opinionated commentary on literary matters - from the complete review

The Literary Saloon Archive

1 - 10 May 2017

1 May: Tehran International Book Fair | The Boy in the Earth review
2 May: Miles Franklin Literary Award longlist | Mohsin Hamid Q & A | New online issues
3 May: Karel Schoeman (1939-2017) | Melville House profile
4 May: Sami Rohr Prize | New Vessel Press profile
5 May: Best Translated Book Awards | The Seventh Function of Language review
6 May: Bogotá39-2017 | Joseph-Breitbach-Preis
7 May: Translations from the ... Malayalam | Notes of a Crocodile review
8 May: Kojo Laing (1946-2017) | Penance review
9 May: Literary prizes: RSL Ondaatje Prize - Frank-Schirrmacher-Preis | The Teeth of the Comb review
10 May: YA reading in ... Iran | Chinese/Russian translation | Nabokov's Favorite Word is Mauve review

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       YA reading in ... Iran

       In the Tehran Times Samaneh Aboutalebi reports that Foreign novels more appealing to Iranian teens: publisher.
       Apparently in Iran:

Children are smarter nowadays and they have an unlimited access to other media so they don’t enjoy simple stories anymore

       Despite ruling ideologies, the market still has its say:

Due to demands from Iranian teenagers, most of the foreign novels published in Persian are in the fantasy, horror and detective genres.

       And apparently sometimes books aren't enough of an attraction:

[Heshmat Omidi, the manager of distribution section of Hermes Publications] criticized some bookstores for using other materials to lure children.

"The book shops put Chinese toys in their windows instead of books," he said.

       Lots of issues -- including copyright (Iran is among the few international holdouts) -- but good to see that it's apparently a very active market.

(Posted by: M.A.Orthofer)    - permanent link -

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       Chinese/Russian translation

       It's always good to hear of translation-into-English, but that shouldn't be the be-all/end-all, and it's good to see efforts to foster translation into other languages too. In the Global Times Zhang Yuchen reports that the Director-general of the China Written Works Copyright Society discusses major Chinese-Russian inter-translation project
       This 'inter-translation project' started with the ambition to translate 100 works in six years -- and:

In 2015, the project's translation goal was raised to 200, the most ambitious goal for Chinese-Russian translation since the 1990s.

       They've also: "decided to focus on contemporary works from both nations".

(Posted by: M.A.Orthofer)    - permanent link -

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       Nabokov's Favorite Word is Mauve review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Ben Blatt's new literary number-crunching book, Nabokov's Favorite Word is Mauve.

       Fun comparison:

• US subtitle: What the Numbers Reveal About the Classics, Bestsellers, and Our Own Writing
  
  
• UK subtitle: The literary quirks and oddities of our most-loved authors

(Posted by: M.A.Orthofer)    - permanent link -

       Literary prize: RSL Ondaatje Prize

       They've announced that the £10,000 RSL Ondaatje Prize -- awarded: "for a distinguished work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry, evoking the spirit of a place" -- goes to Golden Hill, by Francis Spufford, this year. 'A Novel of Old New York', the US edition's sub-title promises.
       See the publicity pages from Faber & Faber and Scribner, or get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

(Posted by: M.A.Orthofer)    - permanent link -

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       Literary prize: Frank-Schirrmacher-Preis

       The CHF20,000 Frank-Schirrmacher-Preis is a relatively new author-prize, awarded to an author for 'extraordinary achievements for the understanding of current events'. They've awarded it twice so far, to Mr. Zed's Reflections-author Hans Magnus Enzensberger and Submission-author Michel Houellebecq, and they've now announced (though not yet at the official site, last I checked ...) that Jonathan Franzen will pick up (on 12 October) this year's prize; see, for example, the report in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung.

(Posted by: M.A.Orthofer)    - permanent link -

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       The Teeth of the Comb review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Syrian author Osama Alomar's short and shorter fiction, The Teeth of the Comb & Other Stories, just out from New Directions.

       See also the Mythili G. Rao profile of Alomar at The New Yorker's Page-Turner weblog.

(Posted by: M.A.Orthofer)    - permanent link -

       Kojo Laing (1946-2017)

       Ghanaian author Kojo Laing passed away over two weeks ago; word spread quickly on social media but I held back from reporting on it in the expectation of newspaper or other online media reports to link to. Amazingly, his death apparently continues to go almost entirely unreported -- even in the Ghanaian press.
       So far the reports -- A Lament for Kojo Laing and the State of Literature in Ghana Whatever Happened to Literature in Ghana ? at 360GH, Ghanaian Poet And Writer Kojo Laing Dies, Aged 70 in The Voice, and Rest in Power, Pa Kojo: Paying tribute to Kojo Laing at The Johannesburg Review of Books -- have been few and limited. Astonishing, considering his significance.
       Only one of his books is under review at the complete review, the recently re-issued in the US Search Sweet Country.

(Posted by: M.A.Orthofer)    - permanent link -

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       Penance review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Minato Kanae's creepy thriller, Penance, just out in English.

(Posted by: M.A.Orthofer)    - permanent link -

       Translations from the ... Malayalam

       At live mint Elizabeth Kuruvilla reports on how they're Powering Malayalam through translation -- specifically Thunchath Ezhuthachan Malayalam University's mandate to; "promote the study and research of the Malayalam language, literature and culture", which includes: "a unique collaboration between the university and multiple English-language publishers to translate literature in Malayalam".
       I hope some of these eventually make it to the US/UK as well .....

(Posted by: M.A.Orthofer)    - permanent link -

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       Notes of a Crocodile review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Qiu Miaojin's Notes of a Crocodile, just out from New York Review Books. (It's also reviewed in today's issue of The New York Times Book Review !)

       This Taiwanese author, a suicide at age 26 in 1995, was a shooting star, and this work, in particular, is an impressive display of youthful exuberance. It would have been interesting to see where her career might have gone.

(Posted by: M.A.Orthofer)    - permanent link -

       Bogotá39-2017

       As I recently mentioned, Granta has just published its latest decennial Best of Young American Novelists issue/list.
       There's also a Latin American variation, the Bogotá39 -- "a selection of the most promising 39 writers under 40", as the nomination page explains --, and they've just announced their 2017 list; the BBC has the list, or see, for example, the El País report, América Latina, en 39 talentos literarios.
       Books by several of the 39 authors are under review at the complete review:

• Martín Felipe Castagnet: Bodies of Summer
• Carlos Fonseca: Colonel Lágrimas
• Valeria Luiselli:
  • Faces in the Crowd
  • The Story of My Teeth
• Eduardo Rabasa: A Zero-Sum Game

       Quite a few others also already have titles available in English translation.

(Posted by: M.A.Orthofer)    - permanent link -

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       Joseph-Breitbach-Preis

       At €50,000 the Joseph-Breitbach-Preis is a pretty big German author prize, and it has a decent list of previous winners: last year, Kafka-biographer Reiner Stach won, and Jenny Erpenbeck won in 2013, for example.
       They've now announced that Dea Loher will get this year's prize (on 22 September) -- not yet at the official site, last I checked, but see, for example, the Boersenblatt report.
       She's best-known for her plays; see, for example, the AOI Agency page. Two (overlapping) volumes of her plays are available from Oberon Books; get your copy of her Three Plays from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

(Posted by: M.A.Orthofer)    - permanent link -

       Best Translated Book Awards

       They've announced this year's (American) Best Translated Book Awards (though not yet at the official site, last I checked ...), with Margaret Jull Costa and Robin Patterson's translation of Lúcio Cardoso's Chronicle of the Murdered House taking the fiction prize, and Yvette Siegert's translation of Alejandra Pizarnik's Extracting the Stone of Madness: Poems 1962-1972 taking the poetry prize.

       The Cardoso is certainly a book that would be a worthy winner in any normal year, right up there with previous BTBA winners -- but this wasn't a normal year, as John E. Woods' translation of Arno Schmidt's Bottom's Dream was also eligible. The whims of judging panels were certainly on full display this year -- the book didn't even make the top-25 --, which is ... disappointing (well, I have stronger words for this gross miscarriage of any justice, but ...). Amazingly, this über-translation -- dwarfing any and all BTBA competition not just this year but all the years the prize has been awarded (really: nothing compares) -- goes unrecognized. Sigh.

       Chronicle of the Murdered House is published by Open Letter see their publicity page, or get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.
       Extracting the Stone of Madness: Poems 1962-1972 is published by New Directions; see their publicity page, or get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

(Posted by: M.A.Orthofer)    - permanent link -

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       The Seventh Function of Language review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Laurent Binet's The Seventh Function of Language, re-imagining Roland Barthes' 1980 death as a murder-mystery, with lots of international (and academic) intrigue.
       It's just out in the UK, from Harvill Secker, with the US edition due out from Farrar, Straus and Giroux in August.

(Posted by: M.A.Orthofer)    - permanent link -

       Sami Rohr Prize

       The Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature is a US$100,000 prize -- that's a lot, by US prize standards -- awarded for a work of fiction or non, alternating year by year. This year it was the fiction turn, and they've announced (though not yet at the official site, last I checked ... that Ways to Disappear, by Idra Novey, has taken the prize; see, for example, the JTA report.
       See also the publicity page for Ways to Disappear, or get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

(Posted by: M.A.Orthofer)    - permanent link -

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       New Vessel Press profile

       In Crain's Peter Green reports on How a small publishing company 'spun gold out of nothing', profiling translation-focused publisher New Vessel Press.
       See also the New Vessel titles under review at the complete review.

(Posted by: M.A.Orthofer)    - permanent link -

       Karel Schoeman (1939-2017)

       South African author Karel Schoeman has died, an apparent suicide; see, for example, Renowned author Karel Schoeman described how he took his own life in The Times (South Africa).
       Archipelago published his novel, This Life, not too long ago; see their publicity page, or get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

(Posted by: M.A.Orthofer)    - permanent link -

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       Melville House profile

       At The verge Kaitlyn Tiffany profiles publisher Melville House (and their Twitter feed), in How the Scrappiest Social Media Team in Publishing is Holding the Industry’s Feet to the Fire.

(Posted by: M.A.Orthofer)    - permanent link -

       Miles Franklin Literary Award longlist

       They've announced the longlist for this year's Miles Franklin Literary Award -- "awarded each year to a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases" -- ; you can find it -- sort of -- on the mess (but tablet-friendly-looking!-mess ...) that is the official site, but the only really usable/linkable information page/press release is in the dreaded pdf format.
       The titles were selected from (a mere) 64 submissions; the shortlist will be announced on 18 June, the winner in September. (Hey, that gives them time to fix the website and turn it into something that might possibly be vaguely functional and usable ....)

(Posted by: M.A.Orthofer)    - permanent link -

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       Mohsin Hamid Q & A

       At Guernica Umair Kazi has a Q & A with Mohsin Hamid: Denuding Purity.
       Hamid's Exit West is just out -- get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk. I haven't seen it yet but do hope to get to it eventually; his The Reluctant Fundamentalist and How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia are under review at the complete review.

(Posted by: M.A.Orthofer)    - permanent link -

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       New online issues

       With the new month (May) come new issues of periodicals -- and even new periodicals, such as the promising-looking The Johannesburg Review of Books.

       At Words without Borders the May issue is themed 'The Global Feast: Writing about Food' -- and also offers: 'Four Basque Poets'.

       The new Latin American Literature Today is actually the April issue -- but I don't think it's been online-available until now. In any case it -- and in particular the Book Reviews -- are worth checking out.

(Posted by: M.A.Orthofer)    - permanent link -

       Tehran International Book Fair

       The Tehran International Book Fair will run 3 to 13 May, with Italy as this year's guest of honor.
       In the Tehran Times Manijeh Rezapoor reports that Tehran Intl. Book Fair to kick off Wednesday, while in the Financial Tribune they report that 92,000 Foreign Titles at Tehran Book Fair, as 380 foreign publishers (120 of them Arabic) are expected at the fair.

(Posted by: M.A.Orthofer)    - permanent link -

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       The Boy in the Earth review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Nakamura Fuminori's Akutagawa Prize-winning The Boy in the Earth, just out in English.

(Posted by: M.A.Orthofer)    - permanent link -

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