opinionated commentary on literary matters - from the complete review

The Literary Saloon Archive

21 - 31 October 2023

21 October: JCB Prize shortlist | Warwick Prize longlist | Drago Jančar Q & A
22 October: Literature in/from ... Saudi Arabia | Mrs. Caldwell Speaks to Her Son review
23 October: Rushdie on 'If Peace was a Prize' | Hugo Awards | Come Closer review
24 October: Lviv BookForum report | Prix de la Page 111 | Generative writing/reading
25 October: Neustadt Prize | Queen Sofía Prize shortlist
26 October: Prix Goncourt finalists | Her Side of the Story review
27 October: Grand Prix du roman | Prix Renaudot finalists | American book ownership
28 October: Best of the ... year ? | Milan Kundera | Nirmal Varma in Czechoslovakia | Master Incapable review
29 October: New World Literature Today | Jon Fosse profile | ALTA profile
30 October: AI and 'literary research' | The Voyage of Horace Pirouelle review
31 October: Book ban effects | Literature department closure in ... Taiwan

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       Book ban effects

       Via I'm pointed to the recent study that looks at Book Bans in American Libraries: Impact of Politics on Inclusive Content Consumption (warning ! dreaded pdf format !); see also the Heinz College press release.
       Among the results:

book bans increase the circulation of banned books by 12% compared to other books. This effect is persistent in states with bans and states without bans.

       But also:

Finally, in the Red States, Republican Party candidates see significantly more donations following ban events than Democratic Party candidates.

       So maybe it's all about raising more money, rather than actually making sure the books stay unread ?

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

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       Literature department closure in ... Taiwan

       So it's not just an American and British thing: in the Taipei Times Rachel Lin reports that SHU to close its Chinese Literature Department.
       That would be the Department of Chinese Literature at Shih Hsin University, as apparently:

Shih Hsin University (SHU) yesterday announced it would close its Chinese Literature Department in two years’ time, finding it necessary to make the adjustment due to Taiwan’s declining birthrate.

       It's an ... explanation.
       See also the most recent statement (of sorts) from the university (only available in Chinese at this time, apparently).

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

       AI and 'literary research'

       In The Star they report on Nie Zhenzhao and his belief that: "authors should accept AI’s transformative impact on literary theory, accelerate the reconstruction of scientifically-based literary theories, and tackle the challenges that literature currently faces", in AI poised to write the next chapter in literary research.
       He notes that:

Just like a gifted young poet, Xiaoice can understand emotions and convey her insights through poetry even more efficiently than some human poets.

       And:

Subjective emotions do not influence AI’s creativity. It perceives poetry differently, free from personal bias

       Ah, poetry free from 'personal bias' .....
       And, he suggests:

Will Xiaoice replace poets ? Will poets become redundant, and authors too ? We cannot ignore these questions

       Well .....

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

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       The Voyage of Horace Pirouelle review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Philippe Soupault's 1925 novel, The Voyage of Horace Pirouelle -- coming out from Wakefield Press.

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

       New World Literature Today

       The November-December issue of World Literature Today is out now -- the usual interesting material, including a large selection of book reviews.

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

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       Jon Fosse profile

       In The Guardian Chris Power profiles Nobel prize winner Jon Fosse: ‘It took years before I dared to write again’.
       Among the quotes:

of his novel Trilogy winning the Nordic Council’s prize for literature he clarifies, “That’s the most important prize, except for the Nobel, you can get.”

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

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       ALTA profile

       At This is Tuscon Elvia Verdugo profiles the American Literary Translators Association -- "housed within the College of Humanities at the University of Arizona" -- in This translators organization helps bring international books to Tucson and beyond

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

       Best of the ... year ?

       It's October, so of course it's time for ... best of the year lists, and Publishers Weekly has no less than 150, in various categories, in their Best Books of 2023 overview.
       Only one of their top ten is under review at the complete review: Catherine Lacey's Biography of X -- though several others in some of the sub-categories are as well.

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

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       Milan Kundera

       At Eurozine they have an interview with Samuel Abrahám by Adam Reichardt, originally published in New Eastern Europe, Kundera's homecoming -- about Milan Kundera.
       Interesting to hear that:

Milan Uhde, a dissident and close friend of Kundera and Havel, revealed that in 1984 Havel organised a petition among the Czech dissidents to not have the Nobel Prize awarded to Kundera. Uhde wrote that had he had known that the petition was not just to support Jaroslav Seifert – who eventually won the prize – but was an ‘anybody but Kundera’ petition, he wouldn’t have signed it.

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

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       Nirmal Varma in Czechoslovakia

       Via I'm pointed to David Vaughan's Q & A with Ashutosh Bhardwaj at Radio Prague International on A great Indian writer and his forgotten connection to Czechoslovakia -- Nirmal Varma.

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

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       Master Incapable review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of A Medieval Daoist on the Liberation of the Mind, Master Incapable.

       This is one of the first volumes to appear in the new Hsu-Tang Library of Classical Chinese Literature -- bilingual editions from Oxford University Press; they look very good, and I look forward to reviewing more of them.

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

       Grand Prix du roman

       The Académie française has announced the winner of this year's Grand Prix du roman -- the first of the big French prizes to be announced this fall -- and it is Une façon d'aimer, by Dominique Barbéris; see also the Gallimard publicity page.

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

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       Prix Renaudot finalists

       They've announced the finalists for this year's prix Renaudot, the runner-up French literary prize to the Goncourt; see, for example, the Livres Hebdo report.
       Gaspard Kœnig's Humus is the only title that is a finalist for both the Goncourt and the Renaudot.
       The winner will be announced 7 November -- after the winner of the prix Goncourt has been announced.

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

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       American book ownership

       At YouGov David Montgomery reports on their latest survey, determining How many books Americans own -- and how they organize them. (Yes, we're apparently at the stage where we no longer ask whether anyone still reads books, but rather simply whether they own any .....)
       Good to know that 85 per cent of Americans admit to owning at least one book (though I'm really curious about the 6 per cent who answered that they're not sure whether they own any ...). Still, 25 per cent responded that they own a hundred or more books.
       They also ask how Americans organize their collections -- and I am ... impressed ? that one in five responders organize their books by size. Good for all those who opted for the most popular answer: "I don't organize my books".

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

       Prix Goncourt finalists

       They've announced (warning ! dreaded pdf format !) the four finalists for this year's prix Goncourt, the leading French literary prize.
       See also the 2 Seas Agency foreign rights page for Jean-Baptiste Andrea's Veiller sur elle -- 592 pages ! 87,000 copies in print ! rights already sold in the Netherlands and German --; L'Observatoire's publicity page for Gaspard Kœnig' Humus; the Gallimard publicity page for Éric Reinhardt's Sarah, Susanne et l'écrivain; and the P.O.L publicity page for Neige Sinno (which sounds ... dark).
       The winner will be announced 7 November.

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

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       Her Side of the Story review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Alba de Céspedes' 1949 novel, Her Side of the Story -- a new translation coming out shortly, from Astra House, in the US, and next spring, from Pushkin Press, in the UK.

       This was previously translated, in a cut-down-to-size version, as The Best of Husbands in 1952; it's good to see a full translation available.
       The Kirkus Review review of the first translation was ... interesting, summing it up as: "a rather seedy story of emotional deviation" and *helpfully* suggesting:

Actually, to pare the story down to its Freudian essentials, Alessandra, unable to identify with a man, is really an unexpressed homosexual, and her resentment of her virtuous professor-husband expresses the innate resentment of his masculinity -- such as it is.

       There's a bit more to it than that .....

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

       Neustadt Prize

       They've announced the winner of the 2024 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, the leading American international author prize, awarded biennially, and it is Ananda Devi.
       Several of her works have been translated into English; none is under review at the complete review.

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

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       Queen Sofía Prize shortlist

       They've announced the four-title shortlist for this year's Queen Sofía Spanish Institute Translation Prize.
       I haven't seen any of these.

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

       Lviv BookForum report

       In The Guardian Charlotte Higgins reports on this year's Lviv BookForum, in Love, grieving, intimacy and enduring war: what is the role now for books and writers in Ukraine ?

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

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       Prix de la Page 111

       They've announced the winner of this year's prix de la Page 111, the French prize for the best page 111 in a novel published in this year's rentrée littéraire, and it is Kevin Lambert's Que notre joie demeure; see, for example, the Livres Hebdo report.
       See also the 2 Seas Agency information page on the novel.

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

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       Generative writing/reading

       Tyler Cowen has written a new book, GOAT: Who is the Greatest Economist of All Time and Why Does it Matter ? which you can download in various formats here -- but there's more to it than just the text, as he's (begun) to integrate it with AI, such as EconGOAT.
       As they explain:

In line with the book's mission, EconGOAT's purpose is to democratize access to Tyler's knowledge and insights from the book and to bring the content to life in interactive and engaging ways. The AI also enhances the learning experience by providing personalized assistance and expanding on topics by sourcing additional information from a wide array of online resources.

       Obviously, we'll be seeing a lot more of this kind of thing -- soon. And there's certainly a lot of potential here.

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

       Rushdie on 'If Peace was a Prize'

       Salman Rushdie accepted the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade yesterday, and you can watch the entire ceremony here; Daniel Kehlmann's laudatio begins at about the 30:55 mark; Rushdie's speech begins at about the 40:45 mark (adjust the language-settings to 'Originalton' to hear Rushdie in English).
       You can also read both the laudation and Rushdie's speech, 'If Peace was a Prize', via this page (not that they make it too easy, sigh ...).

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

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       Hugo Awards

       They've announced the winners of this year's Hugo Awards, with T. Kingfisher's Nettle & Bone winning for Best Novel; see also the Tor Books publicity page.

       The prizes were announced at WorldCon -- the World Science Fiction Convention -- which is being held in Chengdu this year; see also the Xinhua report, China Focus: WorldCon ushers in more opportunities for Chengdu as "sci-fi incubator".

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

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       Come Closer review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Sara Gran's Come Closer -- recently re-issued by Soho Press in a twentieth anniversary edition.

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

       Literature in/from ... Saudi Arabia

       In The National Saeed Saeed explores Why better stories and translations are needed for Saudi literature to thrive, as:

Abdul Aziz Alsebail, writer and secretary-general of culture award the King Faisal Prize, says a lack of local professionalism and international ignorance surrounding the kingdom’s literary heritage has rendered Saudi authors mute on the world stage.

       I don't know about mute, but it would certainly be great to see more -- and a greater variety of -- Saudi literature in translation.

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

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       Mrs. Caldwell Speaks to Her Son review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Nobel laureate Camilo José Cela's 1953 novel, Mrs. Caldwell Speaks to Her Son.

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

       JCB Prize shortlist

       They've announced the shortlist for this year's JCB Prize for Literature, a leading Indian novel prize.
       Three of the five finalists are translations, from Bengali, Tamil, and Hindi.
       The winner will be announced 17 November.

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

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       Warwick Prize longlist

       They've announced the sixteen title longlist for this year's Warwick Prize for Women in Translation.
       Only two of the titles are under review at the complete review: Nichola Smalley's translation of Amanda Svensson's A System So Magnificent It Is Blinding and Ann Goldstein's translation of Anna de Céspedes' Forbidden Notebook.
       The winner will be announced 23 November.

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

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       Drago Jančar Q & A

       At Deutsche Welle Sabine Kieselbach has a Q & A with the Northern Lights author, in Drago Jancar puts Slovenia on the literary map.

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

previous entries (11 - 20 October 2023)

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