opinionated commentary on literary matters - from the complete review

The Literary Saloon Archive

1 - 10 October 2022

1 October: Pushkin House Book Prize | Translation in ... India | The Valiant Little Tailor review
2 October: De Filter Vertaalprijs
3 October: Suzanne Jill Levine Q & A | Fifty Forgotten Books review
4 October: 7Preparing for the Nobel Prize announcement | Multicultural Japanese literature | The Satanic Verses in ... German | The 5000th review: Heartpiece (Herzstück)
5 October: Nobel Prize in ... Physics | Countdown to the Nobel Prize | Prix de la BnF | (American) National Book Award finalists | Prix Goncourt shortlist
6 October: The Nobel Prize in Literature goes to ... Annie Ernaux | Goldsmiths Prize shortlist | Prix du Meilleur Livre étranger longlists
7 October: Nobel laureate Annie Ernaux | (High school) reading in ... Japan | Editing in America
8 October: ALTA National Translation Awards | Baltic Assembly Prize in Literature | A System so Magnificent it is Blinding review
9 October: Shehan Karunatilaka Q & A | Translating Korean literature | Yoshio Osakabe Q & A
10 October: Milan Kundera's library | Sojourn review

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       Milan Kundera's library

       They've been carting away Milan Kundera's library for a while now, but now the last of it is gone from his Paris home and arrived in Brno and its Moravian Regional Library on Friday.
       As Thomas McEnchroe and Martin Balucha report at Radio Prague International, “The flat is completely empty now”: Milan Kundera’s library moves to Brno.
       They quote Kundera's wife, Věra:

The flat is completely empty now. I can prove that to you with a photograph. It’s quite terrible and hard to see, those two lives that are now gone. Those lives left together with the library, with the archive.

       See also the Czech News Agency report in Brno Daily, Second Half of Milan Kundera's Library Transported To Brno and the library press release.

       Gotta feel for the old guy -- 93 now ! -- the Nobel announcement last week (he didn't win, yet again) and now all his books gone .....

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

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       Sojourn review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Amit Chaudhuri's Sojourn, out from New York Review Books in the US, Faber in the UK, and Hamish Hamilton in India.

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

       Shehan Karunatilaka Q & A

       In The Guardian Shehan Karunatilaka has a Q & A with the author of Chinaman and the Booker Prize-shortlisted The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, in Shehan Karunatilaka: ‘There’s a Sri Lankan gallows humour… we’ve been through a lot of catastrophes’.
       Among the non-literary responses:

I had a couple of grunge bands in the 90s and will probably start a midlife crisis band soon. Over the past couple of years, I’ve played piano, bass and guitar. I’m even thinking of getting a drum kit, much to my wife’s horror. I don’t think there’s going to be an album. The Dark Side of the Seven Moons ...

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

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       Translating Korean literature

       At Electric Literature Brandon J. Choi speaks with: "Anton Hur, Sandy Joosun Lee, and Sung Ryu on their path as literary translators, creative process, and book recommendations", in: Inside the Process of Translating Korean Literature.

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

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       Yoshio Osakabe Q & A

       In The Japan Times Thu-Huong Ha has a Q & A with Yoshio Osakabe: ‘There are probably a lot of old fans who actually don't want Murakami to win the Nobel’ -- himself a harukisuto, a big fan of the man who, yet again, did not win the big prize.

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

       ALTA National Translation Awards

       The American Literary Translators Association has announced several of its prizes, including the National Translation Award in Prose, which went to Martin Aitken's translation of Karl Ove Knausgaard's The Morning Star, and the Spain-USA Foundation Translation Award, which went to Mara Faye Lethem's translation of Max Besora's The Adventures and Misadventures of the Extraordinary and Admirable Joan Orpí, Conquistador and Founder of New Catalonia.

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

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       Baltic Assembly Prize in Literature

       They've announced the winner of this year's Baltic Assembly Prize in Literature, and it is Vaikne ookean ('Pacific Ocean'), by Estonian author Kai Aareleid; see also the Varrak publicity page.

       Far too little Baltic fiction is translated into English -- but Peter Owen have published an earlier novel by Aareleid -- Burning Cities; see their publicity page.

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

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       A System so Magnificent it is Blinding review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Amanda Svensson's A System so Magnificent it is Blinding, out now in the US as well.

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

       Nobel laureate Annie Ernaux

       As you know, Annie Ernaux was awarded this year's Nobel Prize in Literature; see also my coverage from yesterday.

       See now also:

• In honoring Annie Ernaux, the literature Nobel Prize gets it exactly right by David L. Ulin in The Los Angeles Times
• Annie Ernaux Is a Perfect Nobel Laureate by Alex Shephard at Critical Mass
• Annie Ernaux's Justly Deserved Nobel by Adam Gopnik in The New Yorker
• In Annie Ernaux, a Nobel Laureate Who Plumbs Her Own Passions by Dwight Garner in The New York Times
• Annie Ernaux: the 2022 Nobel literature laureate's greatest works, as selected by Catherine Taylor in The Guardian
• Annie Ernaux writes about deep pain with cool restraint by Meghan O'Rourke in The Washington Post
• Annie Ernaux, la Nobel by Tiphaine Samoyault at En attendant Nadeau
• The Year I Tore Through Annie Ernaux's Books by Nellie Hermann
• The Guardian view on Annie Ernaux: a vintage Nobel winner editorial
  
  
• Annie Ernaux: Opening lines from books by the 2022 Nobel Prize winner for literature in Scroll.in
• Diary, 1988 by Annie Ernaux

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

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       (High school) reading in ... Japan

       At nippon.com they report that Japan's High-School Readers Enjoy Higashino Keigo.
       Impressive to hear that: Japanese high school students: "are spending around a quarter of their pocket money on books and magazines" -- though of course much of that is manga.
       And interesting that the most popular author is Higashino.
       Several of his novels are under review at the complete review:

• The Devotion of Suspect X
• Malice
• A Midsummer's Equation
• The Name of the Game is a Kidnapping
• Naoko
• Newcomer
• Silent Parade

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

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       Editing in America

       At the European Review of Books The Story of my Purity-author Francesco Pacifico looks at How Americans edit sex out of my writing.

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

       The Nobel Prize in Literature goes to ... Annie Ernaux

       They've announced the winner of this year's Nobel Prize in Literature, and it is Annie Ernaux.
       She was awarded the prize: "for the courage and clinical acuity with which she uncovers the roots, estrangements and collective restraints of personal memory".

       Great news for publishers Seven Stories and Fitzcarraldo Editions, who have long championed her -- and, of course, French publisher Gallimard..
       And Ernaux is apparently coming to the US ... now. Upcoming appearances include::

• 10 October: The Art of Capturing Life in Writing: Annie Ernaux and Kate Zambreno, at Albertine Books
• 11 October: Free Talk: Annie Ernaux in conversation with Elif Batuman at the New York Film Festival
• 12 October: An Evening with Annie Ernaux as she is in conversation with Hari Kunzru at Barnard

       For first reports on her win, see, for example:

• Annie Ernaux wins the 2022 Nobel prize in literature by Sarah Shaffi in The Guardian
• Nobel Prize in literature awarded to Annie Ernaux by Jacob Brogan in The Washington Post
• Le prix Nobel de littérature 2022 attribué à la romancière française Annie Ernaux by Raphaëlle Leyris in Le Monde

       With fourteen of her titles under review at the complete review -- the first was part of the first batch of reviews ever posted at the site, in April, 1999 -- she's well covered here and so there's already extensive information about her work available here:

• Ce qu'ils disent ou rien
• Cleaned Out
• L'ecriture comme un couteau
• A Frozen Woman
• Getting Lost
• A Girl's Story
• Happening
• "I Remain in Darkness"
• A Man's Place
• The Possession
• Shame
• Simple Passion
• Things Seen
• The Years

       See also the reviews of her work at Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews.

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

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       Goldsmiths Prize shortlist

       They've announced the shortlist for this year's Goldsmiths Prize, rewarding: "fiction that breaks the mould or extends the possibilities of the novel form"; see, for example the report at The Bookseller.
       The winner will be announced on 10 November.

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

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       Prix du Meilleur Livre étranger longlists

       The prix du Meilleur Livre étranger is a leading French prize for a book in translation, and they've now announced their longlists in the two categories, fiction (eight titles) and non (four); see, for example, the Livres Hebdo report.
       One of the titles in the fiction category is under review at the complete review -- Andrey Kurkov's Grey Bees -- and, as if to underline that this is a prize for foreign fiction, other titles include: Oh, Canada (Russell Banks) and We Germans (Alexander Starritt).

       This prize has been around since 1948, and it really has a very solid list of winners -- hard not appreciate a prize that is awarded to The Lord of the Rings one year (1972), John Hawkes' The Blood Oranges the next, and some Bruno Schulz the year after that. Also: the one Rushdie novel that got the prize is Shame, in 1985, which certainly speaks for the jurors of this prize.

       The winner will be announced 24 November.

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

       Nobel Prize in ... Physics

       I assumed I'd have to wait until Thursday and the announcement of this year's Nobel Prize in Literature before I might be able to add an author under review at the site to the Index of Books by Nobel laureates but, no: yesterday they announced the winners of the Nobel Prize in Physics -- Alain Aspect, John F. Clauser, and Anton Zeilinger -- and a book by the latter -- Dance of the Photons -- is already covered. (I got to it in 2010.)
       The prize wasn't that unexpected -- this trio has long been in the running, and this was finally their year.
       For another good overview covering much of the subject matter for which they won, see also Louisa Gilder's The Age of Entanglement.

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

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       Countdown to the Nobel Prize

       Yes, the Nobel Prize in Literature will be announced tomorrow.
       Check out the latest odds at Ladbrokes -- Salman Rushdie at 8/1 as I write this (sorry, I don't see it; I don't think he made the shortlist -- a necessary step -- because I can't imagine the Nobel committee takes his more recent fiction seriously) .
       Recent articles considering what might happen include: Salman Rushdie among favourites for this year's Nobel prize for literature by Sarah Shaffi at The Guardian and Aftonbladet's Aftonbladet Kultur tippar litteraturpriset, with various journalists saying who they would like to see win, and who they would be disappointed to have win. The Svenska Dagbladet preview, De kan få årets Nobelpris i litteratur is unfortunately paywalled.
       I'll have extensive coverage tomorrow -- though how extensive will depend very much on who gets the prize.

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

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       Prix de la BnF

       They've announced the winner of this year's prix de la Bibliothèque nationale de France, a leading French author prize, and it is Pierre Michon -- an author who has been a betting favorite for this year's Nobel Prize in Literature, and who is also the only author with a book rated "F" at the complete review (Rimbaud the Son).
       This prize was first awarded in 2009, and winners include: Patrick Modiano, Milan Kundera, Michel Houellebecq, Jean Echenoz, and Virginie Despentes.

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

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       (American) National Book Award finalists

       The (American) National Book Fourndation has announced the finalists for its National Book Awards, five books each in the five categories (selected from a total of 1772 submissions).
       None of the finalists are under review at the complete review, not even in the Translated Literature category -- but I do at least have two of those titles (one, alas only in e-form, explaining why it hasn't been reviewed yet ...).
       The winners will be announced 16 November.

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

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       Prix Goncourt shortlist

       They've announced (warning ! dreaded pdf format !) the deuxième sélection -- the shorter longlist, with another round to come before they announce the winner -- of the prix Goncourt, the leading French literary prize, with eight titles left in the running.
       The finalists will be announced on 25 October, and the winner on 3 November.

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

       Preparing for the Nobel Prize announcement

       On Thursday, 6 October, at 13:00 CEST, they will announce the winner of this year's Nobel Prize in Literature; you will be able to watch the announcement live here.

       Betting continues -- see the latest odds at Ladbrokes and Betsson --, with quite a bit of movement among the (betting) favorites.

       Meanwhile, at The New Republic's Critical Mass Alex Shephard offers his annual and very in-depth look at Who Will Win the 2022 Nobel Prize in Literature ?

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

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       Multicultural Japanese literature

       At Metropolis Eric Margolis wonders: "Is it fair to say that more diverse Japanese literature is on the rise both at home and in translation ?" in looking at The Rise of Multicultural Japanese Literature.
       Despite some translations into English, he concludes:

The rise of multicultural Japanese literature is all three: real, imagined, and left unnoticed by the English-speaking world this whole time.

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

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       The Satanic Verses in ... German

       At Deutsche Welle Torsten Landsberg chronicles 'The Satanic Verses': The long road to German publication.
       Interesting that: "To this day, the person who translated the novel has not been publicly identified". (Apparently several were involved.)

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

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       The 5000th review: Heartpiece (Herzstück)

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review -- the 5000th at the site -- of Heiner Müller's Heartpiece (Herzstück).

       I figured I should pick something extreme for the milestone-number -- massive, like the Kathāsaritsāgara (The Ocean of the Streams of Story), or maybe Miss MacIntosh, My Darling, or ... the opposite. Heartpiece is -- page-wise -- the shortest title ever reviewed at the site, though it's not the first for which the review has more words than the work itself (see. e.g. The City, by Frans Masereel ...); I still think it's a very substantial work. The only thing that really spoke against it is that I've read it before -- it's an old favorite -- indeed, one of my all-time favorites.

       So, five thousand reviews ......
       I guess it's time for an updated version of The Complete Review: Eleven Years, 2500 Reviews .....
       The next big milestone comes in 2024, when the site itself has its twenty-fifth anniversary.
       As to whether I will ever reach 10,000 reviews ... well, fortunately that is, at best, a long ways off.
       (Oh, and don't worry: I hope to get to The Ocean of the Streams of Story and Miss MacIntosh, My Darling and many more -- though it may be a while.)

       Meanwhile, support for the site is, of course, always welcome:

If you want to support the site,
consider becoming a patron:

Or, via PayPal:

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

       Suzanne Jill Levine Q & A

       At The Collidescope David Garyan has a Q & A with the translator and author, in The Never-Ending Original: An Interview with Suzanne Jill Levine.

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

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       Fifty Forgotten Books review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Tartarus Press-publisher R.B. Russell's look at Fifty Forgotten Books, just out from And Other Stories.

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

       De Filter Vertaalprijs

       They've announced the winner of this year's De Filter Vertaalprijs, a leading Dutch translation prize, and it is the (2160 page) translation by Anne Sytske Keijser, Mark Leenhouts, and Silvia Marijnissen of Cao Xueqin's The Story of the Stone -- which is, after all, one of the greatest works of world literature.
       See also the Athenaeum publicity page for the Dutch translation.

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

       Pushkin House Book Prize

       They've announced the winner of this year's Pushkin House Book Prize, which: "recognises the very best non-fiction writing on Russia", and it is Not One Inch by M. E. Sarotte; see also the Yale University Press 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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       Translation in ... India

       In the Deccan Herald Asra Mavad and Barkha Kumari report that there is High demand, but not enough literary translators.

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

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       The Valiant Little Tailor review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Éric Chevillard's take on the Brothers Girmm tale, The Valiant Little Tailor, recently out from Yale University Press in their Margellos World Republic of Letters-series.

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

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