opinionated commentary on literary matters - from the complete review

The Literary Saloon Archive

1 - 10 October 2021

1 October: National Translation Awards shortlists | Jonathan Franzen Q & A | Kawabata Yasunari profile
2 October: Victor Pelevin profile | Science fiction from ... Israel | The Morning Star review
3 October: Prix Jean Monnet de littérature européenne | 'Literature in the Nobel Era'
4 October: Sergei Yesenin profile | Prix de Sade
5 October: Anders Olsson Q & A | JCB Prize shortlist | Tawada Yōko Q & A | Malpertuis review
6 October: Nobel Prize countdown | (American) National Book Awards finalists | Prix Goncourt shortlist | Giller Prize shortlist | 'The making of the Booker prize'
7 October: The Nobel Prize in Literature goes to ... Abdulrazak Gurnah | Goldsmiths Prize shortlist | God on the Rocks review
8 October: Shortlists: French prizes - HWA Crown Awards | Akutagawa Prize acceptance speech
9 October: Publishing in ... Saudi Arabia | Margó Prize nominees
10 October: Murakami and the Nobel | Franzen's memorable reads

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       Murakami and the Nobel

       They announced the winner of this year's Nobel Prize in Literature on Thursday and, yet again, Murakami Haruki did not win it.
       That's not a huge surprise -- a lot of authors are among the betting favorites, year after year, and don't get the prize -- but they make a fairly big deal about it in Japan; see, for example, Katie Pask on how Haruki Murakami denied Nobel Prize in Literature AGAIN, so summer is officially over.
       There are any number of other authors where, year in, year out we hear (or heard) about the outrage/disappointment of them falling short yet again -- Philip Roth, for one -- but Murakami strikes me as an unusual case in that the Japanese seem to be convinced that he's their only contender. The idea that any other Japanese author could win doesn't seem to get much traction -- it's Murakami or nothing (and, so, year after year, it's nothing). There must be some small countries which similarly pin all their hopes on one author, but generally the national complaints are about a whole language/literature being overlooked -- no Dutch-writing author ever getting the prize, no Korean author, etc.
       It's all the more surprising since contemporary Japanese literature is much, much more than a one-author-show. True, as far as what's available in translation the selection is still surprisingly limited -- but still, Japanese is the most-translated non-European literature and a lot of very good writing should be coming to the attention of even the Swedish Academy. (To be considered for the prize, authors must be nominated, by someone from the pool of experts and former winners that the Swedish Academy relies on; there's no doubt that several of these experts are Japanese and it's likely that these predominantly nominate Japanese authors; given that Murakami is not a literary-establishment-favorite in Japan it also seems likely that those nominations are of other Japanese authors.)
       In The Japan Times Tomohiro Osaki wonders -- like so many in Japan apparently do -- Why is the Nobel Prize so elusive for Haruki Murakami ? It's an interesting overview -- though I think the more interesting question is why there aren't more Japanese authors considered Nobel-worthy -- both by the Japanese public, as well as, apparently, the Swedish Academy -- and, indeed, why none has won the prize since 1994.

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

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       Franzen's memorable reads

       At Elle the author takes their "literary survey", in Shelf Life: Jonathan Franzen
       Lots of familiar recommendations -- "I've become a broken record on the subject of Christina Stead's The Man Who Loved Children" he notes, for example -- but no harm in that, and there is quite a variety here.

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       Publishing in ... Saudi Arabia

       The Riyadh International Book Fair is on through tomorrow, and at The National Mariam Nihal reports on it, speaking with Mohammed Hasan Alwan, chief executive at the Literature, Publishing, and Translation Commission at the Saudi Ministry of Culture, among other things, in Saudi publishing chief says it's a 'very exciting time' for kingdom's literary sector.
       Hassan seems all business:

The literature and publishing industry is already an essential domestic industry and we are developing the sector which will in turn drive economic growth through job creation and inward investment

       Well, whatever works ....

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       Margó Prize nominees

       At hlo they report on The 2021 Margó Prize Nominees -- ten works in the running for this Hungarian best prose debut prize.
       The winner will be announced at the Margó Festival, upcoming next week.

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

       Shortlists: French prizes

       The Nobel Prize in Literature dominated the literary world yesterday -- see also my coverage --, but it's a busy prize-season elsewhere too, notably in France, where several more shortlists have been announced in the past few days:

        - the prix Renaudot -- the second-most-important fiction prize, after the Goncourt -- has announced its 'deuxièmes sélections'; see, for example, the Livres Hebdo report. (Yes, like the Goncourt, this is a four-round prize, and these are the shorter longlists or the longer shortlists; the lists of finalists are to be announced on 28 October.) Among the books left in the running: Amélie Nothomb's Premier sang,.
       This award also has a non-fiction category -- and they're already down to just five titles here.

        - the prix Jean Giono has announced its première sélection; see, for example, the Livres Hebdo report. This one is noteworthy because of the payout -- €10,000 -- as many of the most prestigious French prizes pay out very, very little.

        - they've also announced the finalists for the prix Médicis, in all three of its categories -- fiction, non, and fiction in translation; see, for example, the Livres Hebdo report. One third of the foreign novels left in the running are translations from the English.

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       Shortlists: HWA Crown Awards

       The Historical Writers' Association has announced the shortlists for this year's HWA Crown Awards.

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       Akutagawa Prize acceptance speech

       In July, they announced that 彼岸花が咲く島, by Li Kotomi, was one of the two winners of the latest Akutagawa Prize -- see my mention -- and on 27 August she accepted the prize; at nippon.com they now have: A Miracle for Survival: Li Kotomi's Akutagawa Prize Acceptance Speech.
       She said:

Literature gave me a means of expression. This allowed me to assimilate subjective emotions like despair and powerlessness, anger and hatred, anguish and pain. Rather than turning my ear to society’s shallow cacophony, I became engrossed in reading, and instead of gouging out pieces of myself, I carved out words.

       And how disturbing to hear that:

After it was announced that I had won the prize in mid-July, I was bombarded with innumerable messages of abuse, slander, and hate speech from people who had likely never read a word that I have written. “You foreigner, don’t insult Japan !” “Get out, Japan-hater !”

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

       The Nobel Prize in Literature goes to ... Abdulrazak Gurnah

       They've announced the winner of this year's Nobel Prize in Literature, and it is Abdulrazak Gurnah.
       The Zanzibar-born (and longtime UK resident) author was not on too many radars I think, but is a solid choice; it's been years since I read anything by him but I was quite impressed by his work. (I am somewhat disappointed that they chose yet another English-writing author.)
       His Paradise was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1994, while his most recent novel appears to be Afterlives (2020); see the Bloomsbury publicity page, or get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk; amazingly, this does not seem to have come out in a US edition (yet -- that will be rectified shortly, no doubt).

       For information about the author, see, for example:

• Abdulrazak Gurnah at the British Council
• Abdulrazak Gurnah at RCW Literary Agency
• On Abdulrazak Gurnah: Belonging, Colonialism, Arrival - 2018 event

       For profiles and Q & As by Gurnah, see, for example:

• Abdulrazak Gurnah on Afterlives and Colonial Hypocrisy at The London Magazine
• "Arriving at writing": A Conversation with Abdulrazak Gurnah at Postcolonial Text
• Q & A at Big Issue North
• Q & A at the Orwell Foundation

       For information about and coverage of his books, see, for example

• Reviews of his books at The New York Times
• Reviews of his books at Publishers Weekly
• Reviews of his books at Kirkus Reviews
• 5 books to start you off with Nobel Prize Literature winner Abdulrazak Gurnah by Anderson Tepper at The Los Angeles Times
• Abdulrazak Gurnah at Bloomsbury

       Early coverage of his Nobel win includes:

• Abdulrazak Gurnah wins the 2021 Nobel prize in literature by Alison Flood in The Guardian
• Nobel Literature Prize 2021: Abdulrazak Gurnah named winner at the BBC

       (Updated - 8 October): See now also:

• Why Did Abdulrazak Gurnah Win the Nobel Prize in Literature ? by Alex Shephard at The New Republic
• Abdulrazak Gurnah Wins 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature by John Maher at Publishers Weekly
• Gurnah wins the Nobel Prize in Literature by Sian Bayley at The Bookseller

       Particularly striking is how poorly Gurnah has sold in the United States -- "his books have, per the journalist Jane Friedman, sold only 3,000 copies in the United States -- total", Shephard notes, and: "according to NPD BookScan, his best-selling book in the U.S., Desertion, has sold under 2,000 copies at outlets that report to the service since the book's 2005 publication", Maher notes. It's not like his work hasn't gotten any attention -- The New York Times has reviewed six of his novels -- but they certainly do not seem to have found readers -- no wonder his latest, Afterlives, hasn't found a US publisher.
       While some of his work has been translated, he also isn't particularly widely translated, and most of his work does not appear to be readily available (i.e. in print) in any other language; the US/UK media always jokes about all the obscure foreign-language-writing winners of the Nobel, but outside the UK Gurnah seems to be one of the least-read winners in recent memory.

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       Goldsmiths Prize shortlist

       They've announced the shortlist for this year's Goldsmiths Prize, which rewards: "fiction that breaks the mould or extends the possibilities of the novel form"; see, for example, Ellen Peirson-Hagger in the New Statesman on the Goldsmiths Prize 2021 shortlist: The six most cutting-edge novelists writing today.
       I have one of these -- Keith Ridgway's A Shock -- and do hope to get to that; as usual, the whole list sounds quite intriguing.
       The winner will be announced on 10 November.

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       God on the Rocks review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Jane Gardam's God on the Rocks.

       This 1978 novel was shortlisted for the Booker Prize that year -- as was Penelope Fitzgerald's The Bookshop and Iris Murdoch's The Sea, the Sea, which then also took the prize.

       I'm a bit embarrassed about only getting to this now -- my review copy is from 2010, when Europa Editions finally brought out a US edition -- but I actually have several Gardams in reserve from way back when, holding off of them because she is one of those so dependable authors that I know I can fall back on when my current reading isn't doing it. (The last week has been filled with story-collection failures cast aside one after the other.)
       (Other such authors include Murdoch -- for when I need a longer read -- and Simenon -- for a quick one. There are, of course, many other authors offering dependable fare -- but few whom I still have sufficient unread titles by; e.g. I'm down to my last Graham Greene (Brighton Rock) and Patrick White ( The Tree of Man).)

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

       Nobel Prize countdown

       Just one more day until they announce who gets this year's Novel Prize in Literature !

       A few pieces of possible interest:

       - At The New Republic Alex Shephard has his annual feature considering Who Will Win the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature ?

       - At Aftonbladet they have their annual feature where critics say how they think things will/should go, who they would like to win, and who they hope doesn't win, in Hen förtjänar ett Nobelpris mest av alla.

       - [updated] At svt they have a few of the local 'litteraturexperter' reveal who they think will win, in Litteraturexperterna: Hen får årets Nobelpris i litteratur.

       Meanwhile, a couple of more betting shops are taking bets; Nicer Odds helpfully collects them.
       Not much movement here -- though I must say that I kind of like that Milan Kundera, Stephen King, and Salman Rushdie share the same (poor) odds, across the board.

       I have no idea what the Swedish Academy might be thinking and won't even hazard a guess, but the trio I am rooting for is, in order:

1. Mahmoud Dowlatabadi
2. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
3. Dag Solstad

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       (American) National Book Awards finalists

       The (American) National Book Foundation has announced the finalists for this year's National Book Awards, five titles in each of the five categories.
       The only titles I've seen are three in the Translated Literature category -- and all three are under review at the complete review:

• Peach Blossom Paradise by Ge Fei, translated by Canaan Morse
• When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamín Labatut, translated by Adrian Nathan West
• Winter in Sokcho by Elisa Shua Dusapin, translated by Aneesa Abbas Higgins

       The winners will be announced 17 November.

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       Prix Goncourt shortlist

       The Académie Goncourt has announced the 'deuxième sélection' for the prix Goncourt, the biggest of the French literary prizes; see the official press release (warning ! dreaded pdf format !) or, for example, the report at Livres Hebdo.
       With four rounds to it, this is sort of the shorter longlist, or longer shortlist; a list of finalists (the true shortlist) is still to come (on 26 October), followed by the announcement of the winner (on 3 November).
       There are still nine titles in the running.

       The Académie also announced that henceforward authors close to jury-member -- in family or other relationships -- will no longer be eligible to submit their work; the Le Monde report headlines that as Les livres des proches des jurés sont désormais inéligibles au prix Goncourt, but predictably most coverage has summed it up as: France's top book prize: no lovers allowed or No lovers allowed in top French book prize after ethics scandal.
       Also on the new no-no list: jurors who write for the media (well: "qui tiennent une rubrique littéraire") are no longer allowed to write about any book in the running for as long as it is in the running.
       See also the official press release (warning ! dreaded pdf format !).

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

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       Giller Prize shortlist

       They've announced the shortlist for this year's Scotiabank Giller Prize, a leading Canadian fiction prize.
       There were 132 submissions, now winnowed down to these five finalists.
       The winner will be announced on 8 November.

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       'The making of the Booker prize'

       Lots of literary-prize news these days, so if you want a long look behind the scenes, over the years, of one of the big ones -- the Booker Prize -- Charlotte Higgins offers one at The Guardian, Arguments, anticipation and carefully encouraged scandals: the making of the Booker prize.
       Among the interesting things she discusses is the "annual agony for publishers" of choosing which books to submit -- including:

The crucial thing, Franklin said, was for editors to make it a rule to never, ever tell authors whether or not they had been submitted

       I have always found it outrageous that the titles that are actually being considered for the prize are kept secret. Ideally, with book prizes, everything should be public -- even the deliberations -- but surely knowing what books are being considered is the absolute minimum.

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       Anders Olsson Q & A

       Two more days until the announcement of this year's Novel Prize in Literature, and at The New Republic Alex Shephard now has a Q & A with Nobel Committee Chair Anders Olsson on the “Renovation” of the Prize for Literature.
       There's not much that might give any clue as to how things will turn out this year -- Olsson actually says: "we have not come to a decision yet, though we are close to it", though I assume the actual interview was conducted a few days ago; they surely have made their selection by now.
       Some fairly interesting things about the Handke-selection, which a lot of people took issue with -- not least Olsson's observation that: "Handke is a political idiot, you could say"
       He also mentions:

(W)e have experts from all over the world now. From January of next year, these experts will be giving us reports from areas of language [where] we do not have deep competence within the academy -- Asian and African, languages that we do not command but wish to. That will be a very interesting change, and it will expand our knowledge and our orientation in world literature.

       I was under the impression that they already did rely on 'experts' -- and they've long claimed that they specially commission translations when these are not available .....

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       JCB Prize shortlist

       They've announced the shortlist for this year's JCB Prize for Literature, one of the leading Indian fiction prizes; see the official press release (warning ! dreaded pdf format !).
       Two of the five titles are translations -- both from the Malayalam,
       The winner will be announced 13 November.

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

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       Tawada Yōko Q & A

       At nippon.com Irmela Hijiya-Kirschnereit has The Limitless Possibilities of a Literature Beyond Borders: A Conversation with Tawada Yōko.
       Tawada is one of the leading contemporary bilingual authors, writing in both Japanese and German, and she notes:

If I use German to write about my memories of my childhood in Japan, I find a kind of fictionality comes into what I write, almost as if I’m talking about an imaginary country. And vice versa, if I write in Japanese about things I’ve experienced in Germany, the process somehow seems to help me digest my life and translate into something I can offer to readers. So I decide on a case-by-case basis, I suppose, depending on the subject matter.

       Several Tawada works are under review at the complete review:

• The Emissary (UK title: The Last Children of Tokyo)
• Facing the Bridge
• Memoirs of a Polar Bear
• The Naked Eye
• Portrait of a Tongue
• Time Differences

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       Malpertuis review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Jean Ray's classic novel, Malpertuis.

       Atlas Press came out with this English translation in 1998, and now Wakefield Press has re-issued it, in a slightly revised translation. I never managed to get my hands on the Atlas Press edition, but this has long been one of the books I've been on the lookout for, and I'm very pleased to finally have a copy. Bonus: the Wakefield Press edition complements their three other Ray volumes, three story-collections (which I should also be getting to eventually, though story collections are always more of a challenge ...).
       Malpertuis was also famously/notoriously made into a film -- directed by Harry Kümel, with a screenplay by Jean Ferry, and starring Orson Welles;

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       Sergei Yesenin profile

       At Russia Beyond Alexandra Guzeva explains How Yesenin's myth-making immortalized the poet among Russian patriots.

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       Prix de Sade

       They've announced the winners of this year's prix de Sade -- the prize shared by Manger Bambi by Caroline de Mulder and Princesse Johanna by Léo Barthe, with the jury unanimously adding a 'Grand Prix de Sade', which they awarded to the first two volumes of Esparbec's Œuvres complètes; see, for example the Twitter-mention.

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       Prix Jean Monnet de littérature européenne

       They've announced the winner of this year's prix Jean Monnet de littérature européenne, a best-European-novel prize for which works in French and translation are eligible, and it is Donal Ryan's From a Low and Quiet Sea, beating out works by Sandro Veronesi and Georges-Olivier Châteaureynaud; no word yet at the official site, last I checked, but see the report at ActuaLitté.
       He gets to pick up the prize on 20 November.

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

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       'Literature in the Nobel Era'

       As I mentioned at the time, the great-sounding Literature in the Nobel Era: Comparative, Theoretical, and archival approaches to the Nobel Prize in Literature symposium took place at the end of August.
       I'm still hoping there will be a printed collection of the contributions, but in the meantime -- and in time to get you ready and in the mood for the announcement of this year's Novel Prize in Literature (7 October) -- you can now watch the closing event, the conversation between Michael Krüger, Anders Olsson, and Jan Bürger, on YouTube (in German, but with English subtitles), Literature in the Nobel Era.

       In other Nobel news: there will be no big festivities, just some small festivities this year, as: The 2021 laureates will receive their Nobel Prize medals and diplomas in their home countries. (Yes, Sweden may be lifting its Covid restrictions ahead of almost everyone else but they apparently are still leery of prize winners and their entourages coming to town .....)
       It strikes me as particularly cruel that:

While the traditional Nobel Prize banquet at the Stockholm City Hall will not take place in 2021, everyone is welcome to view the new exhibition at the Nobel Prize Museum entitled The Nobel Prize banquet – behind the scenes.

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

       Victor Pelevin profile

       At Russia Beyond Valeria Paikova profiles Victor Pelevin, Russia's most mysterious modern writer.
       Apparently, he really does qualify as reclusive: "No one knows where Pelevin lives, where he goes or what he eats for breakfast".
       Several Pelevin titles are under review at the complete review:

• The Hall of the Singing Caryatids
• The Helmet of Horror
• The Sacred Book of the Werewolf

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       Science fiction from ... Israel

       In Israel Hayom Elad Nevo offers some Adventures in Israel's science fiction scene, mainly about the anthology, More Zion's Fiction: Wondrous Tales from the Israeli ImagiNation, edited by Sheldon Teitelbaum and Emmanuel Lottem.

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       The Morning Star review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Karl Ove Knausgaard's latest, The Morning Star.

       As Adam Dalva reports in Publishers Weekly:

The Morning Star, which ends at a moment of change, will not be the conclusion of this new narrative -- Knausgaard is handing in the sequel to his Norweigan [sic] publisher, Forlaget Oktober, this month.

       I'm curious where this goes -- and, yes, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will be: aliens.

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       National Translation Awards shortlists

       The American Literary Translators Association has announced the shortlists for this year's National Translation Awards, six titles each in the two categories, prose and poetry.
       Only one of the shortlisted titles is under review at the complete review -- and in the poetry category at that: Geoffrey Brock's translation of Giuseppe Ungaretti's Allegria.
       The winners will be announced 16 October.

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       Jonathan Franzen Q & A

       Jonathan Franzen has a new novel out -- Crossroads --, the first in a trilogy, no less, and so the publicity machine has revved up, including now with Merve Emre's Q & A with the author at Vulture, Jonathan Franzen Thinks People Can Change.
       Among much else he once again bangs the drum for Christina Stead's The Man Who Loved Children:

I have written about it, and I have remained confounded that it is not universally regarded as canonical. It’s Christina Stead’s great novel from the mid-20th century. It has three world-class characters. Most novelists don’t produce any world-class characters. There are three in that one book. It seems to me an undeniably feminist text; I don’t understand why it’s not canonical in women’s studies programs.

       I haven't seen Crossroads yet but I do hope eventually to come by a copy and cover it; I do have a pile of Stead's novel, including The Man Who Loved Children, and should get around to covering that at some point, too.

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       Kawabata Yasunari profile

       At nippon.com Taniguchi Sachiyo profiles Kawabata Yasunari: Finding the Harmonies Between Literature and Traditional Art.

       Several Kawabata titles are under review at the complete review:

• Beauty and Sadness
• Dandelions
• The Lake
• Snow Country
• The Sound of the Mountain
• Thousand Cranes

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

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