opinionated commentary on literary matters - from the complete review

The Literary Saloon Archive

1 - 10 February 2016

1 February: Nepal Literature Festival | Bliss Was it in Bohemia review
2 February: Mein Kampf in Germany -- and beyond | Bangla literature abroad | February Words without Borders
3 February: Intizar Hussain (1923-2016) | 2016 PEN Literary Awards Shortlists | Aleš Debeljak (1961-2016) | Disagreeable Tales review
4 February: European Prize for Literature | Hispabooks profile
5 February: Preis der Leipziger Buchmesse finalists | 'Must-Reads of Georgian Literature' ?
6 February: Translating Journey to the West | The Lost Time Accidents review
7 February: UK library lending numbers
8 February: Helon Habila Q & A | 'Literature that takes a peek into the forbidden world' | The Heart review
9 February: African literature | Book of the Year Awards in Iran | The Boy Who Stole Attila's Horse review
10 February: International Prize for Arabic Fiction shortlist | Stella Prize longlist | The Case of the Girl in Grey review

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       International Prize for Arabic Fiction shortlist

       They've announced the shortlist for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (and revealed the names of the judges -- kept secret until now).
       The winner will be announced 26 April.

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

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       Stella Prize longlist

       The Stella Prize is an Australian prize for the best book -- fiction or non -- by an Australian author who is a woman, and they've now announced the sixteen-title-strong longlist, selected from 170 entries (which, unfortunately, they apparently do not make public).
       The shortlist will be announced 10 March, and the winner on 19 April.

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

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       The Case of the Girl in Grey review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of the second in Jordan Stratford's The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency-series, The Case of the Girl in Grey -- yes, juvenile fiction (though what I still have the most trouble getting over with are the liberties Stratford takes with historical dates/figures).

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

       African literature

       At okayafrica Siyanda Mohutsiwa writes that I'm Done With African Immigrant Literature -- fed up with the so widespread African writing (and writers) that are (and emphasize the) beyond-continental. (Note, however, that, as is sadly almost needless to say, Mohutsiwa's 'Africa' is only the sub-Saharan sort; the Arabic- (and occasionally French- and some other languages) writing northern part not really figuring in this (or most) discussion.)
       She's exaggerating slightly for effect, but has a point -- and for all the African literature under review at the complete review, I would love to see more local(ized) stuff too (but that goes for most regions, as it's often not the most (locally) popular stuff that gets translated, even from places such as France, Germany, Spain, etc.).
       If nothing else, the article is a nice reminder of the Pacesetter novels, and even if they're no longer on the shelves at Botswana Book Store, you can find them at that online site -- or at what should always be your first online destination for African books, the Africa Book Centre.

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

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       Book of the Year Awards in Iran

       I can't seem to be able to find any mention of local fiction winners, but in the Tehran Times they report Asghar Farhadi's collection wins Iran's Book of the Year Award (that would be in the screenplay category), where they also mention some other category-winners -- including best literary translation, which was for Borges' correspondence-collection, Cartas del fervor (which, oddly (?), doesn't appear to have been translated into English yet ...).
       And in the bibliography category: "the first award went to List of Published Translated Books" -- which actually sounds like fascinating reading (at least to me -- what gets translated (and published) is enormously revealing, and even more fun in Iran, where there is no inhibiting adherence to copyright convention(s), so multiple translations of the most popular titles are not uncommon).

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

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       The Boy Who Stole Attila's Horse review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Iván Repila's The Boy Who Stole Attila's Horse -- available in a lovely little pocket-sized Pushkin Press edition, but packing considerably more of a punch than its size (and title) might suggest.

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

       Helon Habila Q & A

       In The Sun Henry Akubuiro has a Q & A with Helon Habila: Every writer must grapple with big subjects of his generation.

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

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       'Literature that takes a peek into the forbidden world'

       In the Times of India Priyanka Dasgupta considers the burning issue: Does regional erotic literature have takers when online offers free adult content ?
       But no worries:

The rise of the popularity of e-books will not wipe away the trend of reading printed books. Similarly, craze for MMS and adult movies will not take away the charm of adult literature. There is nostalgia in holding a book, browsing through the pages. People won't get over this habit in a hurry.

       Good to hear, right ?

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

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       The Heart review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Maylis de Kerangal's highly acclaimed novel, coming out as The Heart (translated by Sam Taylor) in the US -- and as Mend the Living (translated by Jessica Moore) in the UK.
       I've mentioned how ... odd I find that the US/UK publishers couldn't agree, if not on the same translator at least on the same title, and I wonder whether this will impact the reception/success of the book. On the other hand, it would be kind of neat to see the two translations compete for the major translation prizes in their respective territories (say, the Best Translated Book Award and the (new incarnation of the) Man Booker International Prize).

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

       UK library lending numbers

       The Public Lending Right is the neat system in the UK whereby authors are remunerated (up to a point) each time their books are checked out of a library, and they've now released their most recent statistics as to UK library borrowing.
       In The Guardian PLR chair Tom Holland has a useful overview of Library lending figures: which books were most popular in 2014/15 ? -- including the list of the 100 most borrowed titles.
       Despite being (completely) fiction-dominated, none of the top 100 are under review at the complete review; indeed, few other books by any of the authors to crack the top 100 are.

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

       Translating Journey to the West

       An interesting piece about translating from the Chinese in the Los Angeles Review of Books, as W.J.F.Jenner writes about Journeys to the East, "Journey to the West"
       He translated the classic Journey to the West -- get the four-volume edition at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk -- and notes:

Because this was a book written for entertainment and pleasure I did not want it cluttered with footnotes. I reckoned that as long as readers were being carried along by the story, they did not want to be distracted by an annotator plucking at their sleeves, and explaining the countless Buddhist, Daoist and other references. Those who do want the scholarly paraphernalia can always turn to Anthony C. Yu's version.

       (As you know, I can never get enough scholarly paraphernalia, so, yeah, I do lean towards the Yu-translation.)

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

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       The Lost Time Accidents review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of John Wray's new novel, The Lost Time Accidents.

       I was very much looking forward to this, and it has a lot of elements/aspects that appeal to me, but I found it fell surprisingly flat. Wray seems to have taken his time writing it (his last novel came out in 2009) and I wonder if he just spent too much time on it -- not so much in polishing it (though the writing certainly feels very worked-over) but in playing with it, resulting in (among very much else) things like that piece ascribed to Joan Didion. (I am still desperately hoping that's some kind of inside joke between Wray and Didion, but I'm thinking ... probably not so much. (Among those he mentions in the Acknowledgements are Ursula LeGuin and Murakami Haruki -- but not Didion.))

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

       Preis der Leipziger Buchmesse finalists

       The biggest of the German book prizes -- the German Book Prize -- is announced in the fall, at the Frankfurt Book Fair, but the spring Leipzig Book Fair (17 to 20 March) also has big book prize -- which is, in fact, a trio of prizes, as they honor not just a best work of fiction (like the German Book Fair) -- well, 'Belletristik' -- but also prize a work of non-fiction, and a translation.
       They've now announced the three sets of five finalists, selected from 401 submissions.
       Among the Belletristik finalists: Guntram Vesper's 1000-pager, Frohburg
       Also interesting from a foreign perspective: the translations in the running. The five titles are from five different languages -- the English one a Richard Ford, the French an Emmanuel Carrère. The one title I have, and which I will be reviewing, is the most impressive Tutori by Bora Ćosić, which has got to be the betting favorite (see also the dedicated website publisher Schöffling & Co. set up, or their foreign rights page).

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

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       'Must-Reads of Georgian Literature' ?

       So what does a "world-famous Georgian writer" think are the Top 5 Must-Reads of Georgian Literature ? Dato Turashvili lists his at Georgia Today -- and goes way back. Unfortunately, too, practically none of this is available/accessible in English.
       And what about Turashvili ? Well, it so happens that Mosaic Press is about to bring out his Flight from the U.S.S.R.; see their publicity page, or get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk. (The book's 'Amazon Best Sellers Rank' of 16,598,047 (as I write this) suggests the title hasn't quite caught on yet ... but then the release date is only a couple of weeks from now.)
       Meanwhile, see also the Index of Georgian literature under review at complete review -- not very much yet, but I am always looking/hoping for more .....

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

       European Prize for Literature

       They've announced that this year's European Prize for Literature goes to Estonian author Jaan Kaplinski.
       It's the eleventh time they've awarded the prize -- Jon Fosse won last time -- but they're still working on really establishing themselves. But, they assure us:

The award is based on criteria of quality and of exemplarity, which are as demanding as those for the Nobel Prize for Literature.

       Quite a bit of Kaplinski's work has been translated into English -- including the novel The Same River; see the Peter Owen publicity page, or get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

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

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       Hispabooks profile

       Spanish publisher of Spanish-books-in-English-translation Hispabooks do a really nice job -- and I wish there were similar publishers for any number of other languages ... -- and at the Asymptote weblog Frances Riddle now has a Q & A, Publisher Profile: Ana Pérez Galván of Hispabooks.

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

       Intizar Hussain (1923-2016)

       Urdu-writing great Intizar Hussain has passed away; see, for example, Martin Chilton's obituary in The Telegraph.
       It was good to see him get shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize (in its former incarnation) in 2013.
       Two of his books are under review at the complete review: Basti and A Chronicle of the Peacocks.

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

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       2016 PEN Literary Awards Shortlists

       They've announced the shortlists for the 2016 PEN Literary Awards.
       Nothing under review at the complete review outside the fiction-translation prize -- though I do have a couple of these, and should get to some.
       The fiction-translation finalists are:

• The Blizzard by Vladimir Sorokin, translated by Jamey Gambrell
• The Complete Stories by Clarice Lispector, translated by Katrina Dodson
• Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, translated by Oliver Ready
• Hollow Heart by Viola Di Grado, translated by Antony Shugaar
• The Physics of Sorrow by Georgi Gospodinov, translated by Angela Rodel

       There's still a while until the Best Translated Book Award longlist is announced, but I'm curious how much overlap there will be: leaving aside the BTBA-ineligible (as a re-translation) Dostoyevsky, the Lispector seems a gimme, and I expect the Gospodinov is more or less guaranteed a longlist-place -- but I would never have figured these other two titles to rate so highly.
       The PEN winners will be announced 1 March.

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

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       Aleš Debeljak (1961-2016)

       Leading Slovenian poet Aleš Debeljak has passed away -- without much English-language notice, despite being fairly extensively translated into English; see, for example, The Slovenia Times' report, Eminent Slovenian author Aleš Debeljak dies.
       The most recent of his titles to appear in English was Smugglers, out from BOA Editions last year; see their publicity page, or get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk. (And, hey, it was even reviewed in Publishers Weekly -- "Debeljak’s engaging, accessible, eye-opening poems turn cultural dislocation into its own strange pleasure.", they said.)

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

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       Disagreeable Tales review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Léon Bloy's 1894 collection of Disagreeable Tales, now out in English from Wakefield Press.

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

       Mein Kampf in Germany -- and beyond

       The two-volume annotated Institut für Zeitgeschichte München edition of Adolf Hitler's now-out-of-copyright Mein Kampf (see their publicity page) has understandably gotten a lot of attention (see also my previous mention), and at Deutsche Welle Heike Mund now reports the unsurprising news that Critical edition of Hitler's "Mein Kampf" in great demand.
       The most interesting titbit in the piece:

Meanwhile, the IfZ has received 35 to 40 requests for translation rights. The institute isn't disinclined, the director confirmed, adding, however, that no contracts have yet been signed for translations of Hitler, Mein Kampf.

       Well, better the scholarly/critical edition than just the plain old text by itself (which is, after all, -- being out of copyright -- now up for grabs for anyone who can be bothered to translate it).

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

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       Bangla literature abroad

       In Take Bangla literature to the world the Daily Star reports that:

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday reiterated her call for extensive and quality translation of classical and popular books of Bengali literature into other languages to reach out to world readers.

       Bonus points for not setting any Nobel-winning goals (with 1913 winner Rabindranath Tagore they can sort of lay claim to a previous winner -- but the temptation to say that after a hundred years they're due again must have been hard to resist ...).

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

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       February Words without Borders

       The February issue of Words without Borders is now out, with a theme of: 'International Graphic Novels: Volume X', plus a bonus-section of 'The Reverberations of History: Contemporary Austrian Literature', curated by Tess Lewis.

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

       Nepal Literature Festival

       The Nepal Literature Festival runs through 18 Magh (2072) -- i.e. today -- and it's good to see some reports at, for example, the Kathmandu Post; I hope there is more forthcoming elsewhere, too.

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

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       Bliss Was it in Bohemia review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Michal Viewegh's 1992 Czech classic, Bliss Was it in Bohemia, finally out in English, from Jantar (whose books I've recently (and repeatedly) mentioned being very excited about).

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

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