opinionated commentary on literary matters - from the complete review

       Con-Text

       At Iceland Review Online Kremena Nikolova-Fontaine writes about the exhibit Con-Text: An Ode to Handmade Books:

The exhibition "Con-Text" at the Nordic House brings together 24 artists from Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Denmark, who share a peculiar love of the book form, known as "artist books," where the sculptural and expressive possibilities of the book as a medium are explored to its limits, often without narration.

       A few photos show some of the very cool pieces -- and see more at the official weblog.

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

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       Translated fiction

       At Booktrust's Translated Fiction they have their latest batch of recommended titles up -- very summary reviews, but they do showcase a lot of the new and forthcoming titles in translation to look out for.

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       Girls for Sale review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Kanyasulkam: A Play from Colonial India by Gurajada Apparao, the Telugu classic Girls for Sale (as the unfortunate English title has it ...).

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

       Dan Franklin profile

       In The Observer Susanna Rustin profiles Jonathan Cape-head Dan Franklin: 'I am a tart. I am deeply shallow'.
       Among their current titles: Ian McEwan's Solar and Martin Amis' The Pregnant Widow.
       Interesting to hear that:

Tesco decided to stock The Pregnant Widow and 40,000 copies have been sold so far, a marked improvement on his recent books.

       And somewhat troubling to learn that:

Where once Cape had 20 copy editors, today there is one.

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       Gujarati literature

       AT DNA Kapil Dave reports that 100 Gujarati classics go online, escape oblivion, as:

If you haven’t been able to read all the great works of Gujarati literature because very few are available in print, there is some good news for you. The state government has decided to make the 100 greatest works of Gujarati literature available online, to coincide with Gujarat’s golden jubilee year.

       I haven't found a URL yet, but it's good to see them do this sort of thing. (Yes, Gujarati literature is not easy to find, and there's none under review at the complete review -- yet.)

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

       'Obotunde Ijimere'

       I recently reviewed James Currey's book on The African Writers Series and the Launch of African Literature, Africa Writes Back, and among the few disappointing things about it was the lack of discussion (or even mention) of some of the AWS titles.
       One, in particular, stood out -- largely because I happened to have picked up a copy (used, for $1.00) around the same time: Obotunde Ijimere's The Imprisonment of Obatala and other plays (AWS 18; get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk). This collection of three plays, translated from the Yoruba by Ulli Beier, certainly seems mention-worthy -- and successful: my copy (from 1987) indicates it had been reprinted ten times after its initial publication in 1966.
       Ulli Beier offers an Introduction to the plays, describing the playwright as having (briefly) been a member of Duro Ladipo's theater company (which Beier also worked with) -- and noting that one of these plays is:

an adaptation of Hugo von Hofmanthal's Everyman. The basic theme has been retained, but the play has been rethought entirely in Yoruba.

       (He also notes that it has been: "performed by Ladipo with great success, not only in Nigeria but also in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Belgium.")
       Beier also notes:

While the language is largely based on traditional Yoruba imagery, as is Ladipo's, Ijimere explores new ground in his themes and ideas.

       The plays are quite good, and the language sounds convincingly 'traditional' -- just what one might expect in a translation from the Yoruba.
       The only problem: there was no Obotunde Ijimere. The plays are all apparently entirely Ulli Beier's handiwork (see, for example, Charles R. Larson's Ulli Beier: African Playwright? [only first page freely accessible] in Books Abroad (Summer, 1973)).
       Surprisingly, this does not seem to be particularly widely known -- and was not noted in the later reprints of The Imprisonment of Obatala. Indeed, some commentators -- including Wole Soyinka (see, for example, this piece) -- have continued to treat it as an 'authentic' Yoruba work.
       I have to admit I've been completely stymied in how to approach these plays. While they are obviously not what they are advertised as being, it's hard to consider them completely inauthentic either. The remarkable Beier was certainly immersed in this culture, and his knowledge of it is impressive; while dishonest in not presenting it under his own name, what he does is, on some level, not that different from when a writer comes to the UK or US from some 'foreign' culture and writes in the domestic mode. Yet I still find it harder to approach the material with any objectivity (hence no review, just this weblog-mention).
       What is it about Beier's cultural appropriation that makes it seem so much more disturbing ? (One of the things that unsettles me in particular is that it really is quite convincing -- the choice of Everyman, for example, is odd material to rework, but if there were a 'real' Yoruba Everyman ... well, it might well look exactly like this.)
       So now I'm really disappointed that Currey didn't mention this book's peculiar history in his AWS-survey -- a fascinating story that I'd really like to know more about.

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       03 review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Jean-Christophe Valtat's 03.
       Will this be the (American) summer of Valtat ? After previously not being available in translation, this novella will quickly be followed by the publication of Aurorarama (Melville House; see their publicity page), a very different-sounding work.

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

       Miguel Delibes (1920-2010)

       Miguel Delibes has passed away; see, for example, the report in the Latin American Herald Tribune.
       There are three Delibes-novels under review at the complete review:

• The Hedge
• The Heretic
• The Wars of our Ancestors

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       Oranges are Not the Only Fruit at 25

       In The Times 'Twenty-five years after publishing Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, the author looks back at her startling debut', in Jeanette Winterson: I wanted to use myself as fiction and fact.
       She writes:

Oranges would not be in print across the world, much less read and taught, 25 years later if it were just about me. I never wanted me to be just about me, and maybe that's the point. I wanted, through language and through storytelling, to reach something wider and more important than my own circumstances

       Get your copy of Oranges are Not the Only Fruit at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

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       Syjuco on M'A'LP

       As a winner of the Man 'Asian' Literary Prize, Miguel Syjuco might be well-positioned to weigh in on the 'restructuring' the prize has undergone (see my previous comments).
       I'm looking forward to his book, Ilustrado (pre-order your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk), but his 'editorial' at Publishing Perspectives, Asian Prize Changes Seem Puzzling, But Perhaps For the Better, does not impress.
       He apparently thought about it, and:

After asking around and thinking about the bigger picture, I thanked my stars that I don't have the immediacy of a blog, and admitted that I cannot begin to know the exigencies and challenges of running a major international prize. One can only imagine how involved it must be to read through hundreds of unedited manuscripts from across Asia.

       It seems pretty easy to imagine to me. As to "exigencies and challenges" ...yeah, well, why don't they share more about that. How many manuscripts did they really have to consider ? Relatively few in translation, for one: they only read English versions, so any manuscript already had to go through being translated -- which explains why books by the likes of Jiang Rong and Su Tong, which had already been picked up by one or another English-language publisher, were also previous winners. As to the originally-written-in English stuff: surely the real crap (i.e. the vast majority of writer-submitted manuscripts) was easy to sift out.
       Note that not only are submissions now only permitted by publishers themselves, but each publisher is limited to two submissions -- an incredible limitation, especially given how few English-language publishers there are in the Asian (and how concentrated they are in a few countries -- India, Malaysia, Singapore).
       Syjuco claims:

The MALP previously invigorated us Asian writers, and pulled the attention of Western publishers eastward. With the MALP now accepting only published novels, it stands to invigorate Asian writers, Asian and Western publishers, and readers all over the world.

       How exactly is it to do that ? How will it invigorate (and enrich) any but those that are already getting the published-in-the-West seal of approval ? (Oh, sure, some novel only published by one of the Indian publishers might win, but you have to figure this prize will be dominated by those books published by major US and UK publishers.)
       Syjuco also thinks:

Publishers in Asia now have the opportunity to back the writers and novels they've developed; an effort that fosters the participation, and growth, of writers, editors, book designers, copyeditors, and all the many people involved in the publishing industry. It is hoped that Asian writers can increasingly work with those evolving publishers in their home country, rather than, as I did, circumvent them in favor of the established ones in the West.

       But the prize only truly encourages English-language publishers -- and because they're only allowed to select two titles they will only select those that most fit the international paradigm -- presumably of what's expected of an 'Asian' novel -- rather than the cream of the local (and, often, local-language) crop.
       Syjuco also wonders:

So, what about that untranslated writer in Tagalog? Now the onus is on the individual countries and their publishing industries, but they also have more incentive to partake in this broadening discussion.

       First of all, the untranslated writer was never in the running any way: even in its previous incarnation, the M'A'LP only considered English manuscripts (in the original or translation). But more importantly: does Syjuco believe that this is anywhere near enough incentive ? Surely he's familiar first-hand with the hidebound Filpino publishing industry -- and that's a relative bright spot compared to many of the other countries in the mix.
       Finally, Syjuco claims -- apparently with a straight face:

The strength of the Man Asian Literary Prize has always been its ability to ask important questions and engender lively debate. How do we define Asia? What is Asian writing? Why aren't Asian writers read enough? What are the criteria for quality? What role can the Prize itself play?

       'How do we define Asia ?' The M'A'LP folk -- to my great disgust -- have never (publicly) debated the issue, and have, to date, refused to consider Iran or the Central Asian states (or Syria or Turkey, etc. etc.) Asian, so that hasn't been much of debate. (Let's see if the new rules are finally more inclusive -- given that there are only a handful of works of fiction published in English originally written in Farsi, or in English by Iranians (and, as far as I can tell, barely ever any titles that could be eligible by authors from the Central Asian states) it wouldn't be much of a risk for them.)
       The M'A'LP had the opportunity to be a prize to foster Asian talents; now it will find it difficult to present itself as anything but an official endorser of Western publishers' ideas of what 'Asian' means (because it is the books published by the UK and US houses that will completely dominate this prize). Unless the final 'restructured' eligibility requirements are far more open (at the very least, anything published in English over the designated time-span must be eligible -- i.e. publishers should not be limited to two submissions (and preferably publishers should have nothing whatsoever to do with the submission process).)
       The requirement the original prize had, that all manuscripts had to be submitted in English, was already onerous enough; if they want to limit it to published books the least they can do is actually consider any that qualify (there really aren't that many, even with the entire Indian-English output).
       And 'Asian' should finally truly mean Asian .....

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

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       Translating from the ... Arabic

       An interesting report at Arabic Literature (in English) on the third in a series of AUC translator presentations, as:

Journalist and translator Jonathan Wright spoke yesterday at the university’s downtown campus, addressing issues of translation alongside the first author he’d translated, Khaled al-Khamissi. Wright addressed translation in a very different manner from Humphrey Davies, who spoke in the AUC series last month.

       The book under discussion was al-Khamissi's Taxi

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       Change review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Mo Yan's Change.

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       Prizes: Independent Foreign Fiction Prize longlist

       Nice to see: no sooner is one translated fiction award handed out -- the Best Translated Book Award; see my mention -- than the next one gets rolling: in Reading all over the world: The long-list for this year's Independent Foreign Fiction Prize spans the globe Boyd Tonkin introduces this year's longlist.
       Five of the titles are under review at the complete review:

• Brodeck's Report by Philippe Claudel
• The Dark Side of Love by Rafik Schami
• The Housekeeper and the Professor by Ogawa Yoko
• The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell
• The Madman of Freedom Square by Hassan Blasim

       And I should get to a handful of others from this list -- quite a contrast to the BTBA long- and shortlists.
       Interestingly (and disappointingly) Tonkin notes that: "Entries for this year's Independent Foreign Fiction Prize shrank by more than a quarter"; unfortunately, he does not explain how an 'entry' occurs (does a publisher have to submit it ? or is it like the BTBA: anything that's out there is considered ?).

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       Prizes: National Book Critics Circle Award winners

       The National Book Critics Circle Award winners have been announced -- though not at the official site, last I checked (sigh).
       See, instead, for example, Motoko Rich's report.
       The only title covered at the complete review is the fiction winner, Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall.

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       Prizes: Commonwealth Writers' Prize regional winners

       They've apparently announced the regional winners of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize -- though not yet at the official site, last I checked. (And I just have to ask: why even bother with a website if you can't get the information up there as soon as it is available ? That goes for the NBCC -- see the previous story -- too.)
       The Toronto Star seems to have most of the winners covered .....

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

       Best Translated Book Award winners

       The Best Translated Book Awards were announced yesterday.
       Genya Turovskaya and Stephanie Sandler's translation of Elena Fanailova's The Russian Version won the poetry category; see the Ugly Duckling Presse publicity page, or get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.
       The fiction winner was Dalya Bilu's translation of Gail Hareven's The Confessions of Noa Weber; see my review.

       See also my interview with Jeff VanderMeer about the BTBAs and translation at Omnivoracious.

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       Translation in ... Germany

       In The Local Kristen Allen wonders whether this is The worst of times for literary translators in Germany? as:

In the wake of the worst recession since World War II, the German Foreign Ministry has decided to cut funding to international literary projects. Advocates say it imperils the already threadbare livelihood of translators across the country.

The ministry’s cultural budget for 2010 -- which mainly goes to large programmes such as the Goethe Institute and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) -- has been reduced by a modest €3 million to €723 million.

But a large chunk of these cuts affect the relatively sparse funding for literature projects, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman told The Local this week.

       Troubling news.

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

       Best Translated Book Award ceremony

       The winner of the Best Translated Book Award will be announced tonight at 19:00 at Idlewild Books in New York.
       As you'll recall, the shortlisted titles are:
       [Highlighted titles are under review at the complete review]

• Anonymous Celebrity by Ignácio de Loyola Brandão
• The Confessions of Noa Weber by Gail Hareven
• The Discoverer by Jan Kjærstad
• Ghosts by César Aira
• Memories of the Future by Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky
• Rex by José Manuel Prieto
• The Tanners by Robert Walser
• The Twin by Gerbrand Bakker
• The Weather Fifteen Years Ago by Wolf Haas
• Wonder by Hugo Claus

       A lot of worthy books on that list .....

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       Writing in English in ... Hong Kong

       At CNNGo Christopher DeWolf writes on The evolution of English literature in Hong Kong -- and suggests that:

With no literary tradition to draw from, it's possible that local English writing could evolve into something a bit like the 1980s New Wave of Hong Kong film, which mixed social commentary with accessible genre stories and a gritty, urban aesthetic.

       Well, yeah, it's possible .....

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       Publishing in ... Botswana

       Botswanan author Andrew Sesinyi has launched two books, and the articles about it -- Monkagedi Gaotlhobogwe's Andrew Sesinyi launches books at Mmegi Online, and Carol Kgafela's Literary Passion in The Botswana Gazette -- provide a bit of insight into writing and publishing in Africa, in a largely overlooked corner of the continent.

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       Memory review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Donald E. Westlake's Memory, a novel he wrote in the 1960s but was dissuaded from publishing because it was considered 'too literary' and is now being published for the first time posthumously by Hard Case Crime.
       Hard Case Crime put out a lot of enjoyable books -- see the reviews of the ones under review at the complete review -- and by many prominent authors, but this one is in a class of it's own. Not strictly a crime/mystery novel -- I'd call it an existential noir -- it's an impressive writing performance and an impressive book.

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       Library of Arabic Literature

       It offers only very limited information, but Prerana Swami's report NYUAD decodes Arabic texts does deliver some exciting news:

But with a grant from NYU's Abu Dhabi Institute, NYUAD Institute faculty director Philip Kennedy hopes to broaden knowledge of classical and medieval literature among both scholars and amateurs.

       How ?

Kennedy's project, the Library of Arabic Literature, will feature a vast, growing collection of Arabic texts in translation. The translations will feature side-by-side scripts of modern Arabic and English on facing pages.

Because the language of classic Arabic literature is often archaic and technical, Kennedy said the translations will help native Arabic speakers as well.

Each text will be edited by experts in pre-modern Arabic in Abu Dhabi and New York. To ensure that nothing is lost in translation, multiple meetings will be held to ensure the texts in both languages are accurate and little is lost.

       Sounds very promising indeed.

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       Max Havelaar at 150

       At The New York Times' In Transit weblog Joel Weickgenant reports on A Dutch Novel Celebrated at 150 -- the book in question being Multatuli's classic, Max Havelaar.
       Interestingly:

Perhaps most importantly, a new Dutch translation of the work, by Gijsbert Van Es, is on bookshelves, intended to bridge the gap between the 19th-century language used in the original publishing and the Dutch youth of today.

       And a new English translation ... ?
       Also:

More accessible to those of us without a grounding in Dutch literature is an exhibition devoted to the novel at the University of Amsterdam’s Bijzondere Collecties special collection (129 Oude Turfmarkt). It runs through May 16.

       (Aside: how hard would it have been for them to include that exhibition-link in the post ?)

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       D.F.Wallace Archive acquired by Harry Ransom Center

       As their press release states, David Foster Wallace Archive Acquired by Harry Ransom Center, as:

The Harry Ransom Center, a humanities research library and museum at The University of Texas at Austin, has acquired the archive of writer David Foster Wallace.

       See also Joe Gross' Austin American Statesman report, UT gets papers of 'Infinite Jest' author.
       Outrageously:

In early 2009, Wallace's estate approached the Ransom Center, which acquired the material in December. Officials declined to discuss the mechanics of the deal or the purchase price.

       And I'm not really sure that:

Scholars and fans will get a special kick out of seeing Wallace's juvenilia, including poems and a collection of letters that he wrote to his teacher in elementary school.

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       The Collaborators review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Pierre Siniac's The Collaborators.
       Dalkey Archive Press is bringing this out, and while not a real stretch for them (it has a lot of the elements they go for) isn't their usual fare -- and, indeed, it's a bit surprising some mystery-imprint didn't take this on earlier (it came out in France in 1997). But then it's surprising that nobody has translated any of Siniac's works previously .....
       Worth noting: here's a (very rare) case of the title of the English translation being markedly superior to the original French title.
       (Also: I was impressed that when I got the Amazon-link, the Amazon.com 'sales rank' for this title was 8,723,826 -- one of the lowest I've ever come across (but it won't stay at that for long).)

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       Aflame woes

       For a couple of years now Aflame Books -- the name comes from the geographic areas they focus on, 'Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East' -- has done a pretty solid job of fulfilling their mission:

to provide you with the finest English translations of literature from across the world hitherto hidden by barriers of culture and language.

       I've been a fan since they started (indeed, two of their first titles were books I had already reviewed, before they were available in English), and there are quite a few Aflame titles under review at the complete review.
       Unfortunately, co-founder Richard Bartlett now writes in an e-mail:

But it is a savage marketplace in which ideals are evanescent in the face of concrete costs. While our mission has been well received, lauded even, by many like-minded people, our struggle to sell books in order to pay our way has never been as successful as we had hoped.

The impact of the recession has brought Aflame to a critical point, and we face a difficult choice. Our limited cash flow has made it all but impossible to continue as we have so far.

       Disappointingly:

We have been denied bank financing and have received virtually no financial support from the British arts establishment. We have welcomed and been thankful for monies granted by overseas governments to support translation, but this has only ever had a small impact on the costs of keeping Aflame afloat.

In short, without an injection of further resources, we have reached the stage at which we cannot ensure Aflame's continued survival.

We are now forced to take desperate measures in light of the circumstances in which we find ourselves. To limit any further drain on our dwindling resources, we must put a halt to all new titles, including those already scheduled for 2010 but not yet produced and printed.

       And:

We shall not be taking on new titles and will not be planning a frontlist until our future become more certain.

Aflame remains committed to settling its debts and is not going out of business. We have a healthy backlist and will continue to make these titles available as far as is possible.

       One hopes that they can find both the capital injection and the greater turnover that would make life (i.e. publishing) easier again. Certainly, I'd suggest you check out their catalog and see if there are any titles that tempt you (and quite a few should).

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       Man 'Asian' Literary Prize: restructured

       In The Standard (Hong Kong) Nury Vittachi (who has his own history with this prize) writes: Heard the one about vanishing literary prize? It's a mystery -- as, apparently, for a while there it looked like the Man 'Asian' Literary Prize had been wiped from the map (and Internet).
       It turns out that it hasn't gone (or been taken) away. Indeed, now it's back -- bigger and badder than ever.
       The Man 'Asian' Literary Prize, you'll recall, was, for the past few years, a prize for an: "Asian novel unpublished in English" (whereby their definition of 'Asian' was so arbitrary that the use of it in the prize-name was inappropriate and outright misleading (and which is also the reason why I only refer to it as the "Man 'Asian' Literary Prize" -- and will continue to do so until fiction originally written in Arabic (by Asian authors), Persian, Turkish, the languages of the Central Asian stans, etc. etc. is also prize-eligible (as it has not been to date)).
       Now, however, they've 'restructured' the prize. Boy, have they restructured it .....
       Their preliminary announcement doesn't provide much information (including whether or not it will finally be a truly Asian prize, or remain an 'Asian' one ...), but does indicate some of the major changes.
       The most significant of these is that the prize that used to be for an "Asian novel unpublished in English" will now be awarded: "for a novel written by a citizen of an Asian country and first published in English in 2010". I.e. they've practically turned the whole thing on its head: where the ostensible purpose of the prize was always to introduce new 'Asian' writers to English-reading audiences, now they're only interested in the stuff that's already been taken on by English-language publishers. Don't expect too many shortlisted works from Burma/Myanmar, Thailand, Viet Nam, etc. etc. from now on. On the other hand: expect a surge of titles translated from the regional Indian languages, since many of these do get translated into English -- albeit generally only in India-only editions. And expect a surge of even more titles originally written in English -- more likely to have already been published in the author's home country, if that country is India, Malaysia, Singapore, etc.
       The M'A'LP-folk also try to make this prize more eye-catching (i.e. media-attention-grabbing) the only way they know how: by increasing the money on offer, trebling the award from US$10,000 to US$30,000. But, to prove how little translation matters (and is wanted: it's clear they prefer the books to be written in English) they didn't even double the money a translator would get if the winning title is a translation: it was US$3,000 and is now US$5,000. (Edith Grossman had it right, about translators getting no respect .....)
       Finally -- and this is the change that I find most irritating -- whereas in previous years works had to be "submitted by the author or the current holder of the rights to the English language version" they have now taken the UK Man Booker-approach, with submissions only permitted by publishers -- and, just like the UK Man Booker: "Each publisher may enter up to two eligible books", and no more. (The M'A'LP at this point doesn't even seem to allow for called-in titles (as the proper Man Booker at least permits); presumably the finalized eligibility rules will make some allowance for something of this sort.) It's ridiculous (though given how few complain about the Man Booker taking this approach they presumably don't have to worry about much criticism on this one point) !

       I was going to mention how these changes made the M'A'LP just another prize in a crowded field, mentioning the Pacific Rim Kiriyama Prize as one with which there would be considerable overlap -- only to learn from the Kiriyama site that:

At the present time the Kiriyama Prize is being restructured. While this process is under way, publishers are kindly asked not to submit further entries. When a new time line and new rules are in place, entries will once again be welcome.

       No prize was awarded in 2009, so they don't seem to be rushing to figure things out .....
       Whatever they do, I hope they maintain their policy of revealing all submitted titles -- an openness that should be required of all literary prizes, and which I always admired greatly. (Secrecy about who is even in the running for the prize is yet another hallmark of the proper Man Booker -- and yet another reason why it can't be taken very seriously.)

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       The Hindu Literary Review

       The March issue of The Hindu's Literary Review is now available online.
       Among the interesting pieces: G.N.Devy finds 'Increased literacy levels and technology have ensured the democratisation of contemporary Indian literature', in Age of participation.
       One particularly interesting observation:

Inter-lingual translation among Indian languages was a highly active genre for dissemination of the works of literary giants during the first half of the century. The translation from one language to another Indian language has taken a back seat. However, Hindi, Malayalam and Gujarati continue to translate practically every major Indian author. There has been a significant rise in the activity of translating from Indian languages to English, providing a global readership to Indian language writers.

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       Reading in English in India

       Widely and uncritically noted, I didn't even bother linking to Jason Burke's Mills and Boon answer call of India's new middle class for English novels and the absurd claim that 'Publishers predict India will become the world's biggest market for books in the English language within a decade'.
       Elsewhere in the article we learn:

"At the moment the market is probably about 5 million people," said Anantha Padmanabhan, Penguin's director of sales in India. "That is set to increase dramatically."

       From five million -- continental (i.e. non-English-speaking) Europe probably has that several times over -- to 'the world's biggest market for books in the English language' ?
       In a decade ?
       Get real.
       Nevertheless, things are moving -- s l o w l y -- in that direction. One sign: as reported in this week's Bibliofile-column in Outlook India:

William Dalrymple's Nine Lives has achieved a minor miracle: it sold more copies in India (35,000 in 3 months) than in the UK.

       Subtitled In Search of the Sacred in Modern India -- and given Dalrymple's prominence in India -- it's not that great a surprise. Nevertheless, it is an impressive and noteworthy accomplishment.
       (Get your copy of Nine Lives at Amazon.co.uk, or pre-order it from Amazon.com.)

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

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       Edith Grossman on translation

       Edith Grossman's Why Translation Matters has been getting some attention (see, for example, Bookslut-Jessa Crispin's review in The Smart Set), and now Peter Terzian has a Q & A with The other author of 'Don Quixote' in the Boston Globe.
       Among the answers:

IDEAS: If you were to write your own prescription for the publishing industry, what would it be?

GROSSMAN: Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin have a song called "R-E-S-P-E-C-T." Bring a little respect to the dealings with translators. That has to do not only with recognizing translators as artists and writers in their own right but with not paying them peon's wages, not arguing about giving them credit on the jacket, with citing their names in advertisements and so forth.

       I have never really understood the whole hang-up about respect (although I have to admit I probably enjoy way more of it than is my due), but other than making translators feel better about themselves I'm not sure what this would accomplish. Well, more money would certainly be welcome -- and I do think the publishers are misguided in not spending more on translation (though by that I mean also marketing, etc.) -- but is this really the fundamental problem with publishing translations ?
       (Mind you, I did think (and mentioned) that it is ridiculous and offensive that the US publishers felt compelled to hide the name of the translator of Paolo Giordano's 'international bestseller', The Solitude of Prime Numbers, so well that it is almost impossible to find (and only mentioned once in the entire book-package).)
       See also the Yale University Press publicity page for Why Translation Matters, or get your copy from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk. And note that I haven't gotten a copy yet: after three entreaties (the first several months ago -- I've been looking forward to this book for a while) -- and my numerous mentions of the book, on Twitter and here -- it looks like a copy might finally be coming my way. While not strictly a translation, I would have thought that getting a copy into my receptive hands might have been something a publisher would have thought to do (hmmm, looks like that respect thing doesn't extend quite as far as I've deluded myself into thinking ...) .....

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

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       The End of Wall Street review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Roger Lowenstein's The End of Wall Street.
       (This is a perfectly fine book -- a readable account of the recent financial crisis -- but was also the most pointless book I've completed in ages. Yes, it's decently packaged and well-ordered, but basically it's just what we've been reading about in newspapers, magazines, and online for the past two years. Back to fiction ! (Though actually I am also tackling Richard Posner's new book, The Crisis of Capitalist Democracy, shortly -- see also the Harvard University Press publicity page, or pre-order your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk -- but, of course, that's Posner, and I'll cover pretty much anything he writes .....) )

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

       Solar rising

       A few reviews of Ian McEwan's Solar have appeared over the past few weeks -- see also mine, with links to the rest -- but with the upcoming UK (closely followed by the US) publication the heavier hitters are beginning to weigh in.
       The Financial Times has William Sutcliffe write at length -- in a review that says remarkably little about the book itself, but talks a whole lot about McEwan and his career. But Sutcliffe does opine that it's: "a stunningly accomplished work" ... leaving me quite stunned. (Of course, I never really got Sutcliffe's work, either; three of his novels are under review at the complete review -- see, for example, The Love Hexagon.)
       Then in the Sunday Times Peter Kemp can barely contain his enthusiasm either -- "Solar is a stellar performance".
       I don't see it, but what do I know ? These early raves will certainly help propel the book to a good start.
       (And, of course, there's also the obligatory McEwan profile-of-the-week: this time Nicholas Wroe does the honors in The Guardian, in Ian McEwan: 'It's good to get your hands dirty a bit'.)

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

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       'In Translation' at PEN

       The PEN American Center has a nice In Translation feature, with quite a few excerpts from new and forthcoming translations, as well as a few conversations and other odds and ends. A good sampler.

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

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       Lorin Stein named new editor of The Paris Review

       FSG editor Lorin Stein has been named the new editor of The Paris Review; see their official press release.
       Stein has done some translating -- notably Grégoire Bouillier's The Mystery Guest -- so I assume he'll be quite receptive to foreign fiction and authors. Though in fact The Paris Review has always been pretty good in that regard.

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

       HHhH takes prix Goncourt du premier roman

       Laurent Binet's Reinhard Heydrich-novel, HHhH (get your copy at Amazon.fr), has taken the prestigious French first-novel award, the prix Goncourt du premier roman; see, for example, the (French) report at L'Express. (The title comes from the expression "Himmlers Hirn heisst Heydrich" ('Heydrich is Himmler's brain').)
       Note that there have been (press agency) reports about this prize in any number of languages (including Russian) -- but not English. Pathetic.

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

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       Festival Neue Literatur

       The first annual Festival Neue Literatur -- 'New Literature from Austria, Germany, Switzerland' -- is being held in New York 7 and 8 March. Looks like it's worth a look.

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

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       Writing in ... Uganda

       In The Observer (Uganda) Diana Nabiruma reports that Writers in drive to groom literature talent, as the African Writers’ Trust (AWT) is trying to foster more writing by Africans.
       Some of the claims are ... worrying:

According to renowned writer Goretti Kyomuhendo, director of this Trust established in 2009, books published in Africa rarely find their way outside the continent.

She tells of a story of an author who published his book in Nigeria and was blocked from having it stocked by a bookstore in the US because the book looked like it was infested with viruses. Meanwhile, books published out of Africa are usually too expensive.

       (See also the complete review review of Kyomuhendo's Waiting.)

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

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       Terézia Mora picks up Chamisso Prize

       They announced that she'd won this a couple of months ago, but now Terézia Mora had finally picked up the Robert Bosch Stiftung’s 2010 Adelbert von Chamisso Prize -- awarded to: "honor outstanding literary achievements written in German by authors who are non-native German speakers or whose cultural heritage is not German"; see, for example, the DeutscheWelle report.

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

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       Self-Portrait Abroad review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Jean-Philippe Toussaint's Self-Portrait Abroad.

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

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