opinionated commentary on literary matters - from the complete review

The Literary Saloon Archive

21 - 31 March 2024

21 March: Q & As: Marilynne Robinson - Maya Arad | The Long Form review
22 March: Preise der Leipziger Buchmesse | NBCC Awards | Dylan Thomas Prize shortlist
23 March: Alek Popov (1966-2024) | Martinus Nijhoff Vertaalprijs | Manga Arabia
24 March: Michael Ondaatje profile | Arno Schmidt exhibit | 50 years of Stephen King
25 March: Point Zero review | Salome in Graz epigraph
26 March: Marjorie Perloff (1931-2024) | New Swedish Book Review
27 March: Dublin Literary Award shortlist | Joyce Carol Oates Prize finalists | Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards
28 March: Shortlists: James Tait Black Prizes - Women's Prize for Non-Fiction | Lu Xun reviews
29 March: Small Press Distribution closes | Liu Cixin profile | A Revolver to Carry at Night review
30 March: PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grants | Premio Mondello | Prix Lorientales pre-finalists | Miquel de Palol Q & A
31 March: New Latin American Literature Today | Salome popularity

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       New Latin American Literature Today

       The March issue of Latin American Literature Today is now available, with Alejandro Zambra as the featured author and an Elisa Lerner-dossier, among much else -- including an extensive book review section.

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

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       Salome popularity

       So the title of my novel, Salome in Graz, refers to the 1906 production of the Richard Strauss opera.
       The opera was a big hit back in the day -- but what about today ? The invaluable Operabase has the latest statistics -- and in the past decade it ranks 37th among all operas, with a total of 720 productions.
       The trend, however, does not appear positive: the last year it ranked in the top 50 seems to have been in the 2020/21 season.
       Interesting to see the variation by country -- as it doesn't rank in the top 50 for the 2015-2025 period in France, Italy, UK, Russia, Spain, or Poland. Basically, it still does best in the German-speaking countries:

• Austria - rank: 21 (62 productions)
• Germany - rank: 26 (221 productions)
• US - rank: 30 (89 productions)
• Switzerland - rank 38 (17 productions))

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

       PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grants

       PEN America has announced this year's batch of PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grants for translations-in-progress -- ten projects which include translations from Persian, Malayalam, Yiddish, and Kiswahili, among other languages.
       I look forward to seeing some of these.

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

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       Premio Mondello

       They've announced the winner of this year's Premio Letterario Internazionale Mondello -- an author-prize where the winner is selected by a single judge; this year it was Nicola Lagioia who got to pick the winner, and he chose Mircea Cărtărescu.

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       Prix Lorientales pre-finalists

       They've announced the ten 'pré finalistes' for this year's prix Lorientales.
       I love the idea of pre-finalists rather than longlisted titles .....

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

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       Miquel de Palol Q & A

       At The Collidescope George Salis has a Q & A with the The Garden of Seven Twilights-author, in Architect of Existence: A Rare Interview with Miquel de Palol.

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

       Small Press Distribution closes

       Small Press Distribution has announced that it is closing -- a major blow for small and independent publishers in the United States and for the readers of their books; see also Jim Milliot's report in Publishers Weekly.

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

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       Liu Cixin profile

       In The Guardian David Barnett profiles Liu Cixin: ‘I’m often asked – there’s science fiction in China?’, as a TV adaptation of his The Three-Body Problem is now playing on Netflix.
       I'd like to see the hard numbers, but interesting to hear:

But now, the novel has sold more than 3m copies in the English-speaking world, exceeding the total sales of all the literary works exported by China since the founding of the country.

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

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       A Revolver to Carry at Night review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Monika Zgustová's Véra and Vladimir Nabokov-novel, A Revolver to Carry at Night, just about out in English from Other Press.

       On the one hand, I'm always intrigued by fiction featuring real-life figures -- just see all such books under review at the complete review --, on the other hand ..... I do prefer the more creative takes; simple fictionalization of fact -- even where, as here, an author tries to shape it in a particular way -- seems fairly limited and limiting ..... (But it is very popular .....)

       (Among the positives of reviewing such a book: it leads me to web-pages such as the great Dieter E. Zimmer's on Nabokov's Whereabouts .....)

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

       Shortlists: James Tait Black Prizes

       They've announced the shortlists for this year's James Tait Black Prizes -- four titles in the fiction category, and six in the biography category.

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

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       Shortlist: Women's Prize for Non-Fiction

       They've announced the shortlist for this year's Women's Prize for Non-Fiction, with six titles left in the running.
       The winner will be announced 13 June.

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

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       Lu Xun reviews

       The most recent additions to the complete review are my reviews of two works by Lu Xun, published together in one volume not too long ago by Harvard University Press: Wild Grass and Morning Blossoms Gathered at Dusk.
       I really should get to more of his work .....

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

       Dublin Literary Award shortlist

       They've announced the shortlist for this year's €100,000 Dublin Literary Award -- six titles, with one of them a translation, Solenoid, by Mircea Cărtărescu.
       The winner will be announced on 23 May.

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

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       Joyce Carol Oates Prize finalists

       The New Literary Project has announced the finalists for this year's Joyce Carol Oates Prize, a: "$50,000 prize for a mid-career author of fiction". They are: Jamel Brinkley, Patricia Engel, Ben Fountain, Idra Novey, and Bennett Sims.

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

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       Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards

       They've announced the winners of this year's Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards, "the only national juried prize for literature that confronts racism and explores diversity". with Tremor, by Teju Cole, winning the fiction category, and Maxine Hong Kingston winning for lifetime achievement.

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

       Marjorie Perloff (1931-2024)

       Sad to hear that Marjorie Perloff has passed away; see, for example, Andrew Epstein's F*c*book post.

       None of her books are under review at the complete review at this time, but I should be getting to her translation of Ludwig Wittgenstein's Private Notebooks: 1914-1916 (Liveright) and keep meaning to get to her memoir, The Vienna Paradox (New Directions).

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

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       New Swedish Book Review

       The 2024:1 issue of the Swedish Book Review is now available, with a variety of articles and reviews.

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

       Point Zero review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Matsumoto Seicho's 1959 novel, Point Zero, now out in English from Bitter Lemon Press

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

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       Salome in Graz epigraph

       Curious about the epigraph for Salome in Graz -- "Our tale, O our oracle !" -- ? See some observations about that here .....

       [(Updated): Through 29 March 2024 the promotional code BCORPBOOKS10 at checkout gets you 10% off when you purchase the book here.]

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

       Michael Ondaatje profile

       Michael Ondaatje has a new poetry collection out -- A Year of Last Things; see the Alfred A. Knopf publicity page -- and in the Toronto Star Deborah Dundas has a profile of him, A titan of Canadian literature is launching a much-anticipated new book. But his 'greatest achievement'? Being immortalized as a goblin spider.

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

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       Arno Schmidt exhibit

       The German State Textile and Industry Museum in Augsburg opened an exhibit on Der textile Nachlass von Arno und Alice Schmidt -- basically, the clothes of Arno Schmidt and wife Alice -- on Friday; it runs through 13 October. See also Birgit Müller-Bardorff's report in the Augsburger Allgemeine, Stoffsammlung eines Literaten: Arno Schmidt im Textilmuseum.
       Sounds ... interesting ?

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

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       50 years of Stephen King

       At npr they discuss how Stephen King Has Ruled The Horror Genre For 50 Years. But Is It Art ?

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

       Alek Popov (1966-2024)

       Bulgarian author Alek Popov has passed away; see, for example, the Bulgarian News Agency report.
       The only one of his books under review at the complete review is Mission London.

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

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       Martinus Nijhoff Vertaalprijs

       They've announced the winner of this year's Martinus Nijhoff Vertaalprijs -- the leading Dutch career translation-prize, paying out €50,000 -- and it is translator-from-the-Norwegian Paula Stevens.

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

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       Manga Arabia

       I was unfamiliar with Manga Arabia, but it's been around for a couple of years -- and at Arab News Rahaf Jambi now has a report on Literature, Publishing and Translation Commission, Manga Arabia help transform Saudi literature into comic stories.

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

       Preise der Leipziger Buchmesse

       They've announced the three winners of this year's Prizes of the Leipzig Book Fair
       Barbi Marković's Minihorror -- see the Residenz Verlag foreign rights page -- took the fiction prize -- conveniently just after Philip Oltermann profiled her in The Guardian, in Serbian author Barbi Marković: ‘The real horror story is life itself’.
       The translation prize went to Ki-Hyang Lee, for her translation of Bora Chung's Cursed Bunny.

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

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       NBCC Awards

       The (American) National Book Critics Circle have announced their awards for the publishing year 2023, with Lorrie Moore's I Am Homeless if This is Not My Home winning the fiction prize and Maureen Freely's translation of Tezer Özlü's Cold Nights of Childhood winning the Gregg Barrios Book in Translation Prize.

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

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       Dylan Thomas Prize shortlist

       They've announced the shortlist for this year's Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize, which: "recognises exceptional literary talent aged 39 or under, celebrating the international world of fiction in all its forms including poetry, novels, short stories and drama", with four novels, one short story collection and one poetry collection left in the running this year.
       The only title under review at the complete review -- indeed, the only one of these I've seen -- is Biography of X by Catherine Lacey.
       The winner will be announced 16 May.

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

       Q & A: Marilynne Robinson

       The latest of the 'Conversations with Tyler' (Cowen) -- episode 207 -- has Marilynne Robinson on Biblical Interpretation, Calvinist Thought, and Religion in America.
       Among her responses:

COWEN: Yes. Do you play around with large language models at all, and AI ?

ROBINSON: No, no, no. I’m just sneaking past. I feel very fortunate that my lifespan did not incorporate these things so that they became things that I had to actually be adequate with.

       The only Robinson title under review at the complete review is Absence of Mind; I struggle with her religiosity. (I'm afraid I am entirely as secular as I seem to appear.)

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

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       Q & A: Maya Arad

       In the Jewish News of Northern California Andrew Epstein has a Q & A with the The Hebrew Teacher-author
       As they discuss, The Hebrew Teacher is the first of her works to be translated into English, despite her having been a longtime US-resident; I really hope that she's wrong about her first book -- a novel in verse ! -- being unlikely to be translated .....
       And good to see an Aharon Megged shout-out -- one of her: "two all-time favorites"; his The Flying Camel and the Golden Hump is a local favorite.

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

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       The Long Form review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Kate Briggs' The Long Form, out from Fitzcarraldo Editions in the UK and the Dorothy Project in the US.

       In the way it explores the novel-form, this is definitely a book that my character(s) would have included in the (tertiary) Bibliography of my novel, Salome in Graz ! (Roland Barthes' La préparation du roman -- which Briggs translated, and which is from where she takes the title of her novel -- does, of course, feature in that Bibliography.)
       (Briggs has a commented list of Sources and of 'Other Works Informing this Work', which I of course approve of; the Bibliography to my own novel serves a similar purpose.)

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

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