opinionated commentary on literary matters - from the complete review

The Literary Saloon Archive

11 - 20 September 2020

11 September: Baillie Gifford Prize longlist | 'Modern Indian Classics in Translation' | Who We're Reading When We're Reading Murakami review
12 September: Prix Médicis longlists | Thomas Mann's library
13 September: Q & As: Ann Goldstein - Perumal Murugan | Tóth Árpád Műfordítói Díj
14 September: 'Painkili' fiction | The Career of Nicodemus Dyzma review
15 September: Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award | V&Q Books Q & A | Grand Prix de littérature américaine longlist
16 September: Shortlists: Booker Prize - German Book Prize | Prix Goncourt longlist | Europese Literatuurprijs | The Caretaker review
17 September: National Book Award for Translated Literature longlist | Tim Wilkinson (1947-2020) | Bayerischer Buchpreis shortlists | Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize shortlist
18 September: Martin Amis and Salman Rushdie in conversation | Children's books in translation | Filosofía y letras review
19 September: National Book Award for Fiction longlist | Premio de Literaturas Indígenas de América
20 September: Translating the Future conference | Ngũgĩ's Premi Internacional Catalunya

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       Translating the Future conference

       The Translating the Future conference and conversation series, commemorating and carrying forward PEN's 1970 World of Translation conference, has been running since May and finishes next week.
       Videos of all the conversations in the series are available at the site -- as are archival audio recordings from the 1970 conference ! And you can watch this week's promising-sounding events when they happen .....
       An incredible amount of material here.

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

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       Ngũgĩ's Premi Internacional Catalunya

       Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o was recently awarded the Premi Internacional Catalunya -- and gave his acceptance speech in Gikuyu; you can watch the whole ceremony here (yes, there are subtitles).
       This was generally well-received in the press -- see, for example, Stephanie Wangari's Ngugi wa Thiong'o Feted in Catalonia, Makes Speech in Kikuyu at Kenyans.co.ke, or Wairimu Nderitu on how Without our own language, our experiences are lost, so are we in The East African -- but I'm surprised to see some backlash too, including regarding his choice of language: in The Citizen Enock Matundura, for example, argues: Ngugi should have spoken in Kiswahili when taking prize. Meanwhile, Henry Indangasi in Nation even goes so far as to try to make a case Why Ngugi should have rejected Catalonia prize -- and, for good measure, advises: "the celebrated novelist to stop the melodrama of addressing international audiences in his mother tongue Gikuyu" .....

       Ngũgĩ's latest translation of his own work from the Gikuyu is due out in the US and UK shortly, The Perfect Nine -- certainly one of the most anticipated translations of the fall season, and one I will be getting to soon. See also publicity pages from The New Press and Harvill, or pre-order your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

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

       National Book Award for Fiction longlist

       The (American) National Book Foundation has announced the ten-title longlist for this year's National Book Award for Fiction.
       The ten were selected from 388 (unfortunately and outrageously not revealed) submissions -- down from 397 last year. (By comparison, there were 609 submission for the Nonfiction award, up from last year's 600.)
       I have not seen any of these .....
       The finalists will be announced on 6 October, and the winner on 18 November.

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

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       Premio de Literaturas Indígenas de América

       They've announced the winner of this year's Premio de Literaturas Indígenas de América, Mex$250,000 prize for an unpublished work in an indigenous language, and it's Isoñil ja’al by Ch'ol author Peñate Montejo, selected from 60 entries from nine countries. (The genre that is honored changes from year to year; this was a poetry year.)
       The prize will be awarded on 4 December at this year's Guadalajara International Book Fair.

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

       Martin Amis and Salman Rushdie in conversation

       Interview magazine has a conversation between Martin Amis and Salman Rushdie on Cancel Culture and The Hitch
       With Martin Amis' new novel Inside Story coming out shortly -- pre-order your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk -- that's the focus of the exchange. Lots of name-dropping, too.

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

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       Children's books in translation

       At Publishers Weekly Emma Kantor: "spoke with 10 acclaimed translators about the unique challenges and rewards of adapting international children's books for English-speaking readers", in Building Bridges: The Art of Children's Book Translation

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

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       Filosofía y letras review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Pablo De Santis' Filosofía y letras. (Yes, this hasn't been translated into English yet.)

       Oddly, this is the third novel I've reviewed in recent weeks, after The Caretaker and Piranesi, in which the atmospheric locale -- the structure or building where the protagonist spends practically all his time -- plays an inordinately large role in the story. (And, as in Piranesi, flooding of the structure plays a significant role in the story.)

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

       National Book Award for Translated Literature longlist

       The (American) National Book Foundation has announced the ten-title longlist for this year's National Book Award for Translated Literature.
       Only two of the titles are under review at the complete review:

• The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree, by Shokoofeh Azar
• The Helios Disaster, by Linda Boström Knausgård, translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles

       The ten titles were selected from 130 (unfortunately and outrageously) not revealed submissions -- down more than 10 per cent from last year's 145 submissions. (They also announced the longlist for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature yesterday, and that had 311 submissions -- also down from last year (325) but not nearly as much.)
       Recall that for this prize both the author of the book and the translator had to be alive at the beginning of the eligibility period (1 December 2019), making for considerably fewer eligible books than, for example, for the Best Translated Book Award.
       Interesting to see World Edition place two titles on the list -- only New Directions also placed two, while quite a few of the leading translation-focused publishers were shut out, including Open Letter, New York Review Books, Dalkey Archive Press, and Deep Vellum.
       The finalists will be announced on 6 October, and the winner on 18 November.

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

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       Tim Wilkinson (1947-2020)

       Translator from the Hungarian Tim Wilkinson has passed away; see, for example, the hlo report.

       Quite a few of his translations are under review at the complete review, notably the works of Kertész Imre and Szentkuthy Miklós (e.g. Marginalia on Casanova), as well as, for example, Captivity, by Spiró György.
       He was a great advocate for Hungarian literature in translation and will be sorely missed.

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

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       Bayerischer Buchpreis shortlists

       I had no idea there was a Bavarian Book Prize, but there is and they've now announced their shortlists.
       Two of the three fiction finalists were also longlisted for the German Book Prize (and the Dorothee Elmiger is now on the shortlist), but the one I've been hoping to see is from the non-fiction list, Jens Malte Fischer's enormous Karl Kraus-biography; see also the Zsolnay foreign rights information page.
       The winners will be announced on 19 November.

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

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       Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize shortlist

       The American Literary Translators Association has announced the three-title shortlist for this year's Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize -- whereby the texts must be either poetry or source texts from Zen Buddhism.
       The winner will be announced 15 October.

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

       Shortlist: Booker Prize

       They've announced the shortlist for this year's Booker Prize, the £50,000 prize for: "the best novel of the year written in English and published in the UK and Ireland" -- noteworthy this year for the absence of UK and Ireland authors on it .....
       The six finalists are:

• Burnt Sugar, by Avni Doshi
• The New Wilderness, by Diane Cook
• Real Life, by Brandon Taylor
• The Shadow King, by Maaza Mengiste
• Shuggie Bain, by Douglas Stuart
• This Mournable Body, by Tsitsi Dangarembga

       See also judge Sameer Rahim on Judging the Booker prize: 'These books are about living under intense pressure' at The Guardian.
       I haven't seen any of these; the only author under review at the complete review is Dangarembga (Nervous Conditions.)
       The winner will be announced 17 November.

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

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       Shortlist: German Book Prize

       They've announced the shortlist for this year's German Book Prize, the leading German novel prize (basically: the German Booker Prize ...), and the six finalists are:

• Annette, ein Heldinnenepos, by Anne Weber
• Aus der Zuckerfabrik, by Dorothee Elmiger
• Die Dame mit der bemalten Hand, by Christine Wunnicke
• Herzfaden, by Thomas Hettche
• Serpentinen, by Bov Bjerg
• Streulicht, by Deniz Ohde

       I have (an e-copy of) the Wunnicke, and will probably try to have a look at the Weber (it's a novel in verse !).
       See also Sabine Peschel and Elizabeth Grenier's report at Deutsche Welle, German Book Prize 2020: The 6 finalists.
       The winner will be announced 12 October.

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

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       Prix Goncourt longlist

       The Académie Goncourt has announced the fifteen title-strong première sélection (warning ! dreaded pdf format !) -- the (first) longlist -- for the prix Goncourt, the leading French novel prize.
       The shorter longlist, or longer shortlist, will be announced 6 October, with the shortlist to follow on 27 October, and the winner on 10 November.

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

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       Europese Literatuurprijs

       They've announced the winners of this year's Europese Literatuurprijs, a prize for the best translation into Dutch of a European novel.
       This year there was both an official jury prize -- which was won by Ali Smith's Spring -- and a student jury prize, which went to the Dutch translation of David Diop's At Night All Blood is Black (which is coming out in English translation in November, from Farrar, Straus and Giroux in the US and Pushkin Press in the UK).

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

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       The Caretaker review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Doon Arbus' debut novel, The Caretaker, just out from New Directions.

       This is the rare New Directions title with its very own official site.

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

       Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award

       They've announced that this year's Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award, a lifetime achievement award that is part of the Dayton Literary Peace Prizes, will go to Margaret Atwood. Apparently, however, she'll only get to pick it up next year, as they've postponed the awards gala until spring 2021.

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

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       V&Q Books Q & A

       At Lizzy's Literary Life there's a Q & A with Katy Derbyshire on V&Q Books: Meet The Publisher and Book Designers -- the new publisher who: "will publish commercial, literary fiction and narrative non-fiction showcasing remarkable writing from Germany", V&Q Books.

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

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       Grand Prix de littérature américaine longlist

       Yes, the French have a prize for the best work of American fiction (in French translation), and this Grand Prix de littérature américaine has now announced its eight-title strong longlist; see, for example, the Livres Hebdo report.
       The three finalists will be announced on 26 October.

       They've also announced the longlists for this year's prix Femina, which has both a French and a translated novel category; there are eighteen French novels in the running, and fifteen translated ones; see the Livres Hebdo report.
       Lots of translations from the English on the translated list -- but interestingly not that much overlap with the Grand Prix de littérature américaine longlist.
       This is one of these four-round prizes, so there will be a shorter longlist (announced 2 October) and a shortlist (23 October) before they announce the winner on 3 November

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

       'Painkili' fiction

       Via I'm pointed to Cris' story at The News Minute on The 'painkili' genre in Malayalam literature and how it captured the hearts of lakhs -- "cheesy love stories" that first became popular in the 1950s.
       A fascinating overview.

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

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       The Career of Nicodemus Dyzma review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Tadeusz Dołęga-Mostowicz's 1932 novel, The Career of Nicodemus Dyzma, finally available in English, just out from Northwestern University Press.

       This novel is not entirely unknown, as it has repeatedly been mentioned as the (more-than-)inspiration behind Jerzy Kosiński's 1970 novel, Being There (itself then made into a Hal Ashby movie in 1979, starring Peter Sellers), but both these novels are worth considering on their own. And it's certainly good to finally have this in English.

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

       Q & A: Ann Goldstein

       In The Observer Alex Preston has a Q & A with Elena Ferrante-translator Ann Goldstein: 'I try to make it really clear that I am not Elena Ferrante'.

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

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       Q & A: Perumal Murugan

       In the Deccan Herald Stanley Carvalho has a Q & A with One Part Woman-author Perumal Murugan, A Return to Defiance.
       He notes:

It makes me happy to see translations happening, but more should be done. It is very important to translate literature of all regional Indian languages not only because there are good books but also to achieve ‘unity in diversity’. There are good books in most Indian languages and an exchange between Indian languages must take place. As for Tamil literature, since 2000, there’s been a lot of emphasis on translation.

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

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       Tóth Árpád Műfordítói Díj

       The city of Budavár has announced the winner of this year's Árpád Tóth Translation Award, an award: 'given to an artist who enriches Hungarian culture with their literary translation activities and contributes to its international promotion' since 2011, and it is Peter Sherwood; see also the hlo report, Peter Sherwood Wins 2020 Árpád Tóth Translation Award.
       The only one of his translations under review at the complete review is that of The Finno-Ugrian Vampire, by Szécsi Noémi.

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

       Prix Médicis longlists

       They've announced the longlists for the prix Médicis, a leading French literary prize that honors both a best French work and a best work in translation; see, for example, the Livres Hebdo report.
       Fifteen titles made the cut for the French-language work prize, including works by Emmanuel Carrère, Hervé Le Tellier, Simon Liberati, and Laurent Mauvignier.
       The thirteen-title strong longlist for translated works is dominated by translations from the English -- and includes Claro's translation of Lucy Ellmann's Ducks, Newburyport. But no translations from the Italian or German, much less anything non-European. But two translations from the Icelandic .....
       The shortlist will be announced 2 October.

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

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       Thomas Mann's library

       The 4300 volumes of Thomas Mann's personal library are, oddly enough, at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (yes, the school Einstein went to, but it is a technical university), and they've now digitized all the annotations he made in these, with markings in some sixty percent of them; see, for example, the press release on Marginalia in Thomas Mann's personal library.
       You can see and search the annotated pages from the library here -- though unfortunately many of the annotations aren't accessible online, for copyright mentions. Many of the annotations are simple line or passage-markings -- a line alongside the printed text -- so it's not always that exciting, but the digitized presentation is pretty impressive; I hope more libraries do this with their personal-library holdings.

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

       Baillie Gifford Prize longlist

       They've announced the longlist for this year's Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, a £50,000 British prize.
       The shortlist will be announced 15 October, and the winner on 24 November.

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

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       'Modern Indian Classics in Translation'

       At Electric Literature Aruni Kashyap suggests 15 Modern Indian Classics in Translation.
       Five of them are under review at the complete review -- The Crooked Line, Cuckold, The Gift of a Cow, River of Fire , and Samskara -- but I'd certainly love to see some of the rest of these. Translations from the Assamese !

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

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       Who We're Reading When We're Reading Murakami review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of David Karashima explaining Who We're Reading When We're Reading Murakami, recently out from Soft Skull.

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

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