opinionated commentary on literary matters - from the complete review

The Literary Saloon Archive

1 - 10 October 2023

1 October: Prix du Livre européen finalists | Jhumpa Lahiri Q & A
2 October: Nobel Prize in Literature speculation | Khaled Khalifa (1964-2023) | Lydia Davis Q & A | The Babes in the Wood review
3 October: NBA for Translated Literature longlist Q & As | Prix Sade | 2026 Frankfurt Book Fair Guest of Honour | Daniel Slager Q & A | Shiba Ryōtarō profile
4 October: Prix Goncourt short(er) list | (American) National Book Award finalists | 100 best mysteries ? | Translation in ... Iran | The Siren's Lament review
5 October: The Nobel Prize in Literature goes to ... Jon Fosse | 2023 MacArthur Fellows | (Not ?) reading Patrick White | Goldsmiths Prize
6 October: Nobel Prize reactions | Lutz Seiler Q & A
7 October: Wang Wen-hsing (1939-2023) | How much read are the Nobel laureates ? | The Three Fat Men review
8 October: Armed Services Editions exhibit | An Angel Walks Through the Stage review
9 October: Baillie Gifford Prize shortlist | Cortázar stories
10 October: Tata Literature Live! longlists | Byung-Chul Han profile | LitReactor shutting down

go to weblog

return to main archive

       Tata Literature Live! longlists

       They've announced the longlists for this year's Tata Literature Live! Literary Awards in the five categories of fiction and non -- both general and first book versions --, and ... best business book.
       The winners will be announced at the Tata Literature Live! festival, which runs 25 through 29 October.

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

---

       Byung-Chul Han profile

       Via I'm pointed to Joseba Elola's profile of The Crisis of Narration-author, in Byung-Chul Han, the philosopher who lives life backwards: ‘We believe we’re free, but we’re the sexual organs of capital’, at El País.
       (The English edition of The Crisis of Narration is due out in February.)
       I've been meaning to cover more of his work.

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

---

       LitReactor shutting down

       At LitReactor Joshua Chaplinsky has announced that: "come December 31st, we will be shutting our doors. The site will no longer be accessible after that", in LitReactor: The End of An Era.
       It was not primarily a review-site, but over the years a fair number of reviews accumulated there; these will certainly be missed.

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

       Baillie Gifford Prize shortlist

       They've announced the shortlist for this year's Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction -- six titles left over from the original (alas, not revealed) 265 that were considered.
       All six titles have subtitles .....
       The winner will be announced on 16 November.

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

---

       Cortázar stories

       At El País José Pablo Criales reports that Seven unpublished short stories by Julio Cortázar discovered in Uruguay -- which is certainly pretty exciting.
       Apparently:

They are part of an early version of ‘Cronopios and Famas’ by the Argentine author, a decade before the book was published

       Hopefully, the next edition of Cronopios and Famas can include these.
       Also interesting to hear that, according to bookseller and academic Lucio Aquilanti:

People here actually read a lot more Cortázar than Borges. Just look at the sales numbers in local bookstores. I think we kind of admire Borges more than we truly love him, whereas with Cortázar, it’s both admiration and love. You can see Cortázar everywhere -- monuments, graffiti, and even on the T-shirts of young and old people alike.

       I'd love to see those sales numbers .....

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

       Armed Services Editions exhibit

       At the Grolier Club in New York they have an exhibit, The Best-Read Army in the World, focusing on the remarkable Armed Services Editions -- "123 million pocket-sized paperbacks" ! -- that were distributed to American troops during World War II, running from 27 September to 30 December.
       See also the report in Fine Books & Collections, Did the US Have the Best-Read Army in World War II ? and Jennifer Schuessler's report in The New York Times, How the Humble Paperback Helped Win World War II (presumably paywalled).
       And see the Armed Services Editions Collection at the Library of Congress.

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

---

       An Angel Walks Through the Stage review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of a collection of essays by the new Nobel laureate, Jon Fosse, An Angel Walks Through the Stage.

       This can certainly be recommended to anyone interested in reading Fosse.

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

       Wang Wen-hsing (1939-2023)

       Taiwanese author Wang Wen-hsing has passed away; see, for example, the CNA report by Chiu Tzu-yin and Matthew Mazzetta.

       Two of his works are under review at the complete review: his best-known novel, Family Catastrophe as well as Backed against the Sea.

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

---

       How much read are the Nobel laureates ?

       For the past couple of years, every year after the announcement of the Nobel Prize in Literature, the Nobel folks post a poll on twitter, asking 'Have you read anything by the most recent laureate ?'; see the results here.
       It's interesting to see that the three women laureates are all more widely read (by responders to the polls ...) than any of the three men -- but that two of the three polls involving the men attracted (many) more responses than those involving the women (and Ernaux barely elicited more responses than Handke). (The Louise Glück question is, of course, a bit different -- after all, anyone who has picked up an issue of The New Yorker has probably read a poem by Louise Glück.)

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

---

       The Three Fat Men review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Yuri Olesha's 1928 novel, The Three Fat Men: A Fairytale.

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

       Nobel Prize reactions

       Yesterday's post on Jon Fosse being named this year's Nobel Prize in Literature laureate covers the link-basics, but more pieces are sure to follow in the coming days, so I'll post a list here which I'll be updating as they do:

• Jon Fosse, the Nobel Prize, and the Art of What Can't Be Named by Merve Emre at The New Yorker
  
  
• Q & A with Transit Books' Adam and Ashley Levy by Anderson Tepper at The Los Angeles Times
  
  
• Author Jon Fosse wins the Nobel Prize in Literature for 2023 - the press release from Dalkey Archive Press
  
  
• How Nobel Prize-winning author Jon Fosse was found in translation at the the University of Rochester's Rochester Explains
  
  
• Jon Fosse Wins 2023 Nobel Prize in Literature by Sophia Stewart, with some publisher-reactions
  
  
• Jon Fosse's Books Seek and Find the Divine -- "an appraisal" by Randy Boyagoda at The New York Times
  
  
• Jon Fosse's Nobel prize announces his overdue arrival on the global stage by Philip Oltermann at The Guardian
  
  
• Jon Fosse en 20 livres by Léon Cattan at Livres Hebdo

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

---

       Lutz Seiler Q & A

       At New Books in German Alex Roesch has a Q & A with Lutz Seiler: The Literary Voice of Modern Germany, whose novel Star 111 and poetry collection Pitch and Glint are recently out from And Other Stories.

       The only one of his books under review at the complete review is Kruso.

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

       The Nobel Prize in Literature goes to ... Jon Fosse

       They've announced the winner of this year's Nobel Prize in Literature, and it is Jon Fosse. He receives the prize: "for his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable".

       This isn't too unexpected -- he's been talked about as one of the top contenders for several years. (The first time I noted that he was in the Nobel mix was in 2013; he was probably already one of the finalists back then.)
       Several of his works are under review at the complete review:

• Boathouse
• Melancholy
• Melancholia II
• Scenes from a Childhood
• Trilogy
  • Wakefulness
  • Olav's Dreams
  • Weariness

       Dalkey Archive Press have brought out several of his works -- see here -- while Fitzcarraldo Editions have also picked him up and continue their incredible Nobel streak, and Transit Books published his Septology in the US (which I hope to finally get my hands on in full ...); Methuen have published a huge pile of his plays -- they're up to Plays Six ! -- see the full list.
       See also the useful author page at the Winje Agency.

       The useful bio-bibliography shows just how large his output is -- and well worth noting is that he has also translated a great deal (see under 'Other'), including the works of three previous laureates, Handke, Pinter, and Beckett.
       Like Handke (another big translator) and Jelinek among recent laureates, Fosse is also widely considered a major playwright -- but, like Handke and Jelinek, it's his fiction rather than his plays that have gotten much more attention in the US. (Fosse also has a flat in Austria, where he apparently wrote most of Septology .....)

       At the Booker Prize site you can learn What's on my bookshelf: Jon Fosse

       Merve Emre profiled the author in a timely piece at The New Yorker less than a year ago, in Jon Fosse's Search for Peace, while at the Los Angeles review of Books Remo Verdickt and Emiel Roothooft had A Second, Silent Language: A Conversation with Jon Fosse last year. Going back a bit, at Music & Literature Cecilie Seiness had A Conversation with Jon Fosse in 2019.

       At the Literary Hub, there's also Karl Ove Knausgaard on the Writing of Jon Fosse -- published "Just in Time for Nobel Season" (even if that was in 2019 ...).

       At The Paris Review's The Daily Damion Searls wrote, nearly a decade ago, on translating Jon Fosse from Norwegian, in Pure Prose.

       Not sure how helpful this sort of thing is, but for those wondering:

• Where to start ? A guide to Fosse's work. by Joumana Khatib and Tina Jordan at The New York Times
• Where to start with: Jon Fosse by Catherine Taylor at The Guardian

       Most of the overview articles are still pretty limited -- sometimes framed to the local audiences, as with the Playbill report by Meg Masseron, Playwright Jon Fosse Wins Nobel Prize for Literature -- but see, for example:

• With Jon Fosse's Win, the Nobel Prize in Literature Is So Back by Alex Shephard and Mark Krotov at The New Republic's Critical Mass (though I don't agree with the thesis; if anything, Fosse is a choice in almost every respect identical to Handke, minus the politics-on-the-side (and while "the Nobel was awarded to Olga Tokarczuk and Peter Handke" in 2019, it wasn't a shared one; Tokarczuk is the 2018 laureate, Handke the 2019 one)
• Jon Fosse wins the 2023 Nobel prize in literature by Ella Creamer at The Guardian
• Jon Fosse, Norwegian Author, Receives the Nobel Prize in Literature by Alex Marshall and Alexandra Alter at The New York Times
• Jon Fosse: the writer of silence, the AFP report

       For discussion of the prize(-winner), check out the Nobel Prize in Literature 2023 thread at the World Literature Forum.

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

---

       MacArthur Fellows

       They've announced the latest batch of twenty MacArthur Fellows, "Celebrating and inspiring the creative potential of individuals through no-strings-attached fellowships." -- whereby: "Each fellowship comes with a stipend of $800,000 to the recipient, paid out in equal quarterly installments over five years".

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

---

       (Not ?) reading Patrick White

       As longtime readers know, I'm a great fan of the work of Patrick White -- seventeen of his titles are under review at the complete review ! -- so I am of course always pleased to see any coverage of him, even if it is, as now from Reuben Mackey at The Conversation, along the lines of: Patrick White was the first Australian writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature -- 50 years later, is he still being read ?.
       Sigh.
       But Mackey does have a point when he notes that:

Ever since he won the Nobel prize, White has been unable to escape the institutional framing of his work, whether he is being critiqued negatively or positively.

       (I remain kind of baffled that he is considered 'difficult' etc.; certainly his work is not easy, breezy reading, but it strikes me as very accessible.)

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

---

       Goldsmiths Prize

       They've announced the shortlist for this year's Goldsmiths Prize, "awarded to a book that is deemed genuinely novel and which embodies the spirit of invention that characterizes the genre at its best"; see also, for example, Ella Creamer's report in The Guardian, A saint, a sinner and a sprog: Goldsmiths book prize shortlist announced.
       (I have Kate Briggs' The Long Form and look forward to getting to that.)
       The winner will be announced on 8 November.

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

       Prix Goncourt short(er) list

       The Académie Goncourt has announced (warning ! dreaded pdf format !) the short(er) list for the prix Goncourt, whittling down the number of books left in the running to eight.
       There's one more round before they announce the winner, with the finalists to be revealed 25 October.

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

---

       (American) National Book Award finalists

       The National Book Foundation has announced the finalists for this year's National Book Awards -- five titles in each of five categories.
       The only title under review at the complete review is in the Translated Literature category, Sam Taylor's translation of David Diop's Beyond the Door of No Return
       The winners will be announced on 15 November.

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

---

       100 best mysteries ?

       At Time they offer up the latest attempt at: "a definitive list of the English language's 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books of All Time" (whereby 'English language' only means available in English, so there are fortunately many works in translation).
       In explaining How We Chose the 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books of All Time they note that this is yet another of these only-one-book-per-author lists -- and misspell Edgar Allan Poe's (middle) name, sigh .....
       No Simenon, I note -- but certainly a lot of fine titles; many are under review at the complete review; see the index of Mysteries and Thrillers under review.

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

---

       Translation in ... Iran

       In the Tehran Times Mohamadreza Seyedagha speaks with three translators as he looks at Bridging cultures: the art and impact of translation in Iran.

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

---

       The Siren's Lament review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of a trio of Essential Stories by Tanizaki Jun'ichirō, The Siren's Lament, just out from Pushkin Press

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

       NBA for Translated Literature longlist Q & As

       With the finalists for the (American) National Book Awards to be announced today, Words without Borders has begun a series, The National Book Award Interviews -- speaking: "with the longlisted author-translator pairs to find out how each title and its subsequent translation came to be, and ask about the nuances of the translation process" in the National Book Award for Translated Literature category.
       They'll be posting more, so check in later, too.

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

---

       Prix Sade

       They've announced the winner of this year's prix Sade, and it is Gloria, Gloria, by Grégory Le Floch; see, for example, the Livres Hebdo report.
       See also the Christian Bourgois publicity page for Gloria, Gloria.

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

---

       2026 Frankfurt Book Fair Guest of Honour

       Not much more than a month after they announced that the Philippines will be Guest of Honour at the Frankfurter Book Fair 2025 -- see my previous mention -- they have now announced that Czech Republic to be Guest of Honour at Frankfurter Buchmesse 2026.
       Meanwhile, Slovenia is this year's guest of honour, and Italy will be next year's.

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

---

       Daniel Slager Q & A

       At The Tufts Daily Natalie Bricker has a Q & A: Milkweed Editions CEO Daniel Slager on publishing environmental literature.
       Milkweed is certainly worth your attention.

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

---

       Shiba Ryōtarō profile

       At nippon.com Uemura Hiroyuki -- director of the Shiba Ryōtarō Memorial Museum -- has a profile of Shiba Ryōtarō: The Literary Legacy of a Giant of Historical Fiction as his hundredth birthday approaches.

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

       Nobel Prize in Literature speculation

       It's Nobel Prize week, with the Nobel Prize in Literature to be announced on Thursday, 5 October, at 13:00 CEST.
       The Swedish Academy will have already settled on a winner by now, so we just wait for the announcement -- though disappointingly I'm finding it hard to muster much enthusiasm about it; there've been a couple of solid choices since, but that Dylan selection really was (and continues to be) deflating.

       I'm finding fewer betting-sites giving odds -- with Ladbrokes apparently inaccessible in the US (and I'm too lazy to try via VPN), though they seem to be offering odds. NicerOdds usually has the full comparative run-down -- useful for getting the most bang for your betting buck -- but this year so far seem to only list odds from Betsson and Smarkets; I see there are also odds up at BetUS.
       Odds-favorites are most of the usual suspects; if placing bets, note, for example, the big spread on Can Xue (i.e. you'll get a lot more, depending where you place your bet).

       There is some Nobel-discussion going on in the usual places, too -- though I haven't been following it. The World Literature Forum's Nobel Prize in Literature 2023 Speculation thread is definitely the leader of the pack, with more than 2000 posts. The Mookse and the Gripes discussion on 2023 Nobel Prize, meanwhile, hasn't gotten very far -- 22 posts, last I checked .....

       Expect a few more articles -- the usual re-hashing -- in the coming days -- and we can always hope for a leak or scandal erupting before Thursday .....

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

---

       Khaled Khalifa (1964-2023)

       Syrian author Khaled Khalifa has passed away; see, for example, Saeed Saeed's report in The National, Celebrated Syrian novelist Khaled Khalifa dies aged 59.

       Several of his works have been translated into English -- see the Farrar, Straus and Giroux author page -- though none are under review at the complete review.

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

---

       Lydia Davis Q & A

       At The New Yorker Merve Emre has a Q & A with the author, in Why Lydia Davis Loves Misunderstandings.

       Along the way, Emre opines:

Her translation of Madame Bovary is the best English version by far, because its deadpan reminds us that the book is both a great realist novel and a satire of realism.

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

---

       The Babes in the Wood review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of An Inspector Wexford Novel -- the nineteenth, published in 2002,-- by Ruth Rendell, The Babes in the Wood -- one of the more disappointing ones in the generally solid series.

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

       Prix du Livre européen finalists

       They've announced the three finalists for this year's prix du Livre européen, and they include Robert Menasse's sequel to his The Capital -- see the Suhrkamp foreign rights page -- and a Bernhard Schlink novel -- see the Diogenes foreign rights page.
       The prix du Livre européen actually has its own dedicated site -- but, alas, in best (= worst) French-literary-prize fashion, they can't be bothered to keep it up to date, so see the ActuaLitté report on the finalist-announcement.

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

---

       Jhumpa Lahiri Q & A

       At The Observer Geneva Abdul has a Q & A with Jhumpa Lahiri: ‘Translation is an act of radical change’.
       Somewhat disappointing to hear that: "I read very little contemporary fiction, almost none, to be honest" -- though of course I don't manage that much myself, either .....

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

previous entries (21 - 30 September 2023)

archive index

- search the site -

- return to top of the page -

© 2023 the complete review


Main | the New | the Best | the Rest | Review Index | Links