opinionated commentary on literary matters - from the complete review

The Literary Saloon Archive

11 - 20 November 2023

11 November: Prix du livre européen | Grand prix de littérature américaine | Translating Virgil into ... Chinese | German literature in ... Pakistan
12 November: National Translation/ALTA Awards | Writers on AI | Writing in ... Africa
13 November: Henri Lopes (1937-2023) | David Ferry (1924-2023)
14 November: Wolfson History Prize | Scotiabank Giller Prize | Cercador Prize | 'Oddest Book Title of the Year' finalists | Lichtspiel review
17 November: (American) National Book Awards | (Australian) Prime Minister's Literary Awards | Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction | Michael Bishop (1945-2023) | Anna Felder (1937-2023) | Thirlwell 'On Literature' | Jerzy Kosinksi
18 November: A.S.Byatt (1936-2023) | 'European literature' | Translations of ... South Korean literature
19 November: JCB Prize for Literature | Paul Auster profile | The Secret Hours review
20 November: Schweizer Buchpreis | South Korean literature in ... China | Pekinger Passion review

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       Schweizer Buchpreis

       After the German, Austrian, and Bavarian Book Prizes, they've now announced (warning ! dreaded pdf format !) the winner of this year's (German-language) Swiss Book Prize, and it is Sich lichtende Nebel by Christian Haller; see also the Luchterhand publicity page.
       (For what it's worth: Haller is eighty years old.)

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

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       South Korean literature in ... China

       In the South China Morning Post Kwak Yeon-soo reports on Why Chinese readers are falling in love with Korean fiction -- books adapted for K-dramas and movies, sci-fi, women’s literature, zombie thrillers.
       So, for example:

According to Ye, the number of books translated from Korean to Chinese and published in China has been increasing over the past three years. In 2021, only nine Korean novels were translated into simplified Chinese; in 2022, the number increased to 24; and in just the first three-quarters of 2023, it had gone up to 37.

       The numbers aren't huge, but that's a quick, big increase.
       And:

Bae notes there were only four or five Chinese publishing houses that sold translated Korean literature before 2019, including Jiangsu Literature and Art Publishing House, Beijing United Publishing, People’s Literature Publishing House and Citic Press Group.

Since 2019, the number expanded as regional publishing houses got in on the action, and now there are about 30-45 publishers that publish Korean books.

       It would, of course, also be interesting to hear how Chinese fiction is faring in South Korea and what the comparable numbers there are .....

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       Pekinger Passion review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Swiss author Jürg Amann's little Kriminalnovelle from 2008, Pekinger Passion.

       This hasn't been translated into English, but it certainly seems worth considering by some US/UK publisher, as a neat little spin on the usual murder-mystery.

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

       JCB Prize for Literature

       They've announced the winner of this year's JCB Prize for Literature, the leading Indian prize for a work of fiction, and it is Fire Bird, by Perumal Murugan, translated by Janani Kannan.
       There is no US or UK edition yet, but see the India Hamish Hamilton publicity page, or get your copy at Flipkart, Amazon.com, Bookshop.org, or Amazon.co.uk.

       This continues the streak of winners being works in translation; the last (and only) time a work written in English won was in 2019.

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       Paul Auster profile

       In The Guardian Nicholas Wroe speaks with the author at some length, in ‘This might be the last thing I ever write’: Paul Auster on cancer, connection and the fallacy of closure.

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

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       The Secret Hours review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Mick Herron's new spy-thriller, The Secret Hours -- a more-or-less standalone (i.e. not part of his Slough House series, though there is a bit of character overlap).
       It's very good.

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       A.S.Byatt (1936-2023)

       British author A.S.Byatt has passed away; see the announcement from her UK publishers, Chatto & Windus/Vintage Books, UK; see also e.g. the obituary at The Guardian by Harriet Harvey Wood; there are of course already countless others, with many more tributes sure to follow.

       I've long admired her work, and quite a bit of it is under review at though complete review (though it's been over a decade since I covered anything of hers):

• Angels and Insects
• Babel Tower
• The Biographer's Tale
• The Children's Book
• The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye
• The Game
• Little Black Book of Stories
• [Possession]
• Ragnarok
• The Shadow of the Sun
• Still Life
• A Whistling Woman

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       'European literature'

       At El País Antonio Monegal finds: 'The narrative of the continent continues to be burdened by the absence of a common strategy in a space of miscegenation with no shared language' in considering Is there a European literature ?
       Among his observations:

There is a lack of a European policy for the development of common institutional platforms, support for culture in the media, promotion of transnational initiatives in the publishing industry and distribution, and even literary awards.

       And, as he points out:

Literature is not only authors and texts in a sort of cumulative chain, as literary history used to be taught, and perhaps still is; but rather a set of practices and the experience of a relationship with and for the readers that depends on a complex network of factors.

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

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       Translations of ... South Korean literature

       In The Korea Times Park Han-sol reports Korean literary gems continue to make waves as translations spark global acclaim.
       Among the points of interest:

The notably growing presence of Korean literature in the global award scene appears to be closely tied to the recent uptick in the translation and publication of the country’s works abroad, according to the Literature Translation Institute of Korea (LTI Korea).

       And:

The organization pointed out that the number of applications for its translation and publication grants for overseas publishers in 2023 reached 281, a more than 20-fold increase since the program’s inception in 2014.

       Of course, the books have to be reasonably good too, but it also shows how much money and government (or similar -- but it's usually government) support matters -- as well as a long-term commitment from funders/support-organizations. And many/most countries and languages aren't in a position (or are unwilling) to do a fraction of what the South Koreans do.

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

       (American) National Book Awards

       The American National Book Foundation has announced the winners of this year's National Book Awards.
       Blackouts, by Justin Torres, won in the fiction category, while Bruna Dantas Lobato's translation of Stênio Gardel's The Words That Remain won the Translated Literature category.

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       (Australian) Prime Minister's Literary Awards

       Creative Australia has announced the winners of this year's Prime Minister's Literary Awards, "the richest literary prize in the nation".
       Jessica Au's many-prizes-winning Cold Enough for Snow racks up another one, winning in the fiction category; prizes were also handed out in five other categories.

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

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       Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction

       They've announced the winner of this year's Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, and it is Fire Weather, by John Vaillant; see also the publicity pages from Sceptre and Alfred A. Knopf.

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

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       Michael Bishop (1945-2023)

       American author Michael Bishop has passed away; see, for example, the obituary at Locus; see also the entry at the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.
       An interesting body of work -- and of course I particularly like The Secret Ascension/Philip K. Dick Is Dead, Alas; get your copy at Amazon.com, Bookshop.org, or Amazon.co.uk

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

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       Anna Felder (1937-2023)

       Italian-writing Swiss author Anna Felder has passed away; see, for example, the SRF obituary.
       She won the highest Swiss author-prize, the Grand Prix Literatur, in 2018, but it does not appear that any of her books have been translated into English.

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

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       Thirlwell 'On Literature'

       Adam Thirlwell has a little piece in ArtReview, Writing Practice: On Literature.
       Perhaps playing to his audience, he writes:

I know that I want so much from this word literature. I want it to do so much work, whereas it mainly seems to do no work at all. It sounds dour and demented in a way that art doesn’t. Art sounds bright and fizzing and susceptible to anything new. Literature doesn’t. Literature sounds reactionary.

       He also suggests: "Make a book a show, in other words. That’s what I want literature to do."

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

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       Jerzy Kosinksi

       Wayne Lawson writes at considerable length about Jerzy Kosinski's Fall From Grace: Investigating a Literary Smear Campaign at Vanity Fair.

       None of Jerzy Kosinksi's work is under review at the complete review, but his work made a great impression on me in my teens, and I've read all his work.

       And any mention of Kosinski gives me an excuse to remind you that the Sunday Times' review of The Devil Tree (24/6/1973) might have made a more convincing case for his strong and meaningful impact if they hadn't gone quite so wrong with the caption to the author photograph accompanying it:



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

       Wolfson History Prize

       They've announced the winner of the £50,000 Wolfson History Prize, and it is Resistance, by Halik Kochanski (subtitled The Underground War in Europe, 1939-1945 in the UK (Penguin) and The Underground War Against Hitler, 1939-1945 in the US (Liveright)).
       Shortlisted authors also made out reasonably well: they each get £5000, making this one of the better-paying runner-up prizes.

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

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       Scotiabank Giller Prize

       They've announced the winner of this year's Scotiabank Giller Prize, a leading Canadian literary prize, and it is Study for Obedience, by Sarah Bernstein (which has also been shortlisted for this year's Booker Prize); see also the publicity pages from Knopf Canada and Granta.
       The winning author gets C$100,000 -- and with each of the shortlisted authors also getting C$10,000, this is another prize that is very generous to runners-up.

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

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       Cercador Prize

       They've announced the winner of the new Cercador Prize, which: "recognizes works of literary translation as selected by a committee of independent booksellers", and it is Zoë Perry'z translation of Ana Paula Maia's Of Cattle and Men; see also the Charco Press publicity page.
       I haven't seen this one yet.

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

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       'Oddest Book Title of the Year' finalists

       At The Bookseller Horace Bent has announced the finalists for this year's 'Oddest Book Title of the Year', and I am not sure what to make of the fact that it's an All-American line-up revealed for this year's Diagram Prize. Academic titles dominate, too.
       Until 1 December you can vote for your favorite here; the winner will be announced 8 December.

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

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       Lichtspiel review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Daniel Kehlmann's new novel, Lichtspiel, based on the life of film director G.W.Pabst.

       This isn't available in English yet but should be fairly soon; it is forthcoming from Alfred A. Knopf in the US and Riverrun in the UK.

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

       Henri Lopes (1937-2023)

       Henri Lopes -- not only a well-known writer from Congo-Brazzaville but for a time its Prime Minister (1973-5), as well as, later, Ambassador to France -- has passed away; see, for example, Kidi Bebey on Mort d’Henri Lopes : retour sur « Tribaliques », livre fondateur de l’écrivain congolais in Le Monde and the africanews report, Henri Lopes, Congolese writer and politician, dies in France.

       None of his work is under review at the complete review, but I have fond recollections of that old readers international edition of The Laughing Cry -- get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk -- and would recommend Tribaliks as well; get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

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

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       David Ferry (1924-2023)

       Poet and translator David Ferry has passed away; see, for example, obituaries in The New York Times and The Washington Post (both presumably paywalled).
       As Clay Risen notes in The New York Times' obituary, after retiring:

He turned initially to translating classical texts, although he did not know Latin or Greek and lacked a grounding in classical writing.

       Of course, he's far from the only translator who didn't let not knowing the language he was translating from stop him. And it sure seems to have worked for him -- he enjoyed considerable success.
       (As longtime readers may have guessed, I've had some ... difficulties with Ferry's translations.)

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

       National Translation/ALTA Awards

       The American Literary Translators Association (ALTA) has announced the winners of several of their translation awards, including the National Translation Awards in Prose and Poetry, with Nguyễn An Lý's translation of Thuận's Chinatown winning the prose category and Robyn Creswell's translation of Iman Mersal's The Threshold winning the poetry category.
       Among other winners they announced was that for the Spain-USA Foundation Translation Award (SUFTA), which went -- well-deserved ! -- to Brendan Riley's translation of Luis Goytisolo's Antagony. Maybe this will help it get a bit more attention and review-coverage.

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

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       Writers on AI

       At The Guardian a number of prominent authors 'consider the threats and thrilling possibilities of artificial intelligence', in ‘It is a beast that needs to be tamed’: leading novelists on how AI could rewrite the future.

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

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       Writing in ... Africa

       Toyin Falola is hosting a panel discussion on 'African Literature and the Digital World' today, and leading up to that he offers a longer overview of African literature in the digital age in the Premium Times Nigeria.

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

       Prix du livre européen

       They've announced the winner of this year's European Book Prize, and it is Robert Menasse's Die Erweiterung, the sequel to his The Capital; see also the Suhrkamp foreign rights page.

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       Grand prix de littérature américaine

       So what do the French think is the best recent American novel ? Well, they've announced the winner of this year's Grand prix de littérature américaine, and it is the French translation of The World and All That It Holds, by Aleksandar Hemon; see also the Livres Hebdo report.

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

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       Translating Virgil into ... Chinese

       At Antigone Wentao Zhai wonders How Would Virgil Speak in Chinese ? in trying to translate from Latin to Chinese; see also some examples from the Aeneid here and here.
       (And what a neat idea/resource Dickinson Classics Online is !)

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

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       German literature in ... Pakistan

       At Deutsche Welle Mohammad Salman reports on Pakistan: How politics spurred interest in German literature.
       Apparently the spur wasn't all that long-lasting:

Stefan Winkler, who succeeded Negwer at Goethe-Institut in Karachi and remained its head until 2020, said there is now a lack of interest in German literature in Pakistan.

       And:

Over the years, and as socialist influences on Pakistani culture dwindled, interest in translating German books into Urdu also declined.

       Disappointing -- both the decline of socialist influence (you always want at least a touch of that in your political/cultural mix) and the interest in translating German books.

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

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