opinionated commentary on literary matters - from the complete review

The Literary Saloon Archive

1 - 10 June 2022

1 June: Walter Abish (1931-2022) | Boris Pahor (1913-2022) | F.C.Delius (1943-2022) | Geetanjali Shree Q & A | Thread Ripper review
2 June: PEN Presents | Society of Authors' Awards | Translation in ... India
3 June: Punjabi literature | Fernanda Melchor Q & A
4 June: Svetlana Alexievich Q & A | Urban bookselling in the US
5 June: Translation from Hindi ? | Nehru and Lolita
6 June: George Lamming (1927-2022) | Grand Hotel Europa review
7 June: The Shahnameh in Spanish | Sharjah Booksellers Conference
8 June: New-look Words without Borders | Pushkin House Book Prize shortlist | 'Books of my life': Ian Rankin | Salka Valka
9 June: Premio Strega finalists | Caine Prize shortlist | Time Shelter review
10 June: The Dogs borrowings | Prix Jean d'Ormesson | Promoting literature in translation

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       The Dogs borrowings

       Anna Katharine Verney's exposé in The Guardian has a hell of a summing-up headline: Miles Franklin-nominated novelist apologises for plagiarising Nobel laureate ‘without realising’.
       Plagiarism is a bad idea in general; plagiarizing a Nobel laureate seems downright foolish. And I wish authors would start coming up with more creative excuses when they get caught at it.
       The book in question is John Hughes' The Dogs -- see the Upswell publicity page (which does not yet note that the novel in ... not entirely original) -- and the book it 'borrows' from is Svetlana Alexievich's The Unwomanly Face of War. See also the Books + Publishing report.
       And it's a safe bet that The Dogs will not be taking this or any prize anytime soon.

       (Updated - 11 June): Unsurprisingly, The Guardian now reports that the Miles Franklin Prize has now removed The Dogs from the longlist.

       (Updated - 17 June): Hughes does himself no favors by *explaining* his plagiarism in The Guardian, in John Hughes: I am not a plagiarist -- and here's why.

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

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       Prix Jean d'Ormesson

       The prix Jean d'Ormesson is definitely one of the best prize-concepts going: it's basically an anything-goes prize, with the jurors selecting the books that are then in the running -- whereby they can select whatever titles they want, old or new. So, for example, this year's longlist included Mariama Bâ's So Long a Letter (which was first published in French in 1979), Cheikh Hamidou Kane's Ambiguous Adventure (1961), and ... uh, David Niven's memoirs.
       They've now announced this year's winner and -- somewhat disappointingly -- it is a new title, Voyage autour de mon enfance, by Emmanuel de Waresquiel; see the Livres Hebdo report and see also the Tallandier publicity page.

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       Promoting literature in translation

       In Publishers Weekly John Maher reports on a recent 'industry roundtable' on "How to Promote Italian Literature in the USA, in The Ever-Shifting Challenge of Promoting Literature in Translation.
       Among the interesting titbits: McNally Jackson-bookstores owner Sarah McNally reveals:

“I have always [organized] the literature section in my stores in terms of countries, and at one point, when the original store was maybe five or six years old, I thought, maybe I'm wrong,” she said. “When I switched the organization to A-Z [by author], [sales] numbers [for international literature] went down by about 30% immediately, so we switched them back.

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       Premio Strega finalists

       They've announced the finalists for this year's Premio Strega, the leading Italian novel prize.
       Spatriati, by Mario Desiati, was the leading vote-getter in this round, with 244 -- a healthy margin over the 178 the next most popular work got.
       Seven books remain in the running; the winner will be announced on 7 July.

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       Caine Prize shortlist

       They've announced the shortlist for this year's AKO Caine Prize for African Writing, the leading African short story prize.
       The five shortlisted stories were selected from 349 entries from 27 African countries. You can read all five stories online; links (to pdfs ...) can be found here.
       The winner will be announced 18 July.

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       Time Shelter review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Georgi Gospodinov's Time Shelter, recently also out in English.

       Coïncidentally, the book I reviewed just before this one was another contemporary European novel that similarly explores how (European) history and past bear on a contemporary Europe that seems .... the opposite of unrooted ? completely rooted in past ? Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer's Grand Hotel Europa.

       Meanwhile, Novinite reports that Gospodinov has been nominated for this year's Nobel Prize in Literature:

The proposal was signed by chairwoman Zdravka Evtimova. Bulgaria's candidacy was sent a few months ago but so far there has been no response from the Swedish Nobel Committee.

       Gotta love that surprised: "so far there has been no response from the Swedish Nobel Committee" .....
       (Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if there had been one -- behind the scenes: a firm slap on the wrist. The Swedish Academy frowns upon (to put it mildly ...) nominations being made public. It's a major no-no, with nominators officially forbidden to reveal what name(s) they submitted -- though you do see a few local reports like this every year. I suspect, however, that the mere publicizing of the nomination is sufficient to ensure that Gospodinov won't be in the closer running for this year's prize .....)

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

       New-look Words without Borders

       Words without Borders has been online since 2003 and they've now announced the launch of a beta version of their new website:

On the practical side, this means Words Without Borders is embracing its identity as a truly digital publication. In place of monthly themes and features, WWB will now publish new content daily, presenting a mix of fiction, essays, reportage, poetry, criticism, and interviews about the most exhilarating writing around the world.

       Sounds promising !
       See also Michael Seidlinger's report in Publishers Weekly, Words Without Borders Reboots.

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

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       Pushkin House Book Prize shortlist

       The Pushkin House Book Prize, "awarded to the author of the best book about Russia or the Russian-speaking world accessible to the general reader" published in English (but: "Translations from other languages are eligible and actively sought"), has announced the shortlist for this year's prize.
       Only one of the titles is under review at the complete review: Thane Gustafson's Klimat
       The winner will be announced on 28 September.

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       'Books of my life': Ian Rankin

       The Guardian's 'The books of my life'-series features Ian Rankin this week.
       Among his responses: Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time is the book he re-reads -- and he is, sensibly, a fan of Simenon's romans durs.

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       Salka Valka

       There's a new translation of Halldór Laxness' Salka Valka, by Philip Roughton; the UK edition came out a few months ago, and now Archipelago's US edition is also out -- one of the more significant translations published this year.
       The new version didn't get much attention in the UK press; hopefully it well get its due from the US media (with reviews in the Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post certainly a good start).

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

       The Shahnameh in Spanish

       In the Tehran Times they report that:

Candle and Fog, the London-based Iranian-British publishing house, plans to introduce the first and only complete Spanish translation of the Shahnameh

       That's quite a combination -- but, regardless: neat that there's now a complete Spanish edition of Ferdowsi's Persian classic: seven volumes and some 5000 pages.
       I'm still working on covering the English translation -- Dick Davis' recent one, which is the standard contemporary one (though not a truly complete translation), now out in a Penguin Classics edition, and the nine-volume Warner-brothers translation .....
       As they also note, there's also a recent complete French translation, Pierre Lecoq's 1740-page translation; see also the Les Belles Lettres publicity page.

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

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       Sharjah Booksellers Conference

       At Scroll.in Venkatesh M Swamy reports on the recent Sharjah Booksellers Conference, in Notes from a conference: What booksellers talk about when they talk about selling books.

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

       George Lamming (1927-2022)

       Barbadian author George Lamming has passed away; see, for example, the report in the Sunday Express.
       Good to see that several of his titles remain in print -- including a recent Penguin Modern Classics edition of his In the Castle of My Skin; get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.
       See also the books and writers page on Lamming.

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

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       Grand Hotel Europa review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer's Grand Hotel Europa, just (about) out in English.

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

       Translation from Hindi ?

       The recent Tomb of Sand success continues to lead to much Indian-press enthusiasm and speculation -- so also now Ashutosh Bhardwaj wondering about Translation In World Literature: Will International Booker Prize Open A Global Window To Hindi Books ? in Outlook.
       One can hope .....
       Meanwhile, also in Outlook, Gulzar looks at Our Stories, Their Words: How More Writers From The West Are Now Translating In Indian Languages.

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       Nehru and Lolita

       An interesting piece at Scroll.in by Shubhneet Kaushik on When Jawaharlal Nehru read ‘Lolita’ to decide whether an ‘obscene’ book should be allowed in India.
       The relevant correspondence is also available online -- e.g..

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

       Svetlana Alexievich Q & A

       At the Literary Hub José Vergara has a lengthy Q & A with the Belarusian Nobel laureate, in On the Dangers of Greatness: A Conversation with Svetlana Alexievich.

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       Urban bookselling in the US

       In Publishers Weekly Jim Milliot looks at Why Aren't City Dwellers Buying Books ? as many of the biggest book markets in the US have lagged behind midsize markets in terms of growth in book-sales.
       Various factors play a part in this; still, interesting to see.

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

       Punjabi literature

       Hindi literature just got a nice big boost with Daisy Rockwell's English translation of Geetanjali Shree's Tomb of Sand winning the International Booker Prize, but literature in a lot of other Indian languages also deserves more attention than it's gotten, and in Outlook Ashutosh Sharma notes that Lost Without Translation, Punjabi Yearns For Global Publishers.

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       Fernanda Melchor Q & A

       In The Nation Lucas Iberico Lozada has a Q & A with the author, in Raw Speech, Raw Stories: A Conversation With Fernanda Melchor.
       Melchor also describes her work on the Netflix show Somos:

LIL: What was your job on the show ?

FM: Executive translator. (Laughs) I’ve worked on a bunch of shows that haven’t been green-lit. The official title for my role is “tropicalization consultant.” I take scripts and “show bibles” that have been written by gringos, or by whitexicans, and I give them a patina of reality. That authentic working-class Mexican sheen -- that’s what they want. I find the work fascinating. And occasionally very fun.

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       PEN Presents

       English PEN has launched "a new programme to support sample translations" -- PEN Presents.
       With a focus on: "titles from underrepresented languages and regions" -- the first round of submissions will focus on literatures of the languages of India -- this sounds very promising. (The second round will be: "open to all languages, regions, forms and genres".)

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

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       Society of Authors' Awards

       The Society of Authors have announced the winners of their 2022 awards -- quite a variety.

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

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       Translation in ... India

       In Outlook Sohini Basak makes the case A 'Tomb Of Sand' Moment: How Translation's Big Break Is Coming To India.
       She suggests:

Translation’s big break in India possibly came fifteen years ago, with Shankar’s Chowringhee translated by Arunava Sinha. In more recent times, we were lucky to witness another watershed moment with the unprecedented success of Vivek Shanbag’s Ghachar Ghochar in Srinath Perur’s translation.

       She does also note:

In India, the English-language book market is very small, still evolving and still very volatile. Most literary books, therefore, have a very short life span

       (As always, I'd love to see numbers -- what does 'small' mean ? What are those short life spans ? Etc.)

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

       Walter Abish (1931-2022)

       Walter Abish, best-known for his novel How German Is It, has passed away; see, for example, Alan Cowell's obituary in The New York Times.
       Three of his books are under review at the complete review

• Alphabetical Africa
• Double Vision
• 99: The New Meaning

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

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       Boris Pahor (1913-2022)

       Slovenian author Boris Pahor has died at the age of 108 (!); see, for example, the reports at Deutsche Welle and France 24.
       He is best known for his novel Necropolis; see the publicity pages from Dalkey Archive Press and Canongate, or get your copy at Amazon.com, Bookshop.org or Amazon.co.uk.

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       F.C.Delius (1943-2022)

       German author F.C.Delius -- the 2011 winner of the Georg-Büchner-Preis, the leading German author prize -- has passed away; see, for example, the obituary in the Süddeutsche Zeitung.
       Several of his works have been translated into English; the only one under review at the complete review is Portrait of the Mother as a Young Woman.

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

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       Geetanjali Shree Q & A

       At Deutsche Welle Manasi Gopalakrishnan has a Q & A with Booker Prize winner Geetanjali Shree on Hindi literature (and her prize-winning novel, Tomb of Sand).

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

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       Thread Ripper review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Amalie Smith's Thread Ripper, just out -- today ! -- from Lolli Editions.

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