opinionated commentary on literary matters - from the complete review

The Literary Saloon Archive

21 - 30 September 2020

21 September: ACFNY Translation Prize open for submissions | JCB Jury Q & A | Xiaolu Guo profile | The Peach Blossom Fan review
22 September: Cena Franze Kafky | Royal Society Science Book Prize shortlist | The Bookshop review
23 September: Prix Jean-Monnet de littérature européenne | Cundill History Prize shortlist
24 September: Prix Laure-Bataillon | FT & McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award shortlist | New Hungarian books | The Disaster Tourist review
25 September: Ilf and Petrov | Wilhelm Raabe-Literaturpreis | Canada's Frankfurt Book Fair Virtual Program
26 September: Iranian essentials | JCB Prize for Literature shortlist | Degrees review
27 September: Q & As: Marilynne Robinson - Kim Stanley Robinson | Translation in ... Turkey
28 September: Литературная премия НОС longlist | He Died with His Eyes Open review
29 September: Most Banned and Challenged in the US | Her Story exhibit | EBRD Literature Prize open for submissions
30 September: New World Literature Today | Boekenbon Literatuurprijs shortlist | The Hole review

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       New World Literature Today

       The Fall, 2020 issue of World Literature Today is now available online -- with a focus on San Juan, Puerto Rico, but also a great deal of other stuff; see, for example, Veronica Esposito's Completism, Retranslations, and Discovering New Writers: A Conversation with Margaret Jull Costa.
       And, of course, there's the extensive selection of books reviews.

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

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       Boekenbon Literatuurprijs shortlist

       They've announced the five finalists for this year's Boekenbon Literatuurprijs, the leading Dutch fiction prize.
       Among the books still in the running is Marcel Möring's latest novel, Amen; see also the De Bezige Bij foreign rights page.
       The winner will be announced 12 November.

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

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       The Hole review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Oyamada Hiroko's Akutagawa Prize-winning The Hole, just (about) out from New Directions.

       That title is a popular one for recently published works in translation: Pyun Hye-Young's The Hole came out in 2017, and New Directions published José Revueltas' The Hole two years ago; see their publicity page.

       I'm also amazed that this is the twelfth Akutagawa Prize-winning title under review at the complete review. They've given out a lot of these, and US/UK publishers seem to be publishing more of them, but still .....
       (Of course, for really extensive Akutagawa Prize-winner coverage, check out the reviews at Glynne Walley's J-lit site.)

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

       Most Banned and Challenged in the US

       Banning and challenging books remains popular in the US, and the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom now offers a list of the Top 100 Most Banned and Challenged Books: 2010-2019.
       The most disturbing part of this report: "About 82-97% of challenges remain unreported, estimates OIF".
       Only two of the titles are under review at the complete review:

• 40. Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi
• 73. Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov

       Pretty wild what else is on here -- including the Bible (52) and both Brave New World (26) and 1984 (79).

       Meanwhile, in The Washington Post Ron Charles braved this year's top-ten list, in For Banned Books Week, I read the country's 10 most challenged books. The gay penguins did not corrupt me.

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       Her Story exhibit

       At the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery the new exhibit Her Story: A Century of Women Writers runs through 18 January.
       In Smithsonian Meilan Solly writes about the show, in The Women Writers Who Shaped 20th-Century American Literature.

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

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       EBRD Literature Prize open for submissions

       They've announced the EBRD Literature Prize 2021: judges announced, open for submissions.
       This is the €20,000 prize that:

will be awarded to both writer and translator for the best work of literary fiction (including collections of short stories by a single author) translated into English, written originally in any language of the EBRD's countries of operations and published for the first time by a European (including UK) publisher in the period captured by the Prize.

       The submission deadline is 27 November 2020; the shortlist will be announced in February 2021, and the finalists in April.

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

       Литературная премия НОС longlist

       They've announced the twenty-title strong longlist (лонг-лист !) for this year's NOS Annual Literature Prize, "founded by the Mikhail Prokhorov Charitable Foundation to discover and support new trends in contemporary Russian fiction"; see also the list of previous winners
       At her Lizok's Bookshelf's translator Lisa C. Hayden offers an overview of The 2020 NOSE Award Longlist, All of It.

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

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       He Died with His Eyes Open review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of the first in Derek Raymond's Factory-series, the 1984 novel He Died with His Eyes Open.

       The series is now available from Serpent's Tail (in the UK) and Melville House (in the US), but the copy I have is the 1987 paperback edition that was the first US edition, published by the short-lived Ballantine Books imprint Available Press. Among the other books on their list back then: several Moacyr Scliar-titles (e.g. The Centaur in the Garden) and an early Quim Monzó translation.
       See also the Edwin McDowell-article in The New York Times from 1985, exploring Publishing: New International Flavor at the time, where Available Press-founder Robert B. Wyatt explains:

I needed an outlet for the translations I like to do, and I also want to publish literature as widely as possible, as cheaply as possible.

       A nice idea, but it didn't last .....

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

       Q & A: Marilynne Robinson

       At The Guardian Julian Coman has a Q & A with Marilynne Robinson: 'America still has a democratic soul'.
       She admits: "I don't really understand the phenomenon of social media".
       She has a new novel out, Jack -- see the publicity pages at Farrar, Straus and Giroux and Virago, or get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.
       The only Robinson title under review at the complete review is Absence of Mind.

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

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       Q & A: Kim Stanley Robinson

       At Public Books John Plotz has a Q & A, The Realism of Our Times: Kim Stanley Robinson on How Science Fiction Works.

       Two of Robinson's trilogies are under review at the complete review -- see e.g. Red Mars and Forty Signs of Rain.

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

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       Translation in ... Turkey

       At Anadolu Agency Handan Kazanci reports on how Skilled, speedy translators give Turkish book lovers the best of both worlds.
       I am not sure about that enthusiasm about speed .....
       A few interesting odds and ends strewn in, however -- including some numbers: "2019 saw nearly 9,100 translations, and this year through July alone, over 6,000 books were translated into Turkish from other tongues".

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

       Iranian essentials

       At the Asian American Writers' Worshop's The Margins Niloufar Talebi has a five-part series on '100 Essential Books by Iranian Writers'.
       The Introduction (which then includes the non-fiction selections) is well worth reading, discussing some of the difficulties behind why works by Iranian authors are not as widely available in English as one might expect and hope.
       As to the selections themselves: each author only gets one title -- "to allow this list to contain as many different writers as possible" -- and: "For the most part, these books have been published between 2000-2020". Most disappointingly, a significant percentage of the titles were written in languages other than Persian -- and practically all of those in English, at that. Still, it's a decent selection: the fiction list covers most of the significant authors available in English, and the list of Classics in Translation usefully mentions the variety of translation of specific works on offer. All in all, a quite useful resource (even if it is so annoyingly spread out over five pages .....)
       Many of these titles are under review at the complete review.

       Conveniently, too, Qantara.de just published a Q & A by Gerrit Wustmann with Iranian translator Mahmoud Hosseini Zad: "about his work and the current situation in Iran", A naked image of the truth.

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

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       JCB Prize for Literature shortlist

       They've announced the five-title shortlist for this year's JCB Prize for Literature, the leading Indian fiction prize, paying out ₹25,00,000.
       One of the titles is a work in translation -- Moustache, by S. Hareesh, translated from the Malayalam by Jayasree Kalathil; see also the HarperCollins India publicity page.
       The winner will be announced 7 November.

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

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       Degrees review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Michel Butor's Degrees.

       This 1960 novel -- first published in English translation in 1961 -- was re-issued by Dalkey Archive Press in 2004, and my review copy actually dates to back then. Yes, at 5740 days -- it arrived in the early days of January, 2005 -- it's taken me quite a while to get to ..... (But, see: just because I don't get to a book immediately doesn't mean I won't eventually .....)

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

       Ilf and Petrov

       At Russia Beyond Alexandra Guzeva profiles Ilf and Petrov: The USSR's most funny and daring writing duo.
       Two Ilf and Petrov novels are under review at the complete review: The Golden Calf and The Twelve Chairs.

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

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       Wilhelm Raabe-Literaturpreis

       They've announced that this year's Wilhelm Raabe-Literaturpreis goes to Die Dame mit der bemalten Hand by Christine Wunnicke, which she'll receive on 28 November.
       Die Dame mit der bemalten Hand is also one of the finalists for this year's German Book Prize, which will be awarded 12 October.
       While the German Book Prize is probably the more high-profile German book award, the Wilhelm Raabe Prize actually pays out more -- €30,000 to the German Book Prize's €25,000.
       Wunnicke's The Fox and Dr. Shimamura came out in English last year; I expect we'll see this one in English sooner rather than later as well.

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

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       Canada's Frankfurt Book Fair Virtual Program

       Like everything else, this year's Guest of Honour-porgramme at the Frankfurt Book Fair was upended by events and so now Canada gets another year to prepare for the role -- but they're also offering a virtual presence for this year's book fair, which includes a limited program
       I'm not sure about that 'Singular Plurality' slogan .....

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

       Prix Laure-Bataillon

       They've announced the winner of this year's prix Laure-Bataillon, a €10,000 prize for the best translation of a work into French, and it goes to François-Michel Durazzo's translation from the Catalan, of Miquel de Palol's El Testament d'Alcestis; see the Livres Hebdo report, as well as the publicity pages for the book from Grup62 and Zulma, as well as the Carmen Balcells information page.
       The prize will be awarded 21 November; see also the impressive list of previous winners.
       (And, yes, it's about time we saw some Miquel de Palol in English .....)

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

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       FT & McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award shortlist

       They've announced the six-title shortlist for this year's £30,000 FT & McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award.
       The winner will be announced 1 December.

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

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       New Hungarian books

       At hlo they offer a list and overview of 10 New Books from 2020 published in Hungary -- some of which will hopefully make it into English at some point.

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

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       The Disaster Tourist review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Yun Ko-eun's The Disaster Tourist, out recently in English from Serpent's Tail (in the UK) and Counterpoint (in the US).

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

       Prix Jean-Monnet de littérature européenne

       They've announced the winner of this year's prix Jean-Monnet de littérature européenne, a French best-book prize for a work by a European author written in or translated into French, and the prize will go to the French translation of Almudena Grandes' Los pacientes del doctor García -- see, for example, the Tusquets publicity page --, which beat out Anne-Marie Garat's La nuit atlantique and Ian McEwan's Machines Like Me. No word yet at the official site, last I checked, but see, for example, the Livres Hebdo report.

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

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       Cundill History Prize shortlist

       They've announced the ten title shortlist (which actually functions as a longlist ...) for this year's Cundill History Prize, "the world's leading history prize", paying out US$75,000 to the winner.
       The finalists -- surely the real shortlist -- will be announced 20 October, and the winner in late November.

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

       Cena Franze Kafky

       They've announced that Milan Kundera will get this year's Franz Kafka Prize, the leading Czech international author prize; see also, for example, Pavel Burian on Milan Kundera wins Franz Kafka Prize at CzechPoints.

       Previous winners include Nobel laureates Elfriede Jelinek (2004) and Harold Pinter (2005), who famously were announced as winners of this prize in the same year but before they were awarded the Nobel Prize, and Peter Handke (2009), as well as Philip Roth, Haruki Murakami, and Margaret Atwood, among others.

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

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       Royal Society Science Book Prize shortlist

       They've announced the six-title shortlist for this year's Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize -- not yet at the official site, last I checked, but see, for example, Mark Chandler's report in The Bookseller, Bryson and Vince make Royal Society Science Book Prize shortlist.
       The winner will be announced on 3 November.

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

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       The Bookshop review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Penelope Fitzgerald's 1978 Booker Prize-shortlisted novel, The Bookshop.

       The French translation of this was originally published as L'affaire Lolita, which strikes me as a rather desperate gambit; yes, the bookshop owner does spend some time considering whether or not she should stock the then-new Nabokov novel -- and winds up really stocking up on it -- but there's a whole lot more to the novel. I have to think that there were a lot of readers who were expecting something very different. (They did re-title it, as La libraire, a decade later, when the movie version was set to come out.)

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

       ACFNY Translation Prize open for submissions

       The 2020 ACFNY Translation Prize, awarded "for an outstanding translation of contemporary Austrian literature (prose) into English" is open for submissions -- a sample translation (10 pages/ca. 4,000 words) of a translation of a work of prose by a living Austrian author published in the original German after 1989 -- through 31 October. Spread the word !
       The winning translator: "will be invited to work on a full translation which is expected to be finished by mid-2021", which is then scheduled to be published by New Vessel Press in 2022.
       (And, yes, I am one of the jurors.)

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

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       JCB Jury Q & A

       At Scroll.in Sana Goyal has a JCB Jury interview: 'All these books are going to change conversations for better or worse', a Q & A with Aruni Kashyap and Tejaswini Niranjana, two of the jurors for this year's JCB Prize for Literature.
       Among the observations:

Translation of literature from Indian languages is here to stay, and it is slowly reclaiming and demanding its long-deserved place. But, while reading the entries, I also felt that we need a lot more good translators -- in all languages.

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

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       Xiaolu Guo profile

       A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers-author Xiaolu Guo has a new book coming out -- A Lover's Discourse; get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk -- and in Prospect Rebecca Liu profiles her, in Xiaolu Guo's half-familiar fictions.

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

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       The Peach Blossom Fan review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of K'ung Shang-jen's 1699 play The Peach Blossom Fan, re-issued a couple of years ago by New York Review Books.

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

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