opinionated commentary on literary matters - from the complete review

The Literary Saloon Archive

21 - 30 September 2016

21 September: Watanabe Junichi Museum changes hands | Shortlists: German Book Prize - Australian Medal for Excellence in Translation | Longlist: The Samuel Johnson Prize Baillie Gifford Prize
22 September: Literary prizes: Swiss Book Prize shortlist - French American Prize longlist | Nordisk Books
23 September: Bottom's Dream publication day | Geronimo review
24 September: Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o wins Pak Kyong Ni Prize | The Brother review
25 September: Prix Sade | Cundill Prize in Historical Literature longlist
26 September: David Hare does/on Georges Simenon | The Eskimo Solution review
27 September: Literary prizes: Newman Prize for Chinese Literature - Giller Prize shortlist | Blitz review
28 September: FT/OppenheimerFunds Emerging Voices awards | Constantijn Huygens-prijs | Conclave review
29 September: Peter Weiss, nearing 100 | Goldsmiths Prize shortlist | The Wicked Go To Hell review
30 September: (American) National Translation Awards shortlists | The Invisibility Cloak review

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       (American) National Translation Awards shortlists

       The American Literary Translators Association has announced its shortlists for the National Translation Awards -- and several of the titles are under review at the complete review:

        - In the Poetry category: Minute-Operas by Frédéric Forte

        - In the Prose category:

• Leg over Leg by Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq
• The Meursault Investigation by Kamel Daoud
• The Physics of Sorrow by Georgi Gospodinov

       The winners will be announced at ALTA's annual conference (held 6 to 9 October).

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

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       The Invisibility Cloak review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Ge Fei's The Invisibility Cloak, a contemporary Chinese novel(la), just (about) out from New York Review Books.

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

       Peter Weiss, nearing 100

       Local favorite (with a dozen of his books under review) Peter Weiss was born 8 November 1916, so centenary-time is quickly approaching.
       Getting things started is the Peter Weiss 100 festival at HAU Hebbel am Ufer, which runs through 8 October.
       Among the German publications to look forward to in the coming weeks are the definitive edition of his great The Aesthetics of Resistance, as well as the first real biography, Werner Schmidt's Peter Weiss - Biografie; I hope to be able to get (to) both of them.
       So what do US/UK publishers have planned ?
       (I know, I know ..... Why do I even bother asking .....)

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

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       Goldsmiths Prize shortlist

       They've announced the six-title-strong shortlist for this year's Goldsmiths Prize -- "awarded to a book that is deemed genuinely novel and which embodies the spirit of invention that characterizes the genre at its best".
       None of the shortlisted titles are under review at the complete review, but some look quite interesting.
       They were selected from 111 entries; the winner will be announced 9 November.

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

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       The Wicked Go To Hell review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Frédéric Dard's The Wicked Go To Hell -- another in the Dard-series Pushkin Press is bringing out.
       It's great to see these, but this one is kind of overshadowed by the film it is based on (yes, it's sort of a 'novelisation').

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

       FT/OppenheimerFunds Emerging Voices awards

       They've announced the winners of this year's FT/OppenheimerFunds Emerging Voices awards, with Eka Kurniawan's Man Tiger winning the fiction prize (which this year was limited to writers from qualifying 'Asia-Pacific' countries); see also Ben Bland's piece on Eka Kurniawan, winner, Emerging Voices 2016 Fiction Award

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

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       Constantijn Huygens-prijs

       The Constantijn Huygens-prijs is probably the leading Dutch author-prize, with most (if not quite all) of the major post-war Dutch (and Flemish) writers having won it, and they've now announced that Atte Jongstra has won this year's prize.
       It would seem that none of his work has been translated into English yet, but see the Dutch Foundation for Literature Atte Jongstra-page for more information -- and De Multatulianen is definitely something I have to seek out. (Two Multatuli titles are under review at the complete review: the classic Max Havelaar, as well as The Oyster & the Eagle.)

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

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       Conclave review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Roberto Pazzi's papal-election novel from 2001, Conclave.

       I am very much looking forward to The Ghost- (etc.) author Robert Harris' own Conclave -- just out in the UK; coming to the US in November; see the Knopf publicity page, get your copy at Amazon.co.uk or pre-order it at Amazon.com -- and I figured this would be good preparation/point of comparison.

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

       Literary prize: Newman Prize for Chinese Literature

       The first Newman Prize for Chinese Literature went to Sandalwood Death-author Mo Yan in 2009 -- three years before he won the Nobel Prize -- and the four others who have gone on to win this biennial author-prize are pretty impressive too: A Dictionary of Maqiao-author Han Shaogong, Yang Mu, and Chu T'ien-Wen. Now they've announced the 2017 winner of the prize -- Wang Anyi, who will receive the prize 3 March.
       None of her titles are under review at the complete review yet, but of course she features in my The Complete Review Guide to Contemporary World Fiction.
       Quite a few of her titles have been published in English; see, for example, her 'novel of Shanghai', The Song of Everlasting Sorrow; see the Columbia University Press publicity page, or get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

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

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       Literary prize: Giller Prize shortlist

       The (Canadian) Scotiabank Giller Prize has announced its six-title shortlist; the winner of the C$100,000 prize will be announced 7 November.

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

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       Blitz review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Spanish author David Trueba's Blitz, just out from Other Press.

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

       David Hare does/on Georges Simenon

       David Hare's The Red Barn, his adaptation of Georges Simenon's La main, opens at the National Theatre on 6 October -- see also the Faber publicity page, or pre-order your copy at Amazon.co.uk -- and in The Observer he has a nice piece on the master, David Hare: the genius of Georges Simenon.
       La main was translated into English, as The Man on the Bench in the Barn, soon after it appeared in French, but seems to be out of print (though you can probably get a used copy cheap at Amazon.com, or in the Tenth Simenon Omnibus-paperback at Amazon.co.uk); hopefully, Penguin will have another go at it in their reviving Simenon-series.
       Meanwhile, one of what Hare calls: "his greatest books" is under review at the complete review: The Widow.

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

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       The Eskimo Solution review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Pascal Garnier's The Eskimo Solution, an early one from when he made the transition from kids' book author to something more creepily adult -- as does his protagonist in this one.

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

       Prix Sade

       They've announced the winner of this year's prix Sade. French literary prizes generally have a poor-to-non-existent web presence, but even here the prix Sade stands out in taking the worst approach imaginable: solely having a 'Facebook' page -- which is, alas, apparently currently the only place you can find a mention of who won (here -- and my apologies for linking to a page at that cesspit of a site).
       (Updated - 26 September): See now also the Livres Hebdo report.
       The winning title is Un désir d'humain: Les «love doll» au Japon, by Agnès Giard; see the Les Belles Lettres publicity page, or get your copy at Amazon.fr.
       Looking at the author's official site, it certainly looks like she knows her stuff -- and she's certainly written extensively on the subject matter(s).

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

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       Cundill Prize in Historical Literature longlist

       I'm a few days late with this, but they've announced the longlist for the Cundill Prize in Historical Literature, a Canadian prize that nevertheless pays out in US dollars -- a tidy 75,000 to the winning author.
       A manageable longlist of only six titles -- that will be cut in half in short order, with the finalist announcement already coming 3 October.
       The 'literature' the prize honors is limited to non-fiction, but within those limitations they get to a pretty interesting variety of books; I haven't read or reviewed any of these, but could see myself getting to several.

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

       Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o wins Pak Kyong Ni Prize

       Previous winners of the relatively new South Korean author prize, the Pak Kyong Ni Prize, include Amos Oz (last year), Marilynne Robinson (2013), and Lyudmila Ulitskaya (2012), and they've now announced that this year's winner of the 100 million won (ca. US$90,000) prize is the great and certainly deserving Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o.
       No word yet at the official site, last I checked, but see, for example, the Dong-A Ilbo report.

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

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       The Brother review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Estonian author Rein Raud's The Brother, just out in English from Open Letter.
       A nice little novel that deserves some/more attention.

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

       Bottom's Dream publication day

       It's actually been more or less available for a few weeks already -- and selling well, if the Amazon.com sales rank is anything to go by -- but today is apparently the official publication date for Dalkey Archive Press' edition of John E. Woods' translation of Arno Schmidt's magnum opus (emphasis on the magnum ...), Bottom's Dream, and so you should readily be able to get a copy. Just don't expect to finish it over the weekend .....
       No (print) press coverage of note yet, and certainly no reviews (somehow Publishers Weekly (etc.) don't seem to have gotten through the near-1500 pages yet ...), but this hard-to-overlook volume, and this historic publication (it is a big, big deal) should get some coverage sooner rather than later (indeed, I understand the Wall Street Journal is due to have something on it this weekend [Updated - 24 September]: and here we have it: see now Steven Norton's report).

       (Meanwhile, of course, I remind you many of his other (generally more accessible -- and all considerably shorter) works are available in John E Woods' translation from Dalkey Archive Press and Green Integer -- and if you want a general Arno Schmidt introduction you can turn to my litttle monograph, Arno Schmidt: a centennial colloquy (get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk, or on Kindle: get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk).)

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

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       Geronimo review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Leon de Winter's recent thriller, Geronimo, in which he suggests the killing of Osama bin Laden went down very differently than we think.

       This is the eighth de Winter title under review at the complete review, and I've often expressed surprise that so few of these have been translated into English. A longtime former US resident, de Winter would seem well-positioned to break into the American market, but has had very limited success. As to this one -- not yet translated into English -- I can see how its politics (Obama is painted in a ... bad light) might be problematic; on the other hand, there are surely some publishers who might be interested in it just for that reason ..... (More problematic, of course, is that, politics aside, it just isn't that good .....)

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

       Literary prize: Swiss Book Prize shortlist

       The Schweizer Buchpreis -- which isn't really the Swiss Book Prize, but rather the Swiss Book Prize for books written in German ... -- has announced its five-title shortlist, selected from 83 (unrevealed) submissions. It includes a book by Imperium-author Christian Kracht, as well as just one title that had also made the German Book Prize longlist, Michelle Steinbeck's Mein Vater war ein Mann an Land und im Wasser ein Walfisch.
       The winner of the CHF 30,000 prize will be announced on 13 November.

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

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       Literary prize: French American Prize longlist

       I can't really fathom why the French see the need for a Grand prix de littérature américaine -- like American fiction doesn't get enough attention in France ... -- but, hey, they do, and they've now announced their longlist.
       At least it's one of those rare foreign-language prizes where everything is familiar and available in the US/UK.
       The shortlist will be announced 11 October, and the winner on 4 November.

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

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       Nordisk Books

       In The Bookseller Natasha Onwuemezi reports that Scandi-literary indie preps launch title, profiling new publisher Nordisk Books.
       They are:

An independent publishing house founded in London in 2016 with a focus on modern and contemporary Scandinavian literature.

       Sounds sort of like what Norvik Press has been doing for a while, but it's always good to have more publishers covering this territory -- there's certainly room (i.e. enough deserving titles that should be published in English), for them and more .....
       Their first book will apparently be Havoc, by Tom Kristensen -- nothing new (the University of Wisconsin Press brought this out almost half a century ago), but long out of print. (And New York Review of Books is apparently coming out with this in the US -- which on the one hand speaks for the quality of the book, on the other hand makes it a bit disappointing that they didn't choose something with which to make their first mark in both the US and UK markets all their own.)

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

       Watanabe Junichi Museum changes hands

       In one of the more bizarre literary-related headlines I have come across recently, Nikkei reports: Daio Paper sells literary museum to Chinese publisher, as:

Daio Paper has sold a museum dedicated to renowned Japanese author Junichi Watanabe to China's Qingdao Publishing Group

       See also the (Chinese) Qingdao press release (with lots of pictures from the hand-/take-over ceremony).
       The Ando Tadao-designed Watanabe Junichi Museum of Literature actually looks pretty impressive -- but:

Traffic had been slow, with only about 3,000 visitors in 2015. But many of those who did come were Chinese, as Watanabe's works are popular in China.

       Meanwhile, Watanabe isn't quite so well-remembered (or at least in print) in the US/UK -- but A Lost Paradise made at least a bit of an impression; get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

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

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       Shortlist: German Book Prize

       The imitation-Man-Booker German Book Prize has announced its six finalists; at DeutscheWelle Sabine Peschel has brief summaries of the shortlisted titles.
       The winner will be announced 17 October.

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

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       Shortlist: Australian Medal for Excellence in Translation

       They've announced the shortlist for the biennial Australian Academy of the Humanities Medal for Excellence in Translation, with three impressive if very different titles: two old classics -- the I Ching and The Old Javanese Rāmāyana, as well as a Patrick Modiano (Paris Nocturne).
       I actually have two of these -- the I Ching and the Modiano -- and they both look quite impressive (in very different ways).

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

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       Longlist: The Samuel Johnson Prize Baillie Gifford Prize

       What used to be The Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction, from 1999 through last year, is now apparently something called the 'Baillie Gifford Prize' (this Baillie Gifford apparently able to pony up enough sponsorship money to displace the long dead (and presumably, for all intents and purposes, destitute) Samuel Johnson as headliner).
       They're announcing their longlist today -- and while the information isn't yet up at the official site, as I write this, the papers have the scoop: see, for example, Alison Flood's report in The Guardian, Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich heads longlist for UK''s top nonfiction award.
       The shortlist will be announced 17 October, and the winner on 15 November.

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

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