Complete Review - M.A.Orthofer

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A Literary Saloon and Site of Review

M.A.Orthofer

     Michael Orthofer was born in Graz, Austria in 1964.
     He currently lives in Massachusetts.

     He founded the complete review in the spring of 1999, adding the site's weblog, the Literary Saloon, in the summer of 2002.

     Most of the archived material on the site is his work, as is all the new material.

     M.A.Orthofer on Bluesky: @maorthofer.bsky.social.

     M.A.Orthofer on Twitter: @MAOrthofer.

     (M.A.Orthofer does not currently have a Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, etc. page.)

Events - recent:

Über das Lesen - lecture (in German): Salzburg Festival, 11 August 2019, (On Reading); see also coverage: "Nur das Erdichtete reißt mich mit" [€] by Hedwig Kainberger in the Salzburger Nachrichten

Books:

Salome in Graz (aesthetics of resistance / press, 2024)
The Complete Review Guide to Contemporary World Fiction (Columbia University Press, 2016)
Arno Schmidt: a centennial colloquy (aesthetics of resistance / press, 2014)
The Complete Review: Eleven Years, 2500 Reviews - A Site History (aesthetics of resistance / press, 2010)

Other publications:

Islamic Law in a Modern Secular State - Shah Bano and Its Aftermath. Islamic and Comparative Law Quarterly Vol. 10-11 (1990)
The Scientist on the Stage: A Survey. Interdisciplinary Science Reviews 27.3 (Fall, 2002)
Weighing Words Over Last Wishes. Poets & Writers (November/December 2003)
Translations, Part 4. Context 17 (Spring 2005)
Review: Old Filth by Jane Gardam. The Philadelphia Inquirer (13 June 2006)
Review: The Dark Side of Love by Rafik Schami. The National (15 October 2009)
A Conversation with Eshkol Nevo. World Literature Today (September-October, 2010)
"Michel Houellebecq se replie complètement sur lui-même". Le Monde (2 September 2010) (English)
A fundamental cosmpolitanism in Lomark and the Wieringerwaard: Contemporary Dutch Fiction from a Foreign Perspective. De Revisor Jaarboek voor nieuwe literatuur 1 (2010)
Op-Ed: Less than a miracle: National Book Awards are dysfunctional -- but that’s nothing new. The Daily (22 October 2011)
On A.F.Th. van der Heijden. Revisor Jaarboek voor nieuwe literatuur 13 (2016)
Co přetrvá ? Nad literárním kánonem 21. století. A2 (8/2018) (English)
The Longlist for the National Book Award for Translated Literature. Words without Borders (25 September 2018)

Video/audio:

Literary Blogs and Their Influence. Book TV/C-SPAN (3 December 2004)
Publishing and Selling Books in Translation. Book TV/C-SPAN (23 May 2005)
Homesick: Eshkol Nevo in Conversation with Michael Orthofer. PEN World Voices Festival (29 April 2010)
Michael Orthofer presents Kokoschkin's Journey. German Book Office Rights List video (December, 2010)
Who We Talk About When We Talk About Translation: The Bloggers. Panel at PEN World Voices Festival (2015)
Conversations with Tyler - Michael Orthofer in conversation with Tyler Cowen (July, 2016)

Interviews/Profiles:

The Critical I: Six Questions for M.A. Orthofer at Critical Mass (21 August 2006)
The Complete Review's M.A. Orthofer on Translations and the University of Rochester's Best Translated Book Award by Jeff VanderMeer at Omnvoracious (10 March 2010)
Aby se o knihách mluvilo: Rozhovor s Michaelem A. Orthoferem by Jiří G. Růžička at A2 (3/2011) (Czech)
"Persian literature still a strong and active literary culture" at the Iran Book News Agency (Persian) (10 December 2011)
Pretī citai literatūrai by Vilis Kasims at Panorama (7/2015) (Latvian)
One Man’s Impossible Quest to Read -- and Review -- the World by Karan Mahajan at The New Yorker's Page-Turner weblog (16 February 2016)
An Interview with M. A. Orthofer, author of The Complete Review Guide to Contemporary World Fiction at the Columbia University Press blog
"Io, l’uomo che leggerà tutti i libri del mondo" by Gianluca Modolo in la Repbubblica (9 May 2016) (Italian)
A Conversation with Michael Orthofer - Conversations with Tyler transcript (Tyler Cowen), 27 July 2016
Der Bücherwurm by Thorsten Schröder in Die Zeit (12 September 2016) (German)

Education:

Brown University, 1982-1985 (B.A., with honors)
Columbia University, 1990-1993 (J.D.; Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar; Parker School Certificate of Achievement, with Honors, in International and Comparative Law)

Professional affiliations:

Admitted to the practice of law in the State of New York.
Member, National Book Critics Circle.

Other:

New Books in German – US editorial committee (2011-present)
Juror, Austrian Cultural Forum Translation Prize (2009 to 2011)
Juror, Best Translated Book Award (2009 to 2015)

Recreational inline skating:

Central Park (NY) 'Big Loop' - best times (on Rollerblade Crossfire 100s)
- 1 lap (9.7 km): 25'06"50 - 8 August 2012
- 2 laps (19.4 km): 53'32"37 - 4 August 2012

Work in snow:

Snow figures, 2010.

Work in snow (and fog), 2013.

Work in snow [March, 2013].

Work in snow II [March, 2013].

Work in snow (ice) [March, 2014].

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