opinionated commentary on literary matters - from the complete review

The Literary Saloon Archive

21 - 31 January 2023

21 January: PEN America Literary Awards longlists | New Asymptote | Masquerade and the Nameless Women review
22 January: Bestselling authors in France in 2022 | Prix Émile Guimet
23 January: Daisy Rockwell Q & A | Most popular used books in Germany
24 January: Transgressive literature | After Sappho review
25 January: Longlists: IPAF - Republic of Consciousness Prize - US/Canada - جایزه ابوالحسن نجفی
26 January: Icelandic Literary Prizes | Publishing lost classics | Svetlana Alexievich Q & A | Prix Sade longlist | Bookselling in ... Egypt | The Revolt of the Animals review
27 January: John Dos Passos Prize | Dylan Thomas Prize longlist
28 January: Writing in ... Iran | 'Book Twitter' | Albertine Translation Prizes | Das Mädchen auf der Lotosblume review
29 January: Japanese books in translation in 2023 | Hindi and Urdu translation Q & A
30 January: Cairo International Book Fair | Ruth Ozeki Q & A
31 January: Dublin Literary Award longlist | Eliot-Hale letters | Dead Lions review

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       Dublin Literary Award longlist

       They've announced the longlist for this year's Dublin Literary Award; see also the list (warning ! dreaded pdf format !) of all the titles.
       This is the well-endowed novel-prize where libraries from around (some of) the world -- 84 this time around -- nominate novels written in or translated into English -- 70 this year, of which 29 are novels in translation.
       Nine of the titles are under review at the complete review:

• The Anomaly by Hervé Le Tellier
• Brisbane by Eugene Vodolazkin
• Case Study by Graeme Macrae Burnet
• Grand Hotel Europa by Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer
• The Morning Star by Karl Ove Knausgaard
• The Sentence by Louise Erdrich
• Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov
• Tomb of Sand by Geetanjali Shree
• Where You Come From by Saša Stanišićby

       The shortlist will be announced on 28 March, and the winner on 25 May.

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

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       Eliot-Hale letters

       They've released The Letters of T.S.Eliot to Emily Hale in a free-to-access digital edition.
       For some background, see Michelle Taylor on The Secret History of T.S.Eliot's Muse in The New Yorker and Insights from the unsealed T.S. Eliot, Emily Hale letters, one year later at the Princeton University Library.

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

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       Dead Lions review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of the second in Mick Herron's now-also-a-TV-series Slough House series, Dead Lions.

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

       Cairo International Book Fair

       The Cairo International Book Fair runs through 6 February, and at ahramonline Dina Ezzat reports about The 54th Cairo International Book Fair: Greater demand for non-fiction among this year's trends.
       Disappointing to hear that:

The domination of fiction during over 20 years, which allowed for many new novelists to make an imprint on the contemporary Egyptian and Arab literature scene, is being challenged.

This year, publishers say there is a growing interest in non-fiction, old and new titles alike.

       But at least numerous fiction titles also get some attention.

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

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       Ruth Ozeki Q & A

       At Scroll.in Sayari Debnath has: "An interview with author Ruth Ozeki about her faith, the important exercise of looking at one’s face, the deep relationship one forms with objects, and more", in ‘I turned my impatience into something useful’: Ruth Ozeki, winner of 2022 Women’s Prize for Fiction..

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

       Japanese books in translation in 2023

       In The Japan Times Iain Maloney offers an overview of Translations and books about Japan for your 2023 reading list.
       Quite a few titles of interest on the horizon, including works by Kawabata, Tanizaki, and Dazai Osamu, as well a "656-page tale spanning a century" by Yu Miri.

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

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       Hindi and Urdu translation Q & A

       At India Blooms "Yatish Kumar, conducted an hour-long lively discussion on translating from Hindi and Urdu to English with Daisy Rockwell, Baran Farooqi and Poonam Saxena", in Kolkata Litfest: A tete-a-tete with eminent translators of Hindi and Urdu literature.

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

       Writing in ... Iran

       At Qantara.de Gerrit Wustmann writes about Iranian literature in times of uprising -- noting that:

Reading books written by Iranian women authors over recent decades, you can plainly see the upheavals and eruptions growing larger and more forceful; you can see how much has been bottled up over time. It was very clear that at some point, all this would light a revolutionary spark.

       See also the Iranian literature under review at the complete review.

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

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       'Book Twitter'

       In Esquire Sophie Vershbow looks Inside Book Twitter's Final(?) Days, wondering whether the exodus of authors after the Elon Musk takeover of the platform will lead to the demise of that community.
       I thought 'BookTok' was where it was at now .....
       (I am on Twitter, and have for the most part found it basically as useful and/or not as before.)

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

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       Albertine Translation Prize

       They've announced the winners of the first Albertine Translation Prize, honoring: "the best contemporary French literature in English translation", selected from the twenty-two works that received Albertine Translation grants.

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

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       Das Mädchen auf der Lotosblume review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of two early unfinished novels by Brigitte Reimann, collected in Das Mädchen auf der Lotosblume.

       Her novel Siblings is coming out in English shortly -- from Penguin Classics in the UK and Transit Books in the US --, the first of her fiction to be translated into English, and I should be getting to it shortly. But of course what I really want to see now is the recently discovered and published Die Denunziantin; see the Aisthesis publicity page.

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

       John Dos Passos Prize

       They've announced that Carolina De Robertis has been named the 2022 winner of the John Dos Passos Prize for Literature, awarded: "to a talented American writer who experiments with form, explores a range of voices and deserves more recognition".

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

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       Dylan Thomas Prize longlist

       They've announced the longlist 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".
       There are twelve titles on the longlist; I haven't seen any of them.
       The shortlist will be announced 23 March, and the winner will be announced on 11 May.

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

       Icelandic Literary Prizes

       They awarded the Icelandic Literary Prizes on Tuesday, with the Icelandic president handing out the awards; see, for example, the Iceland Review report.
       The fiction prize went to Lungu, by Pedro Gunnlaugur Garcia; see also the Bjartur publicity page.

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

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       Publishing lost classics

       In Prospect editor at McNally Editions -- "a paperback line devoted to hidden gems" -- Lucy Scholes writes about how: "There’s a growing band of people digging through library stacks and second-hand bookshops in search of lost classics", in Meet the archive moles.
       It's great to see these publishers and imprints get more attention, from Faber Editions to Boiler House Press' Recovered Books-series and Handheld Press. (And. of course, there are many others -- not least New York Review Classics.)

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

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       Svetlana Alexievich Q & A

       In the Asahi Shimbun Akira Nemoto has a Q & A with the Nobel laureate, in Svetlana Alexievich: Literature can prevent humans from becoming savage beasts

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

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       Prix Sade longlist

       They've announced the longlist of this year's prix Sade -- always an interesting selection; see, for example, the Livres Hebdo report.

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

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       Bookselling in ... Egypt

       At the BBC Yolande Knell and Wael Hussein report that Egyptians offered loans to buy books as inflation soars.
       Among the interesting/disturbing titbits:

With book prices more than doubling, some Egyptian authors say they have cut back on characters and descriptions to be more economical in their writing.

       And:

Some Egyptian novelists have described ways they have stripped back their writing to produce shorter books -- simplifying storylines by introducing fewer minor characters and limiting the amount of description.

       Meanwhile authors also: "complain that more Egyptian readers are now buying counterfeit copies of books of low quality".

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

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       The Revolt of the Animals review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Nobel laureate Władysław Reymont's 1924 novel, The Revolt of the Animals, now also out in English, from Glagoslav

       Reymont isn't among the more widely-read Nobel laureates, but with a new translation of his most famous work, The Peasants, out in a new translation, by Anna Zaranko, from Penguin Classics -- see their publicity page -- he's been getting some more attention recently, and it's good to see this one finally in English as well.

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

       Longlist: IPAF

       They've announced the longlist for this year's International Prize for Arabic Fiction, the leading Arabic-language novel prize.
       Sixteen titles are in the running, selected from 124 submissions

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

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       Longlist: Republic of Consciousness Prize - US/Canada

       The British Republic of Consciousness Prize has been awarded since 2017; now there is a US/Canada version, and they have announced their inaugural longlist -- ten titles from small publishers of literary fiction.
       Several of the longlisted works are translations; none are under review at the complete review yet.

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

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       Longlist: جایزه ابوالحسن نجفی

       They've announced the longlist for this year's Abolhassan Najafi Award, an Iranian award for the best translation of a work into Persian; see, for example, the Tehran Times report.
       Among the nine finalists are translations of Michel Houellebecq's The Map and the Territory and Marina Lewycka's A Short History of Tractors in Ukraine, as well as Nathanael West's The Day of the Locust, Elias Khoury's Gate of the Sun, and Émile Zola's Thérèse Raquin.

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

       Transgressive literature

       In GQ Barry Pierce finds that 'The Shards' is Bret Easton Ellis's tamest book yet. When did literature lose its nerve ? (See also my review of The Shards.)
       Pierce does note that: "Samuel Delany is still fighting the good fight and producing some absolutely insane smut but he has been relegated to essentially self-publishing" -- and wonders:

Is the audience there for transgressive literature now ? Or, to revisit my opening question, can it exist in a culture that seems obsessed with obedience ?

       Times do seem fairly tame -- though the spate of newly-translated Vladimir Sorokin novels surely qualify as good-ol' transgressive fiction.
       (A fair number of transgressive novels are under review at the complete review, from the Marquis de Sade's The 120 Days of Sodom to the Urs Allemann novel Pierce mentions.)

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

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       After Sappho review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Selby Wynn Schwartz's Booker Prize-longlisted novel, After Sappho, now also out -- today ! -- in a US edition, from Liveright.

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

       Daisy Rockwell Q & A

       At The Wire Jey Sushil has a Q & A with Tomb of Sand-translator Daisy Rockwell, in Interview: 'Maybe Some Things Are Lost in Translation but So Much Is Found'.
       Interesting to hear her discuss the differences between translating from Hindi and from Urdu:

It is different and at many levels. It is the same grammar and everything, but I will tell you what’s different though. Hindi is much more experimental and messy.

       (Updated - 25 January 2023): See now also An Interview with Daisy Rockwell by Shree Thaarshini at The Oxonian Review.

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

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       Most popular used books in Germany

       German online seller momox has published their annual list of the most-sold used books (and CDs and DVDs), with six of the seven Harry Potter-novels -- all except the first -- making the top ten.
       Karsten Dusse's Achtsam morden -- see also the Heyne publicity page -- was the most popular title. (This has been translated into a lot of languages but not English.)

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

       Bestselling authors in France in 2022

       Le Figaro has their annual overview of the bestselling (in France) French authors -- sales of all their books in 2022 -- and while the article itself is paywalled, a screenshot at least gives some insight -- and numbers, including the top five:

1. Guillaume Musso (e.g. The Reunion) - 1,383,258 copies sold
2. Joël Dicker (The Enigma of Room 622, etc.) - 998,477
3. Mé́lissa Da Costa - 844, 547
4. Virginie Grimaldi - 819.584
5. Pierre Lemaitre (The Great Swindle, etc.) - 779,517

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

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       Prix Émile Guimet

       They've announced the winner of this year's prix Émile Guimet de littérature asiatique, a French literary prize for a best translated book by an Asian author, and it is Latitudes of Longing, by Shubhangi Swarup; see also the One World publicity page.

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

       PEN America Literary Awards longlists

       PEN America has announced the longlists for this year's Literary Awards.
       Lots of categories, including the PEN Award for Poetry in Translation and the PEN Translation Prize. I have several of these but haven't reviewed any yet; the only longlisted title under review at the complete review is Translating Myself and Others by Jhumpa Lahiri, longlisted for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay.
       The winners will be announced on 2 March.

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

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       New Asymptote

       The January issue of Asymptote is now up.
       The usual large variety of material -- and a lot of it, not least interviews with How I became a Nun-author César Aira and Tomb of Sand-author Geetanjali Shree.

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

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       Masquerade and the Nameless Women review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Mikage Eiji's Masquerade and the Nameless Women.

       This came out from Vertical, who have published a lot of Japanese popular fiction -- always interesting to see.

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

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