opinionated commentary on literary matters - from the complete review

The Literary Saloon Archive

11 - 20 December 2022

11 December: Christian Bobin (1951-2022) | Q & As: Geoff Dyer - Jenny Bhatt
12 December: Journal of Tibetan Literature | The Masnavi
13 December: Bookforum | Prix Émile Guimet finalists | The Censor's Notebook review
14 December: Prime Minister's Literary Awards | Booker Prize judges announced
15 December: Thomas Pynchon archive | The End of the Century at the End of the World review
16 December: Franz Hessel Prize | Wulf Kirsten (1934-2022)
17 December: Thomas Bernhard archive | Berfrois | Jólabókaflóð | The Memorial Feast for Kökötöy Khan review
18 December: Prix de la Page 111 | Antonín Bajaja (1942-2022) | Literature in ... Zimbabwe | Worst of the year ?
19 December: Nélida Piñon (1937-2022) | Xi Xi (1937-2022) | The Remaking of Sigmund Freud review
20 December: 2022 Chinese translations | The Thorn Puller review

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       2022 Chinese translations

       At Paper Republic Nicky Harman has now published the 2022 Roll Call of Published Translations from Chinese into English. It's good to see so many titles !
       While I do have several of these, embarrassingly only one is under review at the complete review -- and that's the one not even translated from Chinese, Perhat Tursun's The Backstreets.
       I have reviewed three translations from the Chinese this year (so far) -- including one 2022 publication not listed here, Li Yu's play, The Fragrant Companions. (The other two reviewed titles were published in 2021.)

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       The Thorn Puller review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Itō Hiromi's novel The Thorn Puller, just out in English, from Stone Bridge Press.

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       Nélida Piñon (1937-2022)

       Brazilian author Nélida Piñon has passed away; see, for example, the reports at Reuters or El País.
       See also the Agencia Literaria Carmen Balcells author page.
       Several of her works have been translated into English -- get your copy of The Republic of Dreams, for example, at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk

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       Xi Xi (1937-2022)

       Hong Kong author Xi Xi has passed away; see, for example, the South China Morning Post report.
       Zephyr Press have brought out her Not Written Words; see their publicity page, or get your copy at Amazon.com, Bookshop.org or Amazon.co.uk.

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       The Remaking of Sigmund Freud review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Barry N. Malzberg's 1985 novel, The Remaking of Sigmund Freud.

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       Prix de la Page 111

       They've announced the winner of this year's prix de la Page 111, which is, yes, a prize for the best ... page 111 of a French novel published in 2022. I'm not sure they checked the page 111s of every novel published this year (as they claim to), but they did narrow it down to six finalists, with Théo Bourgeron's Ludwig dans le living taking the prize; you can find the winning page if you scroll down on the announcement page.
       Whatever one thinks of the prize, the winning title sounds fascinating -- see the Gallimard/Sygne publicity page, and I really hope some US/UK publishers already have their eyes on this.

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       Antonín Bajaja (1942-2022)

       Czech author Antonín Bajaja has passed away; see, for example, the Idnes.cz report.
       His prize-winning Burying the Season has been published in English by Jantar; see their publicity page.
       See also the Dana Blatná Literary Agency author page and the CzechLit information page.

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       Literature in ... Zimbabwe

       In the Chronicle Stephen Mpofu considers: is: Zimbabwean literature in doldrums ?

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       Worst of the year ?

       At his website Steve Donoghue has been posting his best of the year lists, in a variety of categories -- including Translation and Reprints -- and in some, such as Fiction, he has both a Best of the Year and Worst of the Year top ten.
       Always good to see some worst-lists -- there should be more of these !

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

       Thomas Bernhard archive

       The Austrian National Library has announced the acquisition of Thomas Bernhard's archive -- 30,000 pages of typoscripts and corrected galleys, 15 boxes of correspondence, and some 150 unpublished titles (it's unclear what exactly they mean by titles, but one can hope ...).
       The ORF report reveals the purchase price: €2,100,000. (It's disappointing that the purchase price of these things -- most recently Thomas Pynchon's archive; see my recent mention -- is so often kept secret.)

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       Berfrois

       Yet another online periodical is calling it quits -- Berfrois, online since 2009, has announced they are closing.
       Another significant loss -- but at least the archives will remain accessible.

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       Jólabókaflóð

       In Smithsonian Lauren Oster reports on how Iceland's Christmas Book Flood Is a Force of Nature -- the famous Jólabókaflóð, with 682 titles released this time around.

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       The Memorial Feast for Kökötöy Khan review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of A Kirghiz Epic Poem in the Manas Tradition, a new Penguin Classics edition of Saghïmbay Orozbaq uulu's version of The Memorial Feast for Kökötöy Khan.

       Surprisingly, this is not the first translation from Kirghiz (Kyrgyz) under review at the site.

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

       Franz Hessel Prize

       The Franz Hessel Prize is a French and German literary prize, awarded each year to an author from each country who is too little-known and under-translated in the other -- a neat idea. Previous winners include, on the German side: Esther Kinsky (2015) and Christine Wunnicke (for The Fox and Dr. Shimamura, in 2017), and on the French side: Maylis de Kerangal (2010) and Christine Montalbetti (2015).
       They've now announced this year's winners, and they are Fridolin Schley and Maryline Desbiolles; see, for example, the Deutschlandfunk report.

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       Wulf Kirsten (1934-2022)

       German poet Wulf Kirsten has passed away; see, for example Michael Knoche on Der Elsbeerfreund in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
       He was yet another of Georg Maurer's students at the (East) German Literaturinstitut Johannes R. Becher.

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       Thomas Pynchon archive

       The Huntington has announced that they have acquired the archive of Thomas Pynchon -- "70 linear feet of materials created between the late 1950s and the 2020s -- including typescripts and drafts of each of his novels, handwritten notes, correspondence, and research".
       They also have the archives of authors such as Kingsley Amis, Christopher Isherwood, Charles Bukowski, and Octavia E. Butler.
       No word how much they paid, however.

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       The End of the Century at the End of the World review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of C.K.Stead's 1992 novel, The End of the Century at the End of the World.

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

       Prime Minister's Literary Awards

       They've announced the winners of this year's (Australian) Prime Minister's Literary Awards, awarded in six categories.
       Red Heaven, by Nicolas Rothwell, took the fiction prize; see also the Text publicity page.

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       Booker Prize judges announced

       The 2023 Booker Prize -- the leading English-language novel prize -- is now open for submissions, and they have also announced who is on this year's judging panel: it will be chaired by Esi Edugyan, with Adjoa Andoh, Mary Jean Chan, James Shapiro, and Robert Webb as the other members.
       (Embarrassingly, I have only heard of two of them -- Edugyan and Shapiro.)
       The longlist will be announced in July.

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

       Bookforum

       As widely noted and lamented, Bookforum has announced that it is being shut down; their current issue is the last one; see also, for example, Benjamin Sutton's report in The Art Newspaper.
       Bookforum apparently was part of the package when Penske Media Corporation bought Artforum, but they've wasted no time in ditching it.
       This is very disappointing: there simply aren't that many print review-outlets, much less periodicals entirely devoted to book reviews and coverage left.

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       Prix Émile Guimet finalists

       They've announced the four finalists for this year's prix Émile Guimet, a French prize awarded for the best Asian book; see, for example, the Livres Hebdo report.
       Amon the finalists is Shokoofeh Azar's The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree.

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       The Censor's Notebook review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Liliana Corobca's novel, The Censor's Notebook, recently out in English from Seven Stories Press.

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

       Journal of Tibetan Literature

       In Tricycle Frederick Ranallo-Higgins reports that: "A new interdisciplinary journal transcends genre studies and attempts to build bridges between Tibetan and Western academics", in Redefining Tibetan Literature, introducing the new periodical, the Journal of Tibetan Literature.
       Looks promising.

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       The Masnavi

       At Qantara.de Marian Brehmer reports on the publication of a Complete edition of the Masnavi in German -- the first complete translation in verse of Rumi's classic, by Otto Höschle.
       It's an impressive looking two-volume edition from Chalice Verlag -- see their publicity page.
       Oxford University Press has been bringing out a translation in their Oxford World's Classics-series, in Jawid Mojaddedi's translation, with the fifth volume -- of, presumably, six -- just out; see their publicity page. I'm hoping they bring out a one-volume edition of the complete work when the sixth instalment is finished.

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

       Christian Bobin (1951-2022)

       I missed this a few weeks ago, but French author Christian Bobin has passed away; see for example the mention at his publisher Gallimard.
       Several of his works have been translated into English -- including his Emily Dickinson novel, The Lady in White.

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       Q & A: Geoff Dyer

       In The Yale Review James Surowiecki has a Q & A with Geoff Dyer.
       Among Dyer's observations:

As you get older you come to dread starting a book because you know all the effort that will be involved. So I find it more and more difficult to get started.

       And:

I read reviews in the most pathetic of ways, impatiently scanning for praise ! To be honest, the main effect of reading reviews is to remind myself of what a good and fair critic I am -- or was, since I hardly ever write reviews any more.

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       Q & A: Jenny Bhatt

       At IndiaCurrents Rajesh C.Oza has a Q & A with Jenny Bhatt, the translator of Dhumketu's The Shehnai Virtuoso.

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

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