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The Literary Saloon Archive

21 - 31 May 2021

21 May: 1970 nominees for the Nobel Prize in Literature | DUBLIN Literary Award | Helen & Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize | HKW Internationale Literaturpreis shortlist | Journey to the End of the Night review
22 May: Philip Roth's papers | Encore Award | CWA Dagger shortlists
23 May: John Steinbeck's Murder at Full Moon | To the Warm Horizon review
24 May: French edition of Mein Kampf | The Disappearance of Jim Sullivan review
25 May: Bookselling in ... Pakistan | Sawiris Cultural Awards
26 May: Murakami Q & A | International Prize for Arabic Fiction | Sophie Kerr Prize
27 May: Dürrenmatt's Das Stoffe-Projekt | Charles R. Larson (1938-2021) | Ross Benjamin Q & A | Greed review
28 May: Cambridge Greek Lexicon | Mrs. Murakami's Garden review
29 May: Preise der Leipziger Buchmesse | Orwell Prizes shortlists | Franz Kafka at the National Library of Israel
30 May: Krasznahorkai László Q & A | Paolo Maurensig (1943-2021)
31 May: die verbesserung von mitteleuropa in translation | Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize shortlist | The Book of Travels review

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       die verbesserung von mitteleuropa in translation

       Oswald Wiener was a member of the Wiener Gruppe (Vienna Group), and his 1969 novel die verbesserung von mitteleuropa was the most substantial of the group members' attempts to both explore and marry theory and form. This novel (cum anti-novel) is a landmark text -- not least for its early, serious engagement with cybernetics --, albeit one of those that is not widely read. I've long been fascinated by it -- I almost wrote my college honors thesis on it -- but only finally acquired a personal copy earlier this year, the recent Jung and Jung re-issue; see their publicity page. (Until then I always had to rely on library copies; I was very excited to get my own copy.)
       The text poses considerable challenges to any would-be translator and so, for example, it has never been translated into English (though how Dalkey Archive Press haven't picked this up yet is beyond me -- it is about as Dalkey as literary texts get). Recently The Momentist published Nathaniel McBride's translation of part of the novel, 'appendix A' -- offering an interesting if not entirely representative sample -- and that's at least a start, but there's a lot more to it.
       Impressively, however, a full translation has just appeared -- Nicola Cipani's Italian translation, il miglioramento della mitteleuropa, which is also extensively annotated and includes a lengthy : "Note per la teoria di un ', romanzo'" by Cipani. (The real/full title of the work is: die verbesserung von mitteleuropa, roman ('the improvement of central europe, novel') and the translation is also properly presented as: il miglioramento della mitteleuropa, romanzo; that ", novel" designation is a significant element in (and in the consideration of) the novel.)
       I'm lucky enough to have now gotten a copy of il miglioramento della mitteleuropa, too, and can tell you that the il verri edition looks great; if you're more comfortable reading Italian than German I strongly recommend you have a look (get your copy at Amazon.it). I also hope the Italian critics are paying attention, and that this gets the attention it deserves; there can't be many more significant translations appearing in Italian this year.
       Among my summer ambitions is to finally post a review of die verbesserung von mitteleuropa, and though my Italian is limited I can see that this translation/edition will be a useful complement in considering this multifaceted work.

       For some more information, see also this (English) interview with Wiener by Hans-Christian Dany at Spike, as well as this (German) Q & A at Falter (click on "weiterlesen" under 'Falter-Rezension'). Among the fun titbits from the Falter interview: Wiener got DM 1000 advances from both Luchterhand and Suhrkamp -- which he never paid back -- but published the book with the more sympatico Rowohlt (no doubt in no small part because: "we quickly found ourselves in agreement that we didn't need an editor"). Impressively, also: the book quickly sold 6000 copies.
       Reviewing it in the TLS (25/9/1969) John Neves finds: "the reader's attention is retained by the tension between the scholar's style and apparatus on the one hand, and the unpredictable leaps and bounds of the 'open form' on the other". (However, in another TLS review (11/6/1976), of another book, Peter Labanyi basically denounces it as: "a terroristic text" and (surely contemptuously) calls it an: "auto-destructive 'novel'") Note also that the generally very reliable The Modern Novel, offering one of the few other English-language reviews of it, was clearly decidedly underwhelmed (in what is, however, also a very short review for him).

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

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       Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize shortlist

       They've announced the shortlist for this year's Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for comic fiction, six titles selected from 81 submissions; see, for example, the British Comedy Guide report, Wodehouse Prize for comic fiction 2021 shortlist revealed.
       I haven't seen any of these but could certainly use a dose of comic fiction, so maybe I'll try to have a look.
       The winner will be announced 23 June.

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

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       The Book of Travels review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Ḥannā Diyāb's eighteenth century The Book of Travels, a two-volume bilingual set just out from NYU Press in their Library of Arabic Literature-series.

       It also has an Afterword by Paulo Lemos Horta -- who also told the fascinating story of Diyāb and the Secret Authors of the Arabian Nights in his Marvellous Thieves.

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

       Krasznahorkai László Q & A

       At hlo Márton Jankovics has a two-part Q & A with László Krasznahorkai: "Before you call me an elitist, let me call myself one"; see parts one and two.
       Much of the discussion touches on Krasznahorkai's most recent work, Herscht 07769; see also the Magvető Kiadó publicity page. Ottilie Mulzet has tweeted that New Directions will be publishing her translation of it; no word yet when we can expect that.
       In the Q & A, Krasznahorkai suggests:

I could also say, it's one of my favourite platitudes, I am the unanointed chronicler of a period in which high culture has permanently disappeared.

       He also reveals:

In my own case nothing has a literary form. I regard my own literature expressly as description. I don't belong to those writers who feel that they're inventing and writing a story in which they control things.

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

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       Paolo Maurensig (1943-2021)

       Italian author Paolo Maurensig, best-known for his novels The Lüneburg Variation and Canone Inverso, has passed away; see, for example, the ANSA.it report.

       Two of his novels are under review at the complete review: A Devil Comes to Town and Game of the Gods.

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

       Preise der Leipziger Buchmesse

       They've announced the winners of this year's Leipzig Book Prizes, one of the leading German book prizes, awarded in three categories: fiction, non, and translation; see also the (English) report at Deutsche Welle.
       Echos Kammern, by Iris Hanika, won the fiction prize; see also the Droschl foreign rights page.
       Timea Tankó's translation of Szentkuthy Miklós' Marginalia on Casanova won the translation prize.

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

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       Orwell Prizes shortlists

       They've announced the shortlists for this years Orwell Prizes, including for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction.
       The winners will be announced on 25 June.

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

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       Franz Kafka at the National Library of Israel

       The National Library of Israel has now made much of their extensive collection of Franz Kafka-material -- including manuscripts, letters, and drawings -- available online. Well worth checking out.
       See also Ruth Fraňková's report at Radio Prague International, Franz Kafka's never-before-seen manuscripts and drawings go online.
       And for the story behind how some of this stuff wound up at the NLI, see Benjamin Balint's Kafka's Last Trial.

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

       Cambridge Greek Lexicon

       The new two-volume Cambridge Greek Lexicon is out and, as Alison Flood reports in The Guardian, this First English dictionary of ancient Greek since Victorian era 'spares no blushes' -- and: "Antiquated and offensive language also gets a makeover"
       I'm lucky enough to have the Oxford University Press Liddell-Scott -- see their publicity page -- and find it invaluable -- but the Cambridge Greek Lexicon certainly also sounds like it would be useful ..... Certainly something to consider .....
       See also the Cambridge 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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       Mrs. Murakami's Garden review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Mario Bellatin's Mrs. Murakami's Garden, recently out from Deep Vellum.

       (No relation to Haruki -- or Ryū, for that matter --, in case you're wondering.)

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

       Dürrenmatt's Das Stoffe-Projekt

       They're celebrating Friedrich Dürrenmatt's centenary, and among the new publications out in conjunction with this is a five-volume, 2208 page 'textgenetic edition' of his Das Stoffe-Projekt; see also the (German) Diogenes publicity page, as well as their (English) foreign rights page (where they title it 'Subject Matter').
       I read many of these when selections came out in paperback over the years, and it's fascinating stuff; I'd certainly love to see this (sigh, €400) set. (Get your copy at Amazon.de.)
       Impressively, there's an expanded online-version to go with it -- and this e-Das Stoffe-Projekt, launched yesterday, is just a marvel. There are apparently 30,000 (!) pages available, as well as other material; see also the Swiss National Library press release. Perusing this online is, of course, a pain -- but at least it's there, freely accessible, and that's fantastic.

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

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       Charles R. Larson (1938-2021)

       African-literature scholar Charles R. Larson -- not to be confused with the admiral of the same name -- has passed away; see, for example, Emily Langer's obituary in The Washington Post.
       He was a major figure in bringing African literature to the attention of readers abroad -- though his work was not limited to that. In recent years, I've always enjoyed his book reviews at CounterPunch. He also wrote several novels, though the only work of his under review at the complete review is his The Ordeal of the African Writer.
       See also the inventory of his papers at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center.

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

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       Ross Benjamin Q & A

       At the Asymptote weblog Eric Trump has a Q & A: Perpetuating the Original in Translation: An Interview with Ross Benjamin.
       Benjamin's translation of Franz Kafka's diaries -- "in their full, uncensored form" -- will be published by Schocken in 2022; certainly something to look forward to.

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

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       Greed review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Nobel laureate Elfriede Jelinek's 2000 novel, Greed.

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

       Murakami Q & A

       At InsideHook "Sean Wilsey chats with the prolific novelist about music, racism and a writing process that never stops evolving", in My Conversation With Haruki Murakami Never Really Ends.

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

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       International Prize for Arabic Fiction

       They've announced the winner of this year's International Prize for Arabic Fiction, and it is دفاتر الورّاق ('Notebooks of the Bookseller') by Jalal Barjas.
       As they note: "In addition to being awarded USD $50,000, funding will be provided for the English translation of Notebooks of the Bookseller", so we should be able to see this in English in a few years.

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

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       Sophie Kerr Prize

       Washington College has announced the winner of this year's Sophie Kerr Prize -- the largest American undergraduate literary prize, paying out, this year, US$65,580 -- and it is Justin Thomas Nash.
       His portfolio, Prestidigitate, examined: "travel, childhood, and conceit through manipulated address and formal play".
       See also the earlier announcement of the six finalists.

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

       Bookselling in ... Pakistan

       At Scroll.in Aisha Sarwari reports that Not many people read books in Pakistan. How then are the bookshops coping with the pandemic ?
       Kind of a harsh appraisal of reading in Pakistan -- "In a country like Pakistan, where books are considered a frivolous expense, and where a book-reading culture seems to have eluded the general population" ... -- but, on the other hand, apparently:

“Eventually, every book ends up in Pakistan,” said [Najam] Sethi. “Sooner or later.” It is not just that the price of books on average is lower in Pakistan, but that they are 30%-40% lower than their actual value. “Pakistan qualifies for special terms in the international book buying industry.”

       So there's that .....

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

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       Sawiris Cultural Awards

       The Egyptian Sawiris Foundation for Social Development recently announced the winenrs of their Sawiris Cultural Awards -- awards in twelve categories, the winners selected from 1263 submitted literary works this year.

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

       French edition of Mein Kampf

       Fayard is publishing a new translation and annotated scholarly, critical edition of Hitler's notorious Mein Kampf -- titling the volume Historiciser le mal, and at a price that is presumably meant to ward off the ... casual reader, € 100. (To avoid any impression of profiting off the work, all profits are to go to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation.)
       The book is due out 2 June; interestingly, it does not appear to be listed at Amazon at this time.
       See the Fayard publicity page, or, for example, the report by François Paoli in Le Figaro.

       (Updated - 3 June): See now also Aurelien Breeden's report in The New York Times, Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf’ Gets New French Edition, With Each Lie Annotated.

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

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       The Disappearance of Jim Sullivan review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Tanguy Viel's The Disappearance of Jim Sullivan, just out in English from Dalkey Archive Press.

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

       John Steinbeck's Murder at Full Moon

       Widely noted already, but certainly a fun story: in The Observer Dalya Alberge reports that John Steinbeck's estate urged to let the world read his shunned werewolf novel -- Murder at Full Moon, which he hoped to publish under the pseudonym 'Peter Pym' but was rejected for publication in 1930.
       The manuscript's existence hasn't exactly been unknown -- it's mentioned in numerous works on Steinbeck, and listed in the John Steinbeck Collection inventory at the Harry Ransom Center ("Murder at Full Moon (published under pseudonym Peter Pym), bound typescript, 233pp") -- but doesn't seem to have been much read, even by scholars; it would be great to see this finally in print.
       A Professor Gavin Jones is quoted in the article, suggesting:

It’s certainly not Steinbeck the realist, but it is Steinbeck the naturalist, interested in human nature. It’s a horror potboiler, which is why I think readers would find it more interesting than a more typical Steinbeck. It’s a whole new Steinbeck -- one that predicts Californian noir detective fiction. It is an unsettling story whose atmosphere is one of fog-bound, malicious, malignant secrecy.

       He might be over-selling it but, hey, I want to see this.

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

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       To the Warm Horizon review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Choi Jin-young's To the Warm Horizon, just out in English from Honford Star.

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

       Philip Roth's papers

       In The New Republic Alex Shephard looks at an interesting aspect of Philip Roth's -- and now his estate's -- attempts to control his legacy. This has already blown up spectacularly in the form of the authorized-biographer Blake Bailey-fiasco -- and it could get worse, as Shephard points out in Blake Bailey Had Exclusive Access to Philip Roth's Personal Papers. Roth's Estate Plans on Destroying Them.
       He points out:

Roth wanted to ensure that Bailey, who was producing exactly the type of biography he wanted, would be the only person outside a small circle of intimates permitted to access personal, sensitive manuscripts, including the unpublished Notes for My Biographer (a 295-page rebuttal to his ex-wife’s memoir) and Notes on a Slander-Monger (another rebuttal, this time to a biographical effort from Bailey’s predecessor). “I don’t want my personal papers dragged all over the place,” Roth said.

       Notes for My Biographer sounds much more interesting than Bailey's book, and it would be a shame if it were destroyed. (You have to figure it would sell very well too, so maybe greed will help preserve it.)
       Generally, I'm all for authors' wishes for what is done with their papers being followed, but giving access to one flunky and then destroying them seems the worst of both worlds. The fact that Andrew Wylie -- as agent to the estate -- is involved is anything but reässuring, too.
       I look forward to hearing what happens -- and, as I've noted before, am looking forward to the book about Roth's attempts to control his legacy and the mess that's now unfolding around that. (Surely someone has already got that book deal, right ?)

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

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       Encore Award

       The Royal Society of Literature has announced the winner of this year's Encore Award, a best-second-novel award, and it is The Wild Laughter, by Caoilinn Hughes; see also the official press release (warning ! dreaded pdf format !).
       See also the Oneworld publicity page, or get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

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

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       CWA Dagger shortlists

       The (British) Crime Writers' Association has announced the shortlists for its awards, The Daggers.
       The only shortlisted titles under review at the complete review are from the Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger category: The Disaster Tourist by Yun Ko-eun, in Lizzie Buehler's translation, and To Cook a Bear by Mikael Niemi, in Deborah Bragan-Turner's translation.

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

       1970 nominees for the Nobel Prize in Literature

       As I recently noted, the Swedish Academy finally opened their archive of the 1970 deliberations for the Nobel Prize in Literature (which was awarded to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn that year); now, they've also released the official list (warning ! dreaded pdf format !) of nominees (you have to be nominated to win ...).
       There were apparently 76 nominees -- quite a fall back from 1969's 103 --, with many familiar names, including quite a few who never won the prize but were nominated yet again, including: W.H.Auden, Borges, Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Max Frisch, Graham Greene, Ionesco, André Malraux, Alberto Moravia, Vladimir Nabokov, Simenon, and Tarjei Vesaas.
       First-time nominees include: Heðin Brú, Salvador Espriu, Alexander Lernet-Holenia, and Victoria Ocampo -- as well as the most baffling selection: Harold Macmillan. As for American writers being overlooked: hey, Frank Waters was nominated -- certainly an interesting choice.
       (Along with Heðin Brú (e.g. The Old Man and His Sons), William Heinesen (e.g. The Black Cauldron) was also nominated -- an impressive showing for writers from the Faroe Islands !)
       Always interesting to see, in any case.

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

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       DUBLIN Literary Award

       They've announced the winner of this year's DUBLIN Literary Award, "the world's largest prize for a single novel published in English" (the work doesn't have to be written in English; if it's been translated into English, that's good enough), and it is Lost Children Archive, by Valeria Luiselli.

       See the publicity pages from Vintage and 4th Estate, or get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

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

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       Helen & Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize

       They've announced the winner of this year's Helen & Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize, for: "an outstanding literary translation from German into English published in the USA [or Canada] the previous year", and it is Jackie Smith for her translation of An Inventory of Losses, by Judith Schalansky -- selected from 31 submitted titles (all revealed ! hurrah !).

       I've been curious about this one but haven't seen it yet; see also the publicity pages from New Directions and MacLehose Press, or get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

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

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       HKW Internationale Literaturpreis shortlist

       The German Haus der Kulturen der Welt has announced the six-title shortlist for its International Literature Prize, honoring: "an outstanding work of contemporary international literature that has been translated into German for the first time".
       Always an interesting selection. Only two of the titles are translations from the English this year -- books by Jenny Offill and Ava Farmehri
       The winner will be announced 30 June.

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

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       Journey to the End of the Night review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Louis-Ferdinand Céline's 1932 classic, Journey to the End of the Night.

       I've been meaning to get through some more Céline, so here's a start.

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

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