opinionated commentary on literary matters - from the complete review

The Literary Saloon Archive

11 - 20 September 2019

11 September: Wilhelm Raabe-Literaturpreis shortlist | Grand prix de littérature américaine longlist
12 September: New Asymptote | Prix Femina longlists | Serotonin review
13 September: 'Francis Bacon: Books and Painting' | Baillie Gifford Prize longlist
14 September: György Konrád (1933-2019) | Syrian Book Fair | Dhahan Prize | Translation: Chinese → Arabic
15 September: Prix Sade | The Book of Baruch by the Gnostic Justin review
16 September: Writing (and translation) in ... Burma | MoLI preview | Tulu
17 September: Europese Literatuurprijs | Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize shortlist | FT & McKinsey Business Book of the Year shortlist | In the City a Mirror Wandering review
18 September: National Book Award for Translated Literature longlist | German Book Prize shortlist | Swiss Book Prize shortlist | Change Me review
19 September: And the Bride Closed the Door review
20 September: New Françoise Sagan novel | Nelly-Sachs-Preis

go to weblog

return to main archive

       New Françoise Sagan novel

       The big surprise-novel -- an impressively well-kept secret -- of the French 'rentrée littéraire' has been unveiled, as Plon has published a newly-discovered Françoise Sagan-novel, Les quatre coins du cœur; see their publicity page or get your copy at Amazon.fr.
       See also the AFP report, here at The Guardian, 'Lost' Françoise Sagan novel causes stir in France -- reporting that her son Denis Westhoff dug up the manuscript and:

Westhoff decided to work on the book himself, adding missing words and sometimes whole passages where he said corrections seemed necessary, taking care not to change the novel’s style or tone.

       Meanwhile, Sagan's editor apparently didn't want to publish it .....
       There has, of course, been tons of coverage in the French press; see, for example, Marianne Payot, who considers Faut-il lire le roman inédit de Françoise Sagan ? in L'Express.

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

---

       Nelly-Sachs-Preis

       The Nelly Sachs Prize is a biennial international author prize awarded by the city of Dortmund for outstanding creative accomplishments in the literary and intellectual fields, and especially those which have a goal of improving the cultural relationships between people. It has an impressive list of previous winners, including Ilse Aichinger (1971), Elias Canetti (1975), Nadine Gordimer (1985), Milan Kundera (1987), Juan Goytisolo (1993), Michael Ondaatje (1995), Javier Marías (1997) Christa Wolf (1999), Aharon Appelfeld (2005), Margaret Atwood (2009), and Marie NDiaye (2015).
       Two weeks ago they decided that this year's prize would go to Kamila Shamsie; after reports reminding them that Shamsie supported the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement they undecided, taking back their choice and deciding not to award a prize this year; see, for example, their official statement on not awarding the prize.
       You might figure they would have been aware of Shamsie's position earlier, but they say they weren't -- allowing them to explain their change of heart as being based on new information rather than, say, the bad press they were getting after announcing Shamsie would be getting the prize.
       Shamsies's response can be found in the Middle East Eye report by Mustafa Abu Sneineh, Kamila Shamsie stripped of German literary prize over support for BDS; they also report that Shamsie: "asked Dortmund’s city council to include her statement in their official press release, but they refused".
       See also, for example, Alison Flood's report in The Guardian, Kamila Shamsie's book award withdrawn over her part in Israel boycott.

       (Updated - 24 September): See now also the open letter at the London Review of Books blog signed by several hundred fairly well-know figures on The Right to Boycott in support of Shamsie.

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

       And the Bride Closed the Door review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Ronit Matalon's And the Bride Closed the Door, just about out from New Vessel Press.

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

       National Book Award for Translated Literature longlist

       They've announced the ten-title strong longlist for this year's (American) National Book Award for Translated Literature, selected from 145 (unfortunately and disappointingly not revealed) submissions; the titles were originally written in ten different languages.
       I've only seen three of these, and The Memory Police by Ogawa Yoko is the only title under review at the complete review -- though I should be getting to the Krasznahorkai (Baron Wenckheim's Homecoming) as well.
       The shortlist will be announced 8 October, and the winners 20 November.

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

---

       German Book Prize shortlist

       They've announced the six-title shortlist for this year's German Book Prize; see also Sabine Peschel's Deutsche Welle report, German Book Prize shortlist announced,with brief descriptions of the finalists.
       I haven't seen any of these, but I am curious about Das flüssige Land, by Raphaela Edelbauer; see also the Klett-Cotta publicity page.
       The winner will be announced 14 October.

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

---

       Swiss Book Prize shortlist

       In perhaps not ideal timing (see above) they've also announced (warning ! dreaded pdf format !) the five-title shortlist for this year's (German-language-)Swiss Book Prize.
       I haven't seen any of these, but I have been sorely tempted by the Sibylle Berg; see also the Kiepenheuer & Witsch foreign rights page.
       The winner will be announced 10 November.

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

---

       Change Me review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Andrej Blatnik's Change Me, just about out from Dalkey Archive Press.

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

       Europese Literatuurprijs

       They've announced the winner of this year's Europese Literatuurprijs, the Dutch prize for the best translation of a European novel into Dutch, and it is the translation of Arno Geiger's Unter der Drachenwand -- no information yet at the official site, last I checked, but see the announcement at the Dutch Foundation for Literature
       Geiger's We Are Doing Fine won the German Book Prize in 2005, and this one was longlisted for last year's German Book Prize; he's been reasonably well translated into English -- see also The Old King in His Exile -- and English-language rights to this one have also already been sold; see also the Hanser foreign rights page (and hope that they don't actually call it 'Beneath Drachenwand Mountain' in English).

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

---

       Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize shortlist

       The American Literary Translators Association has announced the shortlist for this year's Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize, promoting "the translation of Asian works into English"; I haven't seen any of these.
       The winner will be announced at ALTA's annual conference in early November.

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

---

       FT & McKinsey Business Book of the Year shortlist

       They've announced the shortlist for this year's Financial Times and McKinsey & Company Business Book of the Year Award -- though the announcement is bizarrely paywalled at the official site, but see the report by Katie Mansfield at The Bookseller.
       The winner will be announced 3 December.

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

---

       In the City a Mirror Wandering review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Upendranath Ashk's In the City a Mirror Wandering, the second in his six-volume Falling Walls novel cycle.

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

       Writing (and translation) in ... Burma

       The Myanmar Times offers a top-ten list of local (Burmese) authors and translators.
       Very little Burmese fiction is available in translation (hence also very little under review at the complete review), but maybe some US/UK publishers will take a look at some of these .....
       And neat to see translators considered such a significant part of the local literary culture to be (such a big) part of a list like this.

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

---

       MoLI preview

       The Museum of Literature Ireland opens its doors on Friday, and in the Irish Times Gemma Tipton offers a First look inside the new Museum of Literature Ireland.
       It certainly sounds like it will be worth a visit.

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

---

       Tulu

       The Deccan Herald reports on B A Viveka Rai's call that 'Novels, stories should be translated to Tulu', as he noted:

Tulu has all qualities to be included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, however, lack of interest in taking up the issue has left the language get unnoticed

       There are a lot official languages in India -- and a lot of others -- but Tulu seems an interesting case. Not a huge number of speakers (readers ...), but Deepa Bhasthi's article in ArtReview Asia, Lost in Translation, suggests it (and its literature/orature) are worth a closer look (and is also a fascinating piece on the script which is used to write a language).

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

       Prix Sade

       They've announced the winners of this year's prix Sade -- there's no official site, just, ugh. a ... Facebook page, but fortunately also a Twitter-mention from the chair of the jury, Emmanuel Pierrat, who reports that Querelle by Kevin Lambert (see also the Le Nouvel Attila publicity page) and Métaphysique de la viande by Christophe Siébert (see also the Au Diable Vauvert publicity page) shared the prize.

       (Updated - 16 September): See now also the Livres Hebdo report.

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

---

       The Book of Baruch by the Gnostic Justin review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Geoffrey Hill's posthumous collection, The Book of Baruch by the Gnostic Justin, recently from Oxford University Press.

       Nice to see this getting some serious coverage elsewhere too -- including now a more than 6000-word review by Seamus Perry in the current London Review of Books.

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

       György Konrád (1933-2019)

       Hungarian author György (George) Konrád has passed away; see, for example, the Pablo Gorondi/AP obituary in The Washington Post
       Best-known for his first novel, The Case Worker -- is that really out of print in English ? -- quite a few of his works have been translated into English; The City Builder, which first came out in English in the Philip Roth-edited 'Writers from the Other Europe'-series from Penguin and was reïssued by Dalkey Archive Press about a decade ago, might be your best bet; see the Dalkey publicity page, or get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.
       See also the official Konrád site.

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

---

       Syrian Book Fair

       Syria may be war-torn, bombed to pieces, and with a majority of its population internally and externally displaced, but that hasn't stopped the regime from trying to maintain a semblance of behind the head-/front-lines normalcy -- and so, for example, they're currently holding the 31st Syrian Book Fair.
       Really.
       The Syrian Times reports that 31st Book Fair Witnesses Notable Arab and Foreign Participation (publishing houses representing ... all of ten countries are apparently on hand, from: "Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, Oman, Jordan, Sudan, Iran, Russia, Indonesia and Denmark") -- with the (to me) most surprising titbit being that: "237 publishing houses, including 150 Syrian ones are taking part" -- i.e. there are 150 functioning Syrian publishing houses ?!??
       SANA (the Syrian Arab News Agency) reports how 31st edition of Book Fair kicks off at al-Assad Library -- counting only six foreign participants, but noting that this year's theme is: "the book is a creation for brain". (SANA also have an Arabic report on what appears to have been one of the poetry festival events, with the ... welcoming title 'Greetings to the Resistance' (yeah, I think they mean that differently there ...); this article does not appear to be available in an English version .....)

       Maybe I shouldn't be surprised -- I've mentioned Somalia's thriving book fairs several times in recent years, for example -- but I have to admit I'm still shaking my head. And yes, sure, books, good -- but .....

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

---

       Dhahan Prize

       They've announced the winners of this year's Dhahan Prize, the Canada-based prize: "awarded for excellence in Punjabi literature" which awards: "$25,000 annually to the best book of fiction published in either Gurmukhi or Shahmukhi scripts, along with two additional finalist prizes of $10,000 CDN"
       A short story collection by Jatinder Singh Haans took the top award this year.
       See also the Vancouver Sun report.

       I think this is wonderful -- with the odd Canadian locale actually seeming to help get some cross-border attention for Punjabi fiction -- desperately needed, apparently, because how many books translated from the Punjabi into English do you think are listed at the entire (2008-2020) Translation Database at Publishers Weekly ? (Clue: they don't even bother/need to list 'Punjabi' among the long list of languages from which works have been translated into English .....)

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

---

       Translation: Chinese → Arabic

       At Xinhua, in Interview: Translation main way to narrow gap between Arabic and Chinese cultures: Egyptian translator, Marwa Yahya and Maryam Kadry speak with Ahmed al-Saeed, who says: "Translation of Chinese books is the main gate to narrow the gap between Arabic and Chinese cultures".
       Hey, it's not the worst idea -- and more translation between these languages is surely welcome.

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

       'Francis Bacon: Books and Painting'

       At the Centre Pompidou the exhibition Bacon en toutes lettres ('Francis Bacon: Books and Painting' they're calling it in English) is on through 20 January.
       It's inspired by his reading -- relying also on Bacon's Books: Francis Bacon's library and its role in his art, where they also inventoried his personal library of about one thousand books; eventually they plan to to digitally catalogue the texts (including: "the digital scanning of book covers, and those pages in the texts that are marked with the artist's notations, paint accretions, and heavy usage/wear"); for now you can at least download the list of books (warning ! .xls file !).
       In The New York Times Cody Delistraty introduces the exhibition, in Francis Bacon Read Just as He Painted: Deep, Dark and Bleak.

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

---

       Baillie Gifford Prize longlist

       They've announced the twelve-title longlist for this year's Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction (yes, what used to be known as the Samuel Johnson Prize and then the BBC Four Samuel Johnson Prize).
       I haven't seen any of these -- but I am curious about Julia Lovell's Maoism: A Global History; her The Politics of Cultural Capital: China's Quest for a Nobel Prize in Literature was certainly interesting.
       The shortlist will be announced on 22 October, the winner on 19 November

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

       New Asymptote

       The September issue of Asymptote is now up -- and it's an all-Catalan issue (though there aren't quite as many pieces as in the usual issue).

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

---

       Prix Femina longlists

       They've announced the longlists for this year's prix Femina, another French literary prize that awards a prize both for the best work of French fiction and the best foreign work; translations from the English in the running include novels by Maggie Nelson, Sigrid Nunez, and Edna O'Brien (the Chris Kraus is the German one, not the American one); see the Livres Hebdo report.
       This is also a four-round prize, with the short lists to be announced 8 October, shorter lists on the 23rd, and the winners on 5 November.

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

---

       Serotonin review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Michel Houellebecq's Serotonin, due out in a couple of weeks in the UK from William Heinemann and in November in the US from Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

       There are already quite a lot English-language reviews of it -- but I'm a bit surprised the translation hasn't gotten more anticipation buzz yet. Come on -- it's Houellebecq !

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

       Wilhelm Raabe-Literaturpreis shortlist

       They've announced the shortlist for this year's Wilhelm Raabe Literature Prize; see, for example, the BuchMarkt report.
       There is some overlap -- two titles -- with the recently announced German Book Prize longlist -- the novels by Norbert Scheuer and Saša Stanišić.
       The Wilhelm Raabe actually pays out more than the German Book Prize -- €30,000 vs. €25,000 -- and has also been around longer, but between 2000 and 2010 it was only awarded biennially; it is also a sort of successor to the Wilhelm Raabe-Preis der Stadt Braunschweig, awarded between 1944 and 1990 (triennially, from 1954 on), but a sometime book, sometime author prize (which did go to some great authors and books, however, including,in 1975, Uwe Johnson's Anniversaries).
       Winners of the more recent iteration under review at the complete review are: Wolf Haas' The Weather Fifteen Years Ago (2006), Sibylle Lewitscharoff's Blumenberg (2011), and Christian Kracht's Imperium (2012).

       This year's winner will be announced 3 November.

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

---

       Grand prix de littérature américaine longlist

       They've announced the longlist Grand prix de littérature américaine -- a French prize for the best American work; see the Livres Hebdo report.
       The winner will be announced 11 November.

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

previous entries (1 - 10 September 2019)

archive index

- return to top of the page -

© 2019 the complete review


Main | the New | the Best | the Rest | Review Index | Links