preferably, avoid) Kate Ward's 2009 books we can't wait to get our hands on at Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

---

       Betting on blockbusters

       In the Wall Street Journal Anita Elberse tries to explain 'Why struggling publishers will keep placing outrageous bids on new books' in Blockbuster or Bust.
       She claims:

Despite its double-or-nothing daring, the blockbuster strategy remains the most sensible approach to lasting success.

       We have our doubts about that, but it is often true that:

When a publisher spends an inordinate amount on an acquisition, it will do everything in its power to make that project a market success. Most importantly, this means supporting the book with higher-than-average marketing, advertising and distribution support

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

       Arabic 'Translation and Cultures' Dialogue'

       In the Daily News (Egypt) Youssef Faltas reports that Writers' Union talks translation at their annual conference. The theme this year was: 'Translation and Cultures' Dialogue'.
       There were a variety of opinions, including Bahaa Taher's:

Taher took the stage and drew attention to what he called a grave danger. "I wish the number of translations were smaller in quantity but greater in quality," he explained.

       Meanwhile Gamal al-Ghitani also received a prize and:

He also mentioned another concern not closely related to the issue of translation which he called literary terrorism. Al-Ghitany stressed that terrorism practiced by law courts against writers by means of large monetary fines highly restrains the creativity and quality of literary works.

       Less helpfully:

The most controversial part of the opening ceremony was Mohamed Afifi Mattar’s speech upon receiving his award for his poetry collection Roba'eet Al-Farah (Quartets of Joy). "Translation is an addressed letter of culture and civilization," he told the audience pointing out that translations from Arabic fail to put forth a realistic and positive image of our Arab world.

"In their eyes, we are the world of Arabian Nights, we are a quirky tale of folklore. Europe translates its own image of us," said Mattar. Then, he proposed a solution to this problem: "I wish that the ones who translate our literature are our own people and our writers and not those barbarians."

Following the ceremony, Mattar told Daily News Egypt that he used the extreme term "barbarians" in describing Westerners because they are "murderers" pointing to the wars in Palestine and Iraq.

       So much for cultures' dialogue .....

       (Updated - 4 January): See now also commentary at la république des livres.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

---

       NYC Librairie de France closing

       Another bookstore closing, as RFI report that New York's French bookshop closes after 73 years:

The Librairie Française at New York's Rockefeller Center will close in September after 73 years in midtown Manhattan, as the store's rent jumps from $360,000 (258,000 euros) to a million dollars (716,000 euros) a year. The bookstore opened in 1935 at the invitation of David Rockefeller, who wanted Europeans to be part of his new office building.

       (Note, however, they can't even get the name of the store right (it's the Librairie de France).)
       Apparently:

The shop flourished throughout the 1960s, with more than 50 employees. Books arrived by the shipload on board steamers such as the France.

       And:

"In those years we would order 3,000 copies of the Prix Goncourt literary prize winner," said Molho. "Today, we don't have more than ten copies in stock."

       The official website states that: "Our world-famous French bookstore is the only one of its kind in the United States." And then there were none.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

---

       Another 2009 preview

       In The Independent Boyd Tonkin previews the Highlights of 2009: Books.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

---

       Reading in ... Kenya

       In the Business Daily Mwenda wa Micheni thinks Reading serious books challenges your thinking, wondering:

Do our leaders have time to read serious literature; literature that engages the mind and offers direction ? What literature do they read if the do at all, empty pulp literature ?

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

---

       New Open Letters Monthly

       The poetry-heavy January issue of Open Letters Monthly is now available.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

---

       All the King's Horses review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is our review of Michèle Bernstein's 1960 novel, All the King's Horses, now available in English -- a book we were made aware of by Joshua Clover's review in The Nation (see ! review coverage is vital, since no one tells us about these things).

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

       How international are we ? - the past 100 books

       We recently topped the 2200-review mark, and so we look back again at how many of the previous 100 titles (reviews 2101 to 2200, spanning just under half the past year) were books in translation.
       As usual -- most. Indeed, more titles were originally written in French (23) than English (21), only the second time that's happened. Spanish (11) and German (12) also fared well again, and with at least two titles in each of twelve different languages the spread was pretty decent.
       In all, we reviewed books originally written in 22 languages other than English, including first-time languages Burmese and Telugu (bringing the total number of languages represented to an even 50).
       See also our continuing coverage of How international are we ?, as well as the updated language list.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

---

       German bestsellers 2008

       A reader kindly pointed us to the buchreport lists of the bestselling hardcover and paperback books in Germany in 2008, and in Die Welt they offer an overview of Die meistverkauften Bücher des Jahres (the bestselling books of the year).
       Charlotte Roche's Wetlands has sold an unbelievable 1.3 million copies, while one has to imagine that it was the German Book Prize win that pushed Uwe Tellkamp's Der Turm into the top five.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

---

       4 x German fiction at the TLS

       In the TLS Jane Yager offers a four-for-one review of 'new fiction from Germany' in the slightly misleadingly titled What was the GDR ?.
       She starts off with Tellkamp's Der Turm, and also discusses "Marcel Beyer’s finely wrought Kaltenburg", "Adam und Evelyn, Ingo Schulze's new novel about the end of the GDR", and -- in an odd fit -- Swiss author Lukas Bärfuss' Rwanda-novel Hundert Tage.
       She concludes:

Tellkamp, Beyer and Schulze have explored the GDR with commendable depth and complexity. Bärfuss’s book, meanwhile, has pointed to a promising new direction for German literature. The next literary generation will be well served if others of its best writers follow his lead in turning their considerable powers of observation outwards, towards losses less often chronicled by German-language writers.

       We didn't take to Kaltenburg, but we have read (but not reviewed) the Bärfuss -- and it seems the most likely to enjoy some success in translation (the Schulze will inevitably be translated, and at this point -- after the German Book Prize and its sales success -- it seems likely someone will take a chance on Der Turm).

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

---

       Sherlock Holmes Was Wrong review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is our review of Pierre Bayard Reopening the Case of The Hound of the Baskervilles in Sherlock Holmes Was Wrong.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

       RSB Books of the Year 2008 symposium

       At ReadySteadyBook "friends and contributors" reveal "which books impressed and moved them most over the last twelve months", in the annual Books of the Year 2008 symposium.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

---

       The year in publishing in ... China

       At Rednet.cn they offer a list of the Top 10 trends in publishing in China in 2008.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

       Salman Rushdie profile

       In The Telegraph John Preston offers a nice long profile of Salman Rushdie: provoking people is in my DNA.
       Apparently Rushdie does keep track of his reviews (and makes up his own while bathing), as he says about The Enchantress of Florence (see our review-overview):

The book, declares Rushdie with satisfaction, has done terrifically well in France, getting 'the sort of rave reviews you find yourself making up in the bath'.

Over here, it had a more mixed reception, but then, as Rushdie says of himself, 'I'm not the sort of writer who ever gets five out of 10 reviews. I tend to get 11 out of 10, or minus one out of 10. That's all right, though; it shows that people are having strong reactions.'

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

---

       Robert Giroux profile

       Arts Journal points us to Boris Kachka's Courtly Lion in New York, in which he writes that: 'Robert Giroux's life reminds us that great publishing needs quiet rebels (and taste).'

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

---

       Pitching the first lady's memoirs

       In The New Yorker Sheelah Kolhatkar looks at Laura Bush's efforts to sell a book, in First Memoirs.
       Apparently:

The reception to Mrs. Bush’s pitch has been mixed so far. "She was not forthcoming about anything that I would consider controversial," the publisher who met with her said. "We questioned her rigorously, but it was one-word answers. I considered it the worst, or the most frustrating, meeting of its sort that I’ve ever had." He added, "But she really couldn’t have been nicer."

       Then there is this, courtesy of Curtis Sittenfeld (author of American Wife; see our review-overview):

Even Curtis Sittenfeld, who spent months researching Mrs. Bush’s life story, is conflicted about the hypothetical memoir. "Do you remember after Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston separated, it was more interesting to wonder what Aniston thought than to find out what she thinks ?" Sittenfeld said over the phone last week. "Sometimes when people share their thoughts it’s sort of disappointing."

       Huh ?
       We're afraid we do not remember that it was more interesting to wonder what Jennifer Aniston thought ... indeed, we still have no idea (or interest) in what she thinks (or her various separations or co-joinings). But Sittenfeld does prove her point: sometimes when people share their thoughts it’s sort of disappointing.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

---

       Kirsch on The Canterbury Tales

       At Slate Adam Kirsch does his best in trying to present something of a review of a 'translation' of The Canterbury Tales by Burton Raffel, in The Secret of The Canterbury Tales.
       He does grant:

For those readers who are absolutely unwilling to puzzle out Middle English spelling, or spend time getting acquainted with Chaucer's versification and syntax, Raffel's edition will be a useful substitute.

       But he also notes:

But even Raffel, a poet who has translated everyone from Cervantes to Stendhal, seems a little curious why anyone would bother reading The Canterbury Tales in translation.

       See also the Modern Library publicity page, or get your own copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

---

       Unforgiving Years review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is our review of Victor Serge's Unforgiving Years.
       (This is also one of the books on the longlist for the 'Best Translated Book of 2008'-award.)

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

       New World Literature Today

       The January/February issue of World Literature Today is out -- though with a very limited amount accessible online. But you can check out the table of contents and see why the print copy is worth getting.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

---

       Another fake memoir ...

       In The New Republic Gabriel Sherman wrote about Wartime Lies, finding: 'An upcoming Holocaust memoir is contradicted by scholars, witnesses, and members of the writer's family. But its publisher is still defending it' -- but the house of cards has come down pretty fast, and as they and everyone else is now reporting: Publisher Cancels Rosenblat Memoir After TNR Exposes Hoax.
       The book was Herman Rosenblat's Angel at the Fence -- and it's noteworthy because it was pretty high-profile, and because Oprah was duped yet again.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

---

       Ghost Train to the Eastern Star review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is our review of Paul Theroux On the Tracks of The Great Railway Bazaar in Ghost Train to the Eastern Star.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

       Forthcoming in 2009

       There should be quite a few of these previews in the coming weeks, but among the first are:

• In The Observer: William Skidelsky believes there will be a Return of the storytellers, as: 'After a year dominated by non-fiction, 2009 will see an abundance of eagerly awaited big-name novels'
  
  
• In the Financial Times: Melissa McClements' survey of Fiction to look out for in 2009 -- at least in the first few months of the year

       Both focus on the UK market -- and hence include some titles already out in the US, including 2666, which, for example, the FT has already reviewed .....

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

---

       Writers/politics

       In the Sunday Times Minette Marrin considers Pinter and the odd literary law of geniuses with crazy politics, as:

Wondering about Pinter’s dotty political positions, I began to understand an odd natural law of literature: creative writers are often silly political commentators. This is puzzling, because we tend to turn to creative writers for wisdom and understanding of the world. However, it is surprisingly often true that they have nothing sensible to say outside their fiction.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

---

       More books of the year lists

       At least some publications have sensibly waited until closer to the actual end of the year before publishing their 'books of the year'-lists, including:

• Books of the Year: An all-star line-up of writers give their verdict on 2008's best at the Independent on Sunday
  
  
• Dear Reader, A Handsel, as: 'An eminent galaxy of persons from all spheres name their favourite reads for 2008' at Outlook India

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

---

       Samuel Huntington (1927-2008)

       Samuel Huntington has passed away; see, for example the Reuters report, Clash of Civilizations author Samuel Huntington dies. See also, for example, his faculty page.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

       Presidential reading

       In the Wall Street Journal Karl Rove offers a 'glimpse of what the president has been reading', claiming that Bush Is a Book Lover -- yes, the jr. Bush, the current office-holder .....
       Apparently:

There is a myth perpetuated by Bush critics that he would rather burn a book than read one. Like so many caricatures of the past eight years, this one is not only wrong, but also the opposite of the truth and evidence that bitterness can devour a small-minded critic. Mr. Bush loves books, learns from them, and is intellectually engaged by them.

       We're not sure who has been perpetuating this myth -- surely few people believe this, if only because the first lady -- who, so the widely disseminated p.r., is a big book lover -- would surely frown on her husband consigning books to the flames. Still, the notion that the jr. Bush might be "intellectually engaged" by books (or anything else) is pretty hard to believe.
       Apparently, however, he does read them -- in friendly competition with Rove. Only 40 in 2008 (to Rove's 64), but more in years past (despite the fact that he surely had considerably more leisure time this year).
       And Rove assures us:

In the 35 years I've known George W. Bush, he's always had a book nearby.

       There are some decent books among those Rove lists, but certainly far too little fiction -- though:

Each year, the president also read the Bible from cover to cover, along with a daily devotional.

       We're more curious what's going to be on the new guy's reading list; we hope one of his aides shares that with the public annually as well.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

---

       Year-in-review articles

       Among the many year-in-review articles appearing are:

• A year in publishing and the end of a few eras in The Guardian: UK overview, with some sales figures
  
  
• The Year's Books in the Wall Street Journal, with their favourites
  
  
• The year that was: 'Notes and distinctions from the Canadian book biz in 2008' in Quill & Quire
  
  
• Changing of the literary guard: Vit Wagner finds 'Emerging Canadian writers are becoming as familiar as their forebears to readers' in the Toronto Star
  
  
• Naughty, nice in publishing 2008: James McGowan's look at the Canadian scene in The Windsor Star
  
  
• The Year In Review at Bostonist Books

       (Updated - 29 December): See also James Adams' report in the Globe & Mail, finding that: 'It was a year of shocks and unease for Canadian publishing' in In publishing, the writing was on the wall.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

---

       UK (Christmas) sales

       In The Bookseller Philip Stone reports that Rowling and French are Xmas hits (but he also reports that overall in the UK Book sales still behind 2007).
       Particularly impressive:

With life sales now totalling just over 750,000 copies, The Tales of Beedle the Bard has also become the bestselling book of the year, despite being on sale for little more than two weeks.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

       Harold Pinter (1930-2008)

       As widely noted, 2005 Nobel laureate Harold Pinter has passed away.
       Among the obituaries and tributes:

• Michael Billington's in The Guardian
• The untimely dismissal of a most singular figure by Robert Winder in The Independent
• The Pinter of Our Discontent by Richard Corliss in Time
• The Times
• In Words and Silences, A Writer of Rare Power by Peter Marks in The Washington Post

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

---

       The Last of the Angels review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is our review of Fadhil al-Azzawi's The Last of the Angels.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

       Christmas quizzes

       Apparently the popular thing to do in the British newspapers at this time of the year -- rather than provide actual literary content -- is to offer 'Christmas quizzes':

• In The Guardian John Crace tests readers on 2008 in books -- with instant gratification (i.e. they tell you how well you did)
  
  
• In The Telegraph they have Raymond Duck's Christmas Book Quiz 2008 (answer key available online)
  
  
• More ambitiously -- and with cash (well, gift certificate) prizes ! (but no clue how well you did until the results are announced) -- there's The Times/Waterstone's Christmas Quiz 2008

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

---

       The Lost Art of Walking review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is our review of Geoff Nicholson on The History, Science, Philosophy, and Literature of Pedestrianism, in The Lost Art of Walking.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

       Reviewing Michael Wolff's Murdoch-book

       'Media Monkey' at The Guardian reports that Silent right: Sunday Telegraph refuses to publish 'unfestive' Murdoch review, as they apparently killed a review of Michael Wolff's recent Murdoch-book, The Man Who Owns the News:

Monkey hears Sunday Telegraph books editor Michael Prodger commissioned Kim Fletcher, one-time editorial director of the Telegraph Media Group, husband of one-time Sunday Telegraph editor Sarah Sands and sometimes MediaGuardian press columnist to review the book. In came the review, Prodger gave it the thumbs up, but it was killed off higher up the editorial food chain.

       Meanwhile, as Alison Flood reports in The Guardian, Conrad Black excoriates Murdoch biography, as former Telegraph-owner Conrad Black reviewed the book at The Daily Beast, in The Rupert I Know.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

---

       Best of the year (and better) lists

       Entertainment Weekly offers up its own Best Fiction of 2008 list; more usefully, they also offer a list of 5 Worst of 2008.

       Meanwhile, at Reason they also have 'staffers pick the best books of 2008', in The Year in Books.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

---

       Over/underrated at Prospect

       One hundred Prospect writers look at 'Which political and cultural events have been most overrated and underrated this year' in 'How should we rate 2008 ?' -- annoyingly stretched out over four pages (one, two, three, and four).
       Quite a few literary mentions -- with Zoe Heller’s The Believers sharing the distinction (with the film Mamma Mia! ...) of getting both an over- (Lesley Chamberlain) and an underrated (William Skidelsky) mention.
       Other literary ones include Anshuman Mondal's overrated call of:

Salman Rushdie’s The Enchantress of Florence. When John Sutherland said Rushdie’s novel "rocks" he must have been off his rocker. Yes, it’s an improvement on his three previous disasters, insofar as it’s readable, but the theme of east and west being mirrors of each other is hackneyed now.

       While in the underrated category Trevor Dolby argues:

Philip Roth's latest Indignation was inexplicably ignored. Beautifully written, tempered with calculated anger. The critics, those who could be bothered, suggest Roth is publishing too much and quality is suffering. Balderdash.

       We must have missed it getting ignored -- though that may well have been the case in the UK.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

---

       Equatoria review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is our review of Tom Dreyer's Equatoria.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

       Indonesian literature abroad

       In The Jakarta Globe Richard Oh considers: Why Aren’t More Indonesian Literary Works Being Published Abroad ?, as he notes that:

no Indonesian writer since Pramoedya has enjoyed any real kind of international success.

       Among the problems:

Indonesian authors can be intractable when it comes to interacting with foreign interests. Some remain stalwart about not letting editors circumcise their texts.

       But, for example, the Lontar Foundation does some good work.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

---

       More on the future of publishing ...

       The coverage of the decline of the publishing industry continues apace, with Jason Boog writing about it Read it and weep at Salon, as: 'The economic news couldn't be worse for the book industry. Now insiders are asking how literature will survive.'
       Among the observations:

At the Frankfurt Book Fair this year, Open Letter Books, a small press based at the University of Rochester, illustrated how a more nimble firm can benefit from the freeze. The publisher bid on the English translation of Mathias Enard's novel, Zone -- a single sentence that stretches for 500 pages. An influential translator had called the work the "book of the decade," and Open Letter director Chad Post expected tight competition for the rights. But no one topped his offer, and he hopes to publish the translation in 2010.

"There's not much to cut at smaller presses, so they are going to stay the same -- they will have an identity coming into the recession, and they will be the same when they come out," Post says. "It will open up opportunities for the smaller, more stable presses. The bigger houses like Knopf and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt are going through an identity shift. It will become very murky what kinds of books they produce."

       Meanwhile, Tom Engelhardt's much-linked-to piece at The Nation, Reading in an Age of Depression compares publishing to the auto industry and offers awful titbits such as:

Rumor has it that some academic publishers are experiencing unheard-of return rates that can go as high as 90 percent.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

---

       International bestsellers

       Bestseller lists -- especially when limited to a few spots -- aren't necessarily very informative, but we still appreciate that Publishers Weekly's Extended International Bestsellers: December 2008 tell us the top three in China, the Netherlands, and Germany -- and we're certainly curious about those Chinese fiction titles, with titles like: Tiny Times 1.0 and A Story of LALA's Promotion. And that Shannxi Normal University Press certainly seems to be a publishing-powerhouse.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

go to archive

- return to top of the page -

© 2008-2009 the complete review


Main | the New | the Best | the Rest | Review Index | Links