opinionated commentary on literary matters - from the complete review

The Literary Saloon Archive

11 - 20 August 2020

11 August: Pierre Klossowski | Online literary-suicide censorship | Eighteen years of the Literary Saloon
12 August: Maryse Condé Q & A | Disappointing China Literature results | Literary magazines in ... India
13 August: Arab women writers in translation | Kenneth Bernard (1930-2020) | The Corporation Wars: Dissidence review
14 August: A User's Manual review
15 August: Alexievich on Lukashenka | '11 best Arabic novels' | Not a Novel review
16 August: 'India in 50 books' | Uighur poetry
17 August: UK book flood | New Latin American Literature Today | Translation in ... Viet Nam | The End of Me review
18 August: Read Russia Prize shortlist | Spark review
19 August: German Book Prize longlist | John Dos Passos Prize finalists | Kawakami Mieko Q & A
20 August: International Booker Prize countdown | Jo Nesbø earnings | Red Dust review

go to weblog

return to main archive

       International Booker Prize countdown

       They're announcing the winner of the International Booker Prize next week, on 26 August, and at PEN Transmissions Georgina Godwin has a Q & A, The Words We Choose: A Roundtable with the International Booker Prize Shortlisted Translators.
       Meanwhile, at the Asymptote blog Barbara Halla considers Who Will Win the International Booker Prize ?

       Of the six finalists, I've only read The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree, The Memory Police , and Tyll -- though I do have two of the others (well, one only in an e-version, which makes me far less likely to manage to read it ...). No guesses as to which might win, however.

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

---

       Jo Nesbø earnings

       At Forbes David Nikel reports that Norway Crime Author Jo Nesbø Earns $5.1 Million Book Royalties In 2019, as he takes advantage of the fact that in Norway tax information is a matter of public record, and the numbers are in for Nesbø's "two publishing-related companies" for 2019 (though not yet his personal accounts).
       I wonder if they tally up all the prominent writers' numbers in Norway; it would be interesting (and probably a bit depressing) to see what they earn.

       (Seven Nesbø titles are under review at the complete review -- most recently his Macbeth-variation.)

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

---

       Red Dust review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Cuban author Yoss' Red Dust, recently out from Restless Books.

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

       German Book Prize longlist

       They've announced the twenty-title strong longlist for this year's German Book Prize, selected from 206 (unfortunately and outrageously not revealed) entries.
       One author who has previously won the prize -- Frank Witzel, whose Die Erfindung der Roten Armee Fraktion durch einen manisch-depressiven Teenager im Sommer 1969 took the prize in 2015 -- made the list.
       Noteworthy titles include Anne Weber's Annette, ein Heldinnenepos -- a novel in verse; see the Matthes & Seitz publicity page -- and, oh dear, Robert Seethaler's Gustav Mahler-novel; see the Hanser foreign rights page. The Fox and Dr. Shimamura-author Christine Wunnicke is also on the list -- again with something a foreign-exotic locale; see the Berenberg publicity page.
       Good to see the variety of publishers that placed books on the list -- and especially nice to see the Urs Engeler title, Arno Camenisch's Goldene Jahre; see their publicity page; Dalkey Archive Press has brought out two of his works in English (e.g. The Alp).
       The shortlist will be announced 15 September.

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

---

       John Dos Passos Prize finalists

       They've announced the six finalists for this year's John Dos Passos Prize -- famously (?): "the oldest literary award given by a Virginia college or university" -- which: "honors one of America's most talented but underappreciated writers".
       These six -- Alexander Chee, Aleksandar Hemon, Gish Jen, Dana Johnson, Hari Kunzru, Valeria Luiselli -- hardly seem very underappreciated; indeed they all seem pretty well-known to me, and several have gotten a whole lot of media-attention in recent years ..... But then this prize has always seemed to have a little trouble meeting its mandate -- Graham Greene (?!??) won the inaugural prize, in 1980 ..... See also all the previous winners.
       The prize winner will be announced next month.

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

---

       Kawakami Mieko Q & A

       With Breasts and Eggs finally also coming out in the UK -- it's been out in the US a while -- David McNeill has a Q & A in The Guardian with author Mieko Kawakami: 'Women are no longer content to shut up'.

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

       Read Russia Prize shortlist

       They've announced the five-title shortlist for this year's Read Russia Prize, awarded: "for works of Russian literature published in new English translations".
       Only one of the titles still in the running is under review at the complete review: Betsy Hulick's translation of Alexander Griboedov's Woe from Wit.
       The winners will be announced next month.

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

---

       Spark review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Matayoshi Naoki's Akutagawa Prize-winning novel Spark -- one of the biggest bestsellers in Japan in recent years.

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

       UK book flood

       The French 'rentrée littéraire' -- when a huge number of fiction titles flood the book market over the course of just a few weeks -- will start soon -- but this year, with the many publication-dates being pushed back in the UK (as also in the US), it looks like there will be competition elsewhere too: as Alex Clark reports in The Observer, in the UK: Literary world overwhelmed by 600 books to be published on one day.
       Hard for most titles to stand out or get much attention in such a crowded field; it'll be interesting to see what the consequences are.

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

---

       New Latin American Literature Today

       The August 2020 issue of Latin American Literature Today is now up -- with a focus on Rodolfo Fogwill, as well as a section on four Venezuelan women writers.

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

---

       Translation in ... Viet Nam

       At SGGP Quynh Yen reports on how in Viet Nam there is a Scarcity of good translators for literary translation.
       While translators from English "are abundant [...] there has been a serious shortage of translators of these other languages"; among the consequences are that translations-from-the-English dominate publishers' lists.
       Among the perhaps surprising issues:

Last but not least, famous translator Tran Tien Cao Dang complained that many young people are good at English but they are weak at Vietnamese. Translations have displayed a worrying poverty of using Vietnamese language amongst young translators

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

---

       The End of Me review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Alfred Hayes' 1968 novel The End of Me, recently re-issued by New York Review Books.

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

       'India in 50 books'

       Another book-list, as at LiveMint, to celebrate Indian independence day, they offer: "a curated list of 50 must-read books in English by Indian and Indian-origin writers -- narratives that capture the diversity, dreams and dejections of the country since 1947", with The Lounge guide to India in 50 books.
       It's extremely disappointing that: "we had to let go of the works in translation" -- i.e. they only include works originally written in English -- but at least they promise they'll include these in their next effort, as: "we decided to make this a separate list entirely, one that will come to you soon". (I'm not holding my breath, but one can hope .....)

       See also the Indian literature under review at the complete review.

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

---

       Uighur poetry

       At The New York Review of Books NYR Daily weblog Joshua L. Freeman writes on Uighur Poets on Repression and Exile.

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

       Alexievich on Lukashenka

       Longtime Belrusian leader and serial election-cheat Alyaksandr Lukashenka is getting a lot of blowback for his latest attempted rigging, and at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Yury Drakakhrust reports how also Nobel Laureate Alexievich Says Lukashenka Has 'Declared War' On Belarusian People.
       She's quoted as calling upon this totalitarian holdover to:

Leave before it's too late, before you have plunged the people into a terrible abyss, into the abyss of civil war

       One hopes the overwhelming show of opinion against him leads him to do the right thing. Maybe he can go join former Spanish monarch Juan Carlos -- wherever he is .....

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

---

       '11 best Arabic novels'

       Lots of caveats -- "available in English translation and have either won or been shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction prize" -- but IPAF administrator Fleur Montanaro suggests on how to: 'Travel to the Arab world without a passport:' the 11 best Arabic novels that are available in English
       (Somewhat surprisingly, none of these are under review at the complete review -- though quite a bit of Arabic literature is.)

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

---

       Not a Novel review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Jenny Erpenbeck's Not a Novel -- subtitled A Memoir in Pieces in the US and Collected Writings and Reflections in the UK.

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

       A User's Manual review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Jiří Kolář's A User's Manual, which Twisted Spoon Press brought out in a nice edition last year.

       Lots of Kolář-collages to this, but it's well worth looking around the internet for more examples of his (art) work -- these pieces at Everything Czech and Apollo are a good place to start.

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

       Arab women writers in translation

       At Al-Fanar Media M. Lynx Qualey finds Arab Women Writers Struggle to Get the Readers They Deserve -- noting that as far as translations from the Arabic go, the usual (terrible) trends hold -- far more works by men than women get translated -- and: "Women's books that are translated from Arabic to English also face an additional set of obstacles".
       She also looks at the situation in reverse, noting that as far as translation into Arabic the selection also tends to be significantly male-weighted.

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

---

       Kenneth Bernard (1930-2020)

       Okay, maybe a bit niche -- but I'm still shocked that I only learn of Kenneth Bernard's death via French literary reports; see, for example, Victor De Sepausy's Mort de Kenneth Bernard, écrivain qui “échappait aux standards habituels” at ActuaLitté.
       He's best known for his plays -- especially his work with/at La Mama -- but see also, for example, his novel, From the District File, which was published by FC2; see their publicity page, or get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

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

---

       The Corporation Wars: Dissidence review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of the first in Ken MacLeod's trilogy, The Corporation Wars: Dissidence.

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

       Maryse Condé Q & A

       At PEN Transmissions Will Forrester offers: When I Stop Writing, I Stop Living: An Interview with Maryse Condé.

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

---

       Disappointing China Literature results

       Leading online literature portal and writing platform China Literature has announced (warning ! dreaded pdf format !) its unaudited consolidated results for the six months ended 30 June 2020, and they ain't pretty: as Patrick Frater reports in Variety: Tencent's China Literature Crashes to $465 Million Loss. (China Literature is majority-owned by Tencent but also HKEX-listed.)
       As CEO Ed Cheng Wu noted:

The disappointing results made us realize that the lack of resilience of our underlying business model and our structural issues that have piled up over the recent years.

       You can also read the earnings conference call, where Cheng Wu acknowledged:

In the past, we failed to take full care of our writer's feelings and support them adequately through our incentive program. And some of our writers expressed concerns about the previous version of the writers' contract. Writers are the cornerstone of the China Literature's platform, and we need to do more to enhance their trust.

       I would have thought the lock-down time would have been ideal for this business model, but apparently they were not able to take advantage. It will be interesting to see whether they can turn things around.

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

---

       Literary magazines in ... India

       At Scroll.in Neha Bhatt reports on: More submissions, fewer readers ? How India's literary magazines are coping with the pandemic

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

       Pierre Klossowski

       On the occasion of the publication of the English translation -- by Jeremy M. Davies and Anna Fitzgerald -- of Pierre Klossowski's The Suspended Vocation by Small Press Ryan Ruby writes about Pierre Klossowski, Brilliant Brother of Balthus at The New York Review of Books NYR Daily weblog. Meanwhile, at Music & Literature they published Brian Evenson's Introduction to the new translation a few months ago. (And, if you want more, see for example John Taylor on Reading Pierre Klossowski.)
       Certainly an interesting author, and good to see him getting some attention again.

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

---

       Online literary-suicide censorship

       Other areas -- specifically the political -- where there is censorship are certainly more consequential, but any form of it is disturbing, and, as Jiayun Feng reports at SupChina, now: Censors say no suicide on China's leading online literature site.
       Apparently:

According to some authors, prior to the new policies, it was common sense among them that stories that depicted suicide in a positive light were strictly forbidden on the platform. But the new regulations are troubling because they target any description of the act itself, regardless of the intention or purpose behind it.

       But I was amused by the wag who pointed out:

Now when we read detective fiction on Jinjiang, we can be 100% confident that someone's death is murder rather than suicide

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

---

       Eighteen years of the Literary Saloon

       The complete review went online twenty-one years ago, in 1999, but this Literary Saloon weblog part of it was only added in 2002 -- the first post appearing 11 August, exactly eighteen years ago today.

       Glad to see you still find it worth visiting !

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

previous entries (1 - 10 August 2020)

archive index

- return to top of the page -

© 2020 the complete review


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