opinionated commentary on literary matters - from the complete review

The Literary Saloon Archive

1 - 10 July 2022

1 July: Future Library profile | Großer Preis des Deutschen Literaturfonds | Grand Prix SGDL
2 July: New issue of World Literature Today | Académie française palmarès | Desmond Elliott Prize
3 July: Golden Pen Awards finalists | Venomous Lumpsucker review
4 July: Peter Brook (1925-2022) | The Lisbon Syndrome review
5 July: Martin Walser archive | Dutch translation grants
6 July: Indonesian literature in China | Ni Kuang (1935-2022) | The Man from the Future review
7 July: Golden Pen Awards | Penguin Classics Marvel Collection Series
8 July: Premio Strega | Don Quixote in ... Sanskrit | Fish Swimming in Dappled Sunlight review
9 July: Most anticipated books ? | Gratiaen Prize | Mori Ōgai profile
10 July: Nigeria Prize for Literature longlist

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       Nigeria Prize for Literature longlist

       The Nigeria Prize for Literature rotates, year by year, through four genres, and this year is a poetry year -- and they've now announced the eleven-title-strong longlist for this year's prize, selected from 287 entries; see, for example, Jayne Augoye's report in the Premium Times, 11 poets make NLNG's $100,000 literature prize longlist.

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

       Most anticipated books ?

       At the Literary Hub they now have their Lit Hub's Most Anticipated Books of 2022, Part Two -- the 230 'most anticipated' books of the second half of the year.
       Certainly quite a few titles of interest here, and the list covers the big titles -- but there's a lot more to look forward to, so continue to keep your eyes peeled .....

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

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       Gratiaen Prize

       I missed this two weeks ago, but they've now announced the winner of the 2021 Gratiaen Prize, a leading prize for a work by a Sri Lankan author, and it is The Unmarriageable Man by Ashok Ferrey; see also the report in the DailyFT and the Penguin India publicity page.

       (Ferrey is new to me, but I came across -- and bought -- an earlier title by him yesterday, at the first book sale I've been to in quite a while. A signed copy, no less.)

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       Mori Ōgai profile

       At nippon.com Ōtsuka Miho has a profile of Mori Ōgai: The Polymath Intellectual Who Made Literary History.

       Only one of his works is under review at the complete review, The Wild Geese.

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

       Premio Strega

       They've announced the winner of this year's Premio Strega, the leading Italian novel prize, and it is Spatriati, by Mario Desiati; see also the Einaudi publicity page.
       Spatriati got 166 out of the 537 submitted (out of 660 eligible-to-vote) votes, significantly ahead of runner-up Quel maledetto Vronskij by Claudio Piersanti, which got 90 votes.

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       Don Quixote in ... Sanskrit

       A fun article in The Guardian, where Sam Jones writes about ‘First modern novel – oldest language’: Sanskrit translation of Don Quixote rescued from oblivion.
       Yes, it's a second-hand translation, via the English, and it's only a selection from rather than the whole book, but still ..... डान् क्विक्षोटः !
       It's been published as part of the Pune Indological Series; get your copy at Amazon.com.

       (See also the works that were originally written in Sanskrit that are under review at the complete review.)

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       Fish Swimming in Dappled Sunlight review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of another clever thriller by Onda Riku, Fish Swimming in Dappled Sunlight, now in English, from Bitter Lemon Press.

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       Golden Pen Awards

       They've announced the winners of this year's (Iranian) Golden Pen Awards -- though, as the Tehran Times reports, there were no winners in the adult fiction and the 'Review and Research' categories.
       They also report:

Pedram Pak-Aiin, a member of the association, lamented the lack of book reading among Iranian people.

He said that people have missed their opportunity for reading in the wake of the development of virtual social networks.

       I guess BookTok isn't big there yet ?

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

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       Penguin Classics Marvel Collection Series

       Penguin Classics recently came out with their Marvel Collection Series, and at Publishers Weekly Brigid Alverson has a Q & A with editorial director Ben Saunders.

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

       Indonesian literature in China

       In the South China Morning Post Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat and Yeta Purnama look at Ties that bind: How literature exchanges can strengthen Indonesia's role in the softer side of China's Belt and Road Initiative.
       They conclude:

While Indonesian literature has brought China and Indonesia closer since 1949, there is much to be ironed out before literature as a unifier can be truly successful.

       That seems to be a bit of an understatement -- but, hey, at least it's being discussed.
       Meanwhile, among the hurdles:

Cost remains an issue. English-to-Chinese translations typically cost less in China than Indonesian-to-Chinese translations, so Chinese publishers prefer the English versions. Most publishers have introduced English-translated Indonesian literature because of a lack of high-quality Indonesian translators in China.

The Indonesian government meanwhile pays little attention to the translation and introduction of Indonesian literary works in China, and has little jurisdiction over this.

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

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       Ni Kuang (1935-2022)

       Hong Kong screenwriter and author Ni Kuang has passed away; see, for example, the obituary by Abid Rahman in The Hollywood Reporter.
       None of his fiction appears to be available in English, but Rahman reports:

A giant of Chinese literature, Ni’s shadow looms large over the genres of science fiction, wuxia fiction and martial arts, but he also wrote extensive non-fiction pieces, newspaper columns, satirical pieces and dabbled in the romance and detective genres. It has been reported that Ni wrote more than 300 novels in addition to all the screenplays he completed during his life.

       See also the entry at The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.

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

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       The Man from the Future review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Ananyo Bhattacharya on The Visionary Life of John von Neumann, in The Man from the Future.

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

       Martin Walser archive

       German author Martin Walser -- now ninety-five years old -- handed over his literary estate to the Deutsches Literaturarchiv Marbach, the national German Literary Archive, on Sunday. (German has the great term Vorlass for an estate that is handed over while the giver is still alive: an estate is a Nachlass -- essentially a 'left-behind' --; a Vorlass is a 'left-ahead'.)
       The haul includes the diaries Walser has been keeping since 1958 -- 75 volumes, covering some 25,000 pages -- and there are a total of some 75,000 handwritten pages of writing. Also included: his private and working library, of some 7,800 volumes.
       See also, for example, the SWR report.

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

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       Dutch translation grants

       The Dutch Foundation for Literature has announced the recipients in the first round of their 2022 translation grants.
       Always interesting to see what gets translated, and into what languages; always disappointing to see how little US publishers are undertaking ..... (Of course, some translations do come about without translation grants such as these, but most translations from the Dutch published in the US do take advantage of the availability of this kind of support.)

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

       Peter Brook (1925-2022)

       Director Peter Brook has passed away; see, for example, obituaries in The New York Times (by Benedict Nightingale) and at the BBC.

       Two Brook-related titles are under review at the complete review: A.C.H.Smith's account of the production of Orghast at Persepolis and Peter Weiss' Marat/Sade.

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

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       The Lisbon Syndrome review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Venezuelan author Eduardo Sánchez Rugeles' The Lisbon Syndrome, just about out from Turtle Point Press.

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

       Golden Pen Awards finalists

       The Iranian Pen Society has announced the finalists for this year's Golden Pen Awards, e.g in the adult fiction category; see also the Tehran Times report, Nominees for 2022 Golden Pen Awards unveiled.
       The winners will be announced on Tuesday.

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

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       Venomous Lumpsucker review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Ned Beauman's new novel, Venomous Lumpsucker.

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

       New issue of World Literature Today

       The July/August issue of World Literature Today -- the City Issue -- is now out -- lots of material, just in time for the long (in the US ...) weekend.
       Of particular interest, as always: the book review section.

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

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       Académie française palmarès

       The Académie française has announced their 2022 palmarès -- 64 'distinctions'; see the full list here (warning ! dreaded pdf format !) .
       Among those honored: Trinh Xuan Thuan was awarded the Grand prix de la francophonie, L'Orient-Le Jour the Grande médaille de la francophonie, and the Prix Jules Janin went to Christian Garcin and Thierry Gillyboeuf for their translation of L'intégrale des nouvelles Melville; see also the Éditions Finitude publicity page.

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

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       Desmond Elliott Prize

       They've announced the winner of this year's Desmond Elliott Prize, awarded for a first novel (of "literary fiction"), and it is Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies by Maddie Mortimer (which just came out in the US).
       See also the publicity pages from Scribner and Picador, or get your copy at Amazon.com, Bookshop.org or Amazon.co.uk.

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

       Future Library profile

       At the BBC Richard Fisher visits The Norwegian library with unreadable books -- the Future Library; see also my previous mention -- with the manuscripts -- one new one added each year -- that will only be made public in 2114.
       The Silent Room looks impressive.

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

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       Großer Preis des Deutschen Literaturfonds

       They've announced the winner of this year's Großer Preis des Deutschen Literaturfonds -- which, at €50,000 is one of the most generous German author-prizes (paying out as much as the most illustrious of them all, the Georg-Büchner-Preis) -- and it is Georg Klein.
       Klein has previously won the Ingeborg-Bachmann-Preis (2000) and the Prize of the Leipzig Book Fair (for Roman unserer Kindheit, in 2010), making him one of the most prominent contemporary German authors none of whose books have been translated into English. (Back in 2012 The Guardian did print his piece on The future of the novel .....)
       He gets to pick up the prize on 28 November.

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

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       Grand Prix SGDL

       The Société des Gens de Lettres has announced the winner of this year's Grand Prix SGDL/Ministère de la culture pour l’œuvre de traduction, a leading French translator-prize, and it is Robert Amutio -- best-known as the French translator of the works of Roberto Bolaño.

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

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