opinionated commentary on literary matters - from the complete review

The Literary Saloon Archive

1 - 10 April 2022

1 April: Another Executed Renaissance ? | Stella Prize shortlist | Dylan Thomas Prize shortlist | Premio Strega candidates
2 April: Richard Howard (1929-2022) | Lyudmila Ulitskaya Q & A | The Hummingbird review
3 April: Sergio Chejfec (1956-2022) | Ted Mooney (1951-2022) | David Peace Q & A | Dutch non-fiction
4 April: Lygia Fagundes Telles (1923-2022) | Longest Iranian novel ? | Flight and Metamorphosis review
5 April: Most challenged ... in the US | NSW Premier's Literary Awards shortlists | Stiliana Milkova Q & A | The Complete Review at ... 23
6 April: PEN World Voices Literary Festival | Andrey Kurkov profile | Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards | The Major Declamations review
7 April: James Tait Black shortlists | RSL Ondaatje Prize longlist | The Belles Lettres Papers review
8 April: International Booker Prize shortlist | Guggenheim fellows | Thane Gustafson Q & A
9 April: Isekai | Prix Fitzgerald longlist
10 April: The Riveter: Writing from Italy | Jack Higgins (1929-2022) | Grey Bees review

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       The Riveter: Writing from Italy

       The new issue of The Riveter: Writing from Italy (warning ! dreaded pdf format !) is up at the European Literature Network -- nearly two hundred pages worth of material !

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

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       Jack Higgins (1929-2022)

       Henry Patterson -- who wrote under the name Jack Higgins -- has passed away; see for example, Nadeem Badshah's obituary in The Guardian.

       I read The Eagle Has Landed in my early teens, and I did enjoy it thoroughly back then; see also the G.P. Putnam's Sons publicity page, or get your copy at Amazon.com, Bookshop.org or Amazon.co.uk.

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

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       Grey Bees review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Andrey Kurkov's Grey Bees.

       This came out in the UK in 2020, but the US edition, from Deep Vellum, just came out; given the subject matter -- the protagonist lives in the Donbas region of Ukraine -- it's obviously of current interest.
       I'm still surprised how few of Kurkov's books have been published in the US; for some reason he's done much better in the UK, published by Vintage and MacLehose Press.

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

       Isekai

       At CBR.com Chris Nishijima makes the case that These Literary Classics Prove That Isekai Isn't Only a Japanese Thing.

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       Prix Fitzgerald longlist

       Can't help but admire a prize whose longlist -- well, 'first selection' -- consists of a mere five titles -- as is apparently the case with the just announced prix Fitzgerald (yes, as in F.Scott), with a shortlist to follow later this month and the winner to be announced on June 10; see also the Livres Hebdo report.
       The prize is for a work of fiction that reflects the 'elegance, spirit, style, and art of living' of F.Scott Fitzgerald. Predictably, many of the previous winners of this prize wrote in English; four of the five works on the longlist this year were also originally written in English, the exception being the French translation of José Carlos Llop's Oriente (see also the Alfaguara publicity page).
       It does seem kind of unfair that one of the contenders is an omnibus edition, a 1248-page collection of no less than five of Julian Barnes' novels (plus some other odds and ends); see also the Gallimard publicity page.

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

       International Booker Prize shortlist

       They've announced the shortlist for this year's International Booker Prize, and the six titles left in the running are:

• The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Jennifer Croft
  
  
• Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung, translated by Anton Hur
  
  
• Elena Knows by Claudia Piñeiro, translated by Frances Riddle
  
  
• Heaven by Kawakami Mieko, translated by Samuel Bett and David Boyd
  
  
• A New Name: Septology VI-VII by Jon Fosse, translated by Damion Searls
  
  
• Tomb of Sand by Geetanjali Shree, translated by Daisy Rockwell

       I now have a copy of Tomb of Sand, which I'm very easger to get to; other books by Fosse and Piñeiro are under review at the complete review, but I haven't seen these particular titles, or the Bora Chung.
       The winner will be announced on 26 May.

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

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       Guggenheim fellows

       They've announced this year's 180 Guggenheim Fellows.
       There's only one fellow in the Translation category -- Matt Reeck -- but translator Jennifer Croft got a fellowship for a fiction project; other Fiction fellows include Dinaw Mengestu and Maaza Mengiste, while poet and translator Peter Filkins is the lone Biography fellow.

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

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       Thane Gustafson Q & A

       I recently reviewed Thane Gustafson's Klimat: Russia in the Age of Climate Change, and at The Atlantic Tom Nichols now has a Q & A with him on Putin's Blunder and Europe's Gamble.

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

       James Tait Black shortlists

       They've announced the shortlists for this year's James Tait Black Prizes, four titles each in the two categories, fiction and biography, in "Britain's longest-running literary prizes".
       The winners will be announced in August.

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

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       RSL Ondaatje Prize longlist

       The Royal Society of Literature has announced the longlist for this year's RSL Ondaatje Prize, awarded: "to an outstanding work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry that best evokes the spirit of a place".
       It's twenty titles strong, but they winnow it down pretty quickly: the shortlist will be announced 20 April, and the winner on 4 May.

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       The Belles Lettres Papers review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Charles Simmons' 1987 novel, The Belles Lettres Papers.

       Simmons was a longtime editor at The New York Times Book Review, and this book is basically composed of fictional pieces he wrote for The Nation and The New Republic, satires of the book reviewing world he strung together. It's not nearly as exposé-y as one might hope, but there are some good lines.
       It is amusing to learn from The New York Times' obituary that:

Mr. Simmons was spared another negative review, this one in the daily New York Times by the book critic Christopher Lehmann-Haupt. It was never published -- something to do with a disruption in deliveries of the newspaper on the day the review was scheduled to appear, Mr. Lehmann-Haupt said.

“So no one except he and a couple of copy editors ever read the slam,” he recalled in an email on Tuesday. “Still, Charlie basically never forgave me.”

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

       PEN World Voices Literary Festival

       They've announced the programme for this year's PEN World Voices Literary Festival, which runs 11 to 14 May, in New York City and Los Angeles -- with a headline opening night event featuring Nobel laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah.

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

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       Andrey Kurkov profile

       At The Guardian Viv Groskop has a profile, ‘I’m not scared of war any more’: Death and the Penguin author Andrey Kurkov on life in Kyiv.
       Among his observations:

Recommending Ukrainian writers is harder, he says. “Our literature is very introverted, inward-looking. It is directed towards those who already understand what is being discussed. Open, outward-looking literature with a universal message is harder to find. That’s more in the direction that I write.”

       (I, for one, thinks there's something to be said for "very introverted, inward-looking" literature, but, sure, universal message-stuff is more accessible .....)
       Five Kurkov works are under review at the complete review, including the wonderful Death and the Penguin; I should be getting to Grey Bees soon.

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

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       Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards

       They've announced the winners of this year's Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards, with Ishmael Reed winning the Lifetime Achievement-award and The Trees by Percival Everett winning in the fiction category.

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

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       The Major Declamations review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of The Major Declamations, attributed to Quintilian, out recently in a three-volume edition from Harvard University Press' Loeb Classical Library.

       I've never been that big on orator-literature -- I'm much more a dialogue-person -- but I have to admit, these were a lot more entertaining than I could have hoped for. Unusual, too -- but certainly a reminder that it's always worth turning back to classical literature.

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

       Most challenged ... in the US

       The American Library Association has released its State of America's Libraries Report (warning ! dreaded pdf format !), and announced the 'Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2021' -- always depressing reading.

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       NSW Premier's Literary Awards shortlists

       They've announced the shortlists for this year's NSW Premier's Literary Awards, "the richest and longest running state-based literary awards in Australia"; see also the more convenient run-down of all the shortlisted titles in all ten categories at Books + Publishing.
       The winners will be announced 16 May.

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

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       Stiliana Milkova Q & A

       Stiliana Milkova recently published a monograph on Elena Ferrante as World Literature -- see the Bloomsbury publicity page -- and at The Smart Set Brianna Di Monda talks to her: "about Elena Ferrante, acts of translation, and leaky bodies", in Elena Ferrante and Feminine Creativity.

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

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       The Complete Review at ... 23

       The bigger anniversary should happen sometime this fall, when the site reaches 5000 reviews, but at least in internet terms reaching 23 years is also at least something of an achievement -- and that's where the complete review is today: yes, the first reviews were posted at the site way back on 5 April 1999.

       Thanks for (still) visiting; I hope you continue to enjoy the site !

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

       Lygia Fagundes Telles (1923-2022)

       Brazilian author Lygia Fagundes Telles has passed away; see, for example, the report in Jornal do Brasil.

       Dalkey Archive Press brought out her The Girl in the Photograph a decade ago; I have a copy but haven't gotten to it yet; see also the (old) Dalkey Archive publicity page, or get your copy at Amazon.com, Bookshop.org or Amazon.co.uk.

       (Updated - 5 April): See now also the obituary by Michael Astor in The New York Times.

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

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       Longest Iranian novel ?

       Mahmoud Dowlatabadi's magnum opus Kelidar is ten volumes strong -- but apparently it now falls short of the longest contemporary novel, Mansur Anvari's now-completed twelve-volume جاده جنگ ('Road of War'); see also the Soore Mehr publicity page (for volume one).
       At the Tehran Times they have a Q & A with the author, The longest Iranian novel “Road of War”.
       (I'd still rather see (the rest of) Kelidar, but this might be of some interest too -- but I'm not holding my breath about either being translated into English any time soon.)

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

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       Flight and Metamorphosis review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Nobel laureate Nelly Sachs' Flight and Metamorphosis, just out from Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

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

       Sergio Chejfec (1956-2022)

       Argentine author Sergio Chejfec has passed away; see, for example, the report in Clarín.
       Quite a few of his works are available in translation -- notably from Open Letter --; though I've read several of his works, I haven't gotten around to reviewing any at the complete review yet.

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

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       Ted Mooney (1951-2022)

       Longtime senior editor at Art in America and novelist Ted Mooney has passed away; see, for example, Richard Vine's note in Art in America and Neil Genzlinger's obituary in The New York Times.

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

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       David Peace Q & A

       At The Guardian Anthony Cummins has a Q & A with David Peace: 'Publishers should be less risk-averse'. (Amen to that.)
       The only Peace-title under review at the complete review is Tokyo Year Zero but I've read several more and am an admirer of his work.
       Among his responses:

What have you been reading lately ?

Vladimir Sharov, who won the Russian Booker and passed away in 2018, has been a big revelation for me this past year. His novel Before and During, published by Dedalus and translated by Oliver Ready, is narrative within narrative within narrative; it’s very stimulating in structure, voice, and in how it engages with memory, and Soviet and post-Soviet history. Finding a writer like this is what I live for, to be honest.

       Good to hear !

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

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       Dutch non-fiction

       The Dutch Foundation for Literature has released its Spring 2022 Dutch Non-Fiction recommendations.
       As always, I'm more curious about the fiction, but still, interesting to see what they think might be of interest to foreign audiences.

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

       Richard Howard (1929-2022)

       Poet and translator Richard Howard has passed away; see, for example, obituaries by William Grimes (in The New York Times), Benjamin Ivry (in Forward) and Craig Morgan Teicher's Remembering Richard Howard at The Paris Review's The Daily.

       Quite a few of his translations are under review at the complete review -- but only a fraction of his enormous output.

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

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       Lyudmila Ulitskaya Q & A

       Among the Russian artists who have left Russia in the past few months is The Big Green Tent-author Lyudmila Ulitskaya, and at Deutsche Welle Sabine Kieselbach now has a Q & A with her, in Russian author Ulitskaya warns of 'terrible' consequences of war.
       Among her observations:

100 years ago, many from Russia's cultural elite emigrated. Is history repeating itself ?

For me, it's mainly an interesting situation: in 1922, Russian Berlin was an extremely exciting cultural phenomenon. I recall Viktor Shklovsky's novel Zoo or Letters Not about Love. Today, exactly 100 years later, one could have written a text entitled Zoo 2. It's intriguing.

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

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       The Hummingbird review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Sandro Veronesi's Premio Strega-winning international bestseller, The Hummingbird, now also out in the US, from HarperVia.

       This is also being made into a film. I'm not sure that the book's back and forth (in time) can be translated effectively on screen; the potential for sappiness also seems very great here.

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

       Another Executed Renaissance ?

       At Eurozine Victoria Amelina reminds readers that: 'For Ukrainians, the Soviet-Russian purge of their national intelligentsia in the 1930s is more than just a memory' -- and that they worry about a new one, in Cancel culture vs. execute culture.

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

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       Stella Prize shortlist

       They've announced the six-title-strong shortlist for this year's Stella Prize, awarded for a book by an Australian woman (cis, trans, and non-binary inclusive).
       The winner will be announced on 28 April.

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

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       Dylan Thomas Prize shortlist

       They've announced the shortlist for this year's Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize, awarded: "for the best published literary work in the English language, written by an author aged 39 or under".
       The six finalists come in a variety of genres: four novels, one poetry collection, and one short story collection.
       The winner will be announced 12 May.

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

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       Premio Strega candidates

       They've now announced the twelve candidates for this year's Premio Strega, the leading Italian novel prize. The titles were selected from 74 submitted titles.
       The five finalists will be announced on 8 June, and the winner on 7 July.

       (Meanwhile, my review of the 2020 winner should be up later today ... [Updated: and here it is].)

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

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