opinionated commentary on literary matters - from the complete review

The Literary Saloon Archive

11 - 20 April

11 April: PEN World Voices | More on new Flashman | Taslima Nasreen in India | Gioia argues Why literature matters
12 April: Bellow out of the running in Man Booker Int'l | Yvonne Vera (1964-2005) | Tayib Salih on Arab literature | Fleshmarket Close review
13 April: Guggenheims | Literature in China | Literature in translation in Viet Nam | Book Sense books of the year
14 April: Impressive sales figures | Korea in Frankfurt | The decibel Writer of the Year award | PEN Montblanc Literary Gala | Happy Days review
15 April: Andalus Publishing | Pamuk interview | VD review | Philip Pullman lecture | Nell Freudenberger (paperback) sighting
16 April: Farah's English | Cloud Atlas genesis | Cult writers ? | Look back at Time of the Writer | PEN World Voices preview
17 April: Irish artists' tax exemption | Penguin India's local plans | Soy un escritor frustrado review
18 April: Roth and Bellow | Orange Prize shortlist | Houellebecq on Lovecraft | PEN World Voices Monday
19 April: Translation forums | Afro-pessimism at Princeton | Foer backlash | English lit. not A-level ? | Campo Santo review | PEN World Voices Tuesday
20 April: Don Quixote in Venezuela | The Village Voice on litblogs | Kuhn vs. Popper review | PEN World Voices Wednesday

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       Don Quixote in Venezuela

       Everybody is making a big deal about it, but this one is bigger than most: Venezuela celebrates Quixote book in high-volume fashion:

The Venezuelan government has printed one million free copies of Don Quixote to mark the book's 400th anniversary.

       They'll be "handed out in public squares this weekend" -- quite an undertaking.
       It's fairly impressive, and a nice tribute to Cervantes, but note that the books aren't, of course, "free": Venezuelan taxpayer's foot the bill, and given the state of that state (current oil-bonanza notwithstanding) one wonders if this is the best use of public funds.

       (We also wonder how many Venezuelans will now venture to 400 Windmills and join in Reading Don Quixote there .....)

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       The Village Voice on litblogs

       In this week's issue of The Village Voice Joy Press writes about literary weblogs (and the The Litblog Co-op, which I (as Literary Saloon-keeper) am also participating in (despite a claim to the contrary that originally appeared in the piece but has now been removed)) in the already much-linked to and commented upon Book Smart.
       A decent overview, focussing on some of the multi-blog efforts like the Co-op -- and I can certainly agree with her conclusion that:

We read the best of the litblogs for the way they sift through the media ether, make interesting juxtapositions, provoke intelligent conversation, and connect lesser-known writers with an eager audience.

       Other remarks have stirred a bit of controversy and ire -- such as those by Bookslut-Jessa Crispin, who is:

not even sure what all the fuss is about. She describes the litblogs as a kind of parasite, feeding off the mainstream media. "They aren't generally about content -- they just link to it. So if something is dominating the print book reviews, that's what the blogs have to work with."

       As others have noted (e.g. Conversational Reading), that's quite an over-simplification. Any lumping together of "literary weblogs" as one medium runs the risk of such generalizations: it seems to us literary weblogs offer far more diversity (in approach and content) than, say, daily newspapers, or broadcast evening news shows. The link-to-the-mainstream-media paradigm is the basic template (and the immensely popular Bookslut-weblog the prime exemplar), but the variations out there (check 'em out) are incredible, with a significant number of weblogs largely foregoing mainstream media links and presenting a wide variety of other material (including original content).
       Maud Newton is also quoted, saying that:

"the Co-op does something like what the media do -— it creates a big push for a book. If their goal is to prove the influence of blogs to publishers, I think they'll succeed -— but it's not a goal I share myself." Instead, she says she prefers the way ideas slowly percolate down to the reader, independent of publishing dates and industry agendas.

       I like to think that the Co-op isn't so much about proving anything to publishers; certainly my concern is entirely with reader-satisfaction (by, through the Co-op, making them aware of worthy titles they might otherwise miss). And surely the success of the enterprise rests entirely with satisfying readers.
       As to Maud's preference for ideas slowly percolating, the Co-op necessarily takes a different approach (and has to rely a bit on publishing dates and the like, though we should be able to avoid most industry agendas) -- but I think many of the weblogs involved very much do do that, and participation in the Co-op won't affect that.
       (Updated - 21 April): in response to the above Maud Newton now helpfully clarifies her position and offers some context for her remarks.)

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

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       Kuhn vs. Popper review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is our review of Steve Fuller's book on The Struggle for the Soul of Science, Kuhn vs. Popper.

       The American (Columbia University Press) edition comes with two blurbs on the back cover. One, by a Jeff Hughes, reads:

Reading Steve Fuller is like reading Umberto Eco on speed.

       First we wonder: does he mean it's like doing speed and then reading Umberto Eco, or like reading something Umberto Eco wrote while he was on speed ?
       Then we wonder why either of these possibilities could in any way be seen as recommending reading Steve Fuller, as neither possibility sounds in the least appealing.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       PEN World Voices Wednesday

       A pretty slow day at the PEN World Voices Festival, but programme-highlights include a conversation between Hanan al-Shaykh and Salman Rushdie at noon.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

       Translation forums

       We mentioned that one of the attractions at the PEN World Voices Festivals were the three forums to be hosted by Words Without Borders, but at the time there was little additional information and no convenient links. These are now available, and we recommend you head right over. The virtual forums are:

• Translation as Americanization with Lawrence Venuti, today
• Censorship and Translation with Esther Allen, Thursday
• Inner Translation with Andre Aciman, Friday

       Post ahead of time or join in when everything gets going -- the Venuti and Allen sound particularly interesting.

       In addition (or preparation) see also Esther Allen's piece Doors, Windows, and the Office of Foreign Assets Control, an account of the ridiculous Office of Foreign Assets Control ruling that prevented translation of material from countries the US has problems with (Iran, Cuba, etc.)

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       Afro-pessimism at Princeton

       In the Daily Princetonian Brett Amelkin reports that 'Things Fall Apart' writer talks on Afro-pessimism, as Chinua Achebe was one of the participants at After Afro-Pessimism: Fashioning African Futures.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       Foer backlash

       Other weblogs have documented the reactions to successful young author Jonathan Safran Foer, who has now published his second novel (and made heaps of money with -- and garnered many reviews for -- it).
       In some cases reactions have been strong, and they appear to be getting stronger. At MobyLives Steve Almond writes about Why Jonathan Safran Foer's ballyhooed new novel is cause for despair, and now Harry Siegel goes even further, arguing in New York Press Why the author of Everything Is Illuminated is a fraud and a hack. Siegel finds: "Foer isn't just a bad author, he's a vile one."
       We're quite fascinated by all the attention -- good and bad -- that he is receiving. He's young (under thirty) and has written just two books -- and they don't sound exceptional enough to really warrant all this attention. But flashy promise -- and, of course, his tackling of "9/11" in the new book -- are apparently enough to get a lot of people excited (or annoyed).
       We'd prefer attention were more spread out (we do our part, generally managing to avoid mentioning him) -- but attention does appear to snowball, and in this case it is certainly careening downhill at great speed.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       English lit. not A-level ?

       In The Independent Richard Garner reports Scrap English Literature A-level, teachers demand. Yes:

English literature should be scrapped as a separate exam at A-level, according to a report by the National Association of Teachers of English.

The report says the subject fails to give youngsters the skills they need to write academic essays. Instead, it concentrates too heavily on studying a small number of texts in detail, and writing about them without developing a broader understanding of current culture. As a result, the subject should be merged with the English language A-level, and include study of the modern media.

       Yeah, why not get rid of all those annoying books altogether ... oh, well Cyril Taylor suggests some reasons in Books for life in The Guardian, noting:

It's clear from this that the most powerful way to close the gap in academic performance between socio-economically disadvantaged and advantaged children is: first, to teach them how to read and, second, to have them read lots of books.

       But it's still pretty worrying to find the study of literature coming under attack from teachers .....

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       Campo Santo review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is our review of W.G.Sebald's Campo Santo.
       At some point we really have to tackle his much-ballyhooed (semi-)fiction. We still don't get this guy.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       PEN World Voices Tuesday

       Highlights of the PEN World Voices programme today include the virtual forum with Lawrence Venuti (mentioned above), and panels on "Writers and Iraq" and "Africa and the World: The Writer’s Role".

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

       Roth and Bellow

       In this week's issue of The New Yorker Philip Roth introduces/offers The words of Saul Bellow. The planned "extensive written interview about his life’s work" didn't quite work out, but at least there's something .....

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       Orange Prize shortlist

       The Orange Prize shortlist has been announced. Well, at the time we write this not yet on the official site, but several newspapers already have the news. (What the hell are official sites for if not to provide this information in a timely fashion ?)
       Unfortunately, but perhaps not surprisingly, much of the focus is on the authors, not the books: the headlines read: Colourful lives of the Orange shortlist novelists (Nigel Reynolds, Daily Telegraph) and Biker chick is literary chic on Orange short list (John Ezard, The Guardian).
       The prize will be announced on 7 June (i.e. that's when the newspapers and wire services will have the news -- who knows when it will appear on the official site). Apparently it's a big deal: apparently (so Nigel Reynolds) it "has established itself just behind the Booker and the Whitbread in the literary pecking order".

       Sidenote: proof again how utterly clueless we are: despite the extensive and unavoidable coverage in the US regarding Lionel Shriver's We Need to Talk About Kevin it never occurred to us that the (now shortlisted) author was a woman (as she apparently is).

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       Houellebecq on Lovecraft

       Michel Houellebecq's book on H.P.Lovecraft isn't even out yet but has been getting a good deal of coverage -- including a very brief review in The New York Times Book Review (who are usually pretty reluctant to offer pre-publication coverage) --, in part, no doubt because it makes sense to look at the book in conjunction with the Library of America edition of Lovecraft that has come out. See, for example, John Banville's Bookforum-piece.
       A longer solo consideration can be found in this week's issue of New York, where Keith Gessen reviews it. He thinks:

Michel Houellebecq is in trouble. His last novel, Platform, was a flop.

       Last we heard, Platform was a big hit in Europe, but Gessen appears to mean that it was an artistic flop (or at least disappointment).
       And he takes a nice shot at Stephen King:

The book (which includes an annoyingly philistine introduction by Stephen King, who appears to think Houellebecq is some sort of French college professor)

       Pre order your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

       (Updated): And now we see from The Elegant Variation's always useful weekly LATBR-thumbnail that the 17 April Los Angeles Times Book Review (not freely accessible online) offers a review of both titles as well -- and that Stephen King reviews the Houellebecq (for which he also wrote the introduction ...).
       (Updated - 19 April): A reader kindly informs us that TEV mischaracterised King's piece in the LATBR: while the thumbnail calls it a review it is described in the LATBR as an essay which "will appear in longer form as the introduction" to the book. We deeply regret the error -- but this wouldn't happen if The Los Angeles Times made their content freely accessible so we could check for ourselves !

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       PEN World Voices Monday

       The PEN World Voices Festival is rolling along nicely: check out Monday's programme.
       Today's highlight: "The Power of the Pen: Does Writing Change Anything ?"

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

       Irish artists' tax exemption

       Since 1969 Ireland has had an artistic tax exemption scheme (now Section 195 Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997) which exempts income earned from the sale of artistic work from income tax under certain (fairly liberally interpreted) circumstances. For decades artists from other nations have also taken advantage of this situation, moving to Ireland (or at least spending enough time there) to qualify -- but, as Maurice Chittenden reports in the Sunday Times Artists could lose their big Irish tax break:

Britons buying a home in the republic and spending less than 90 days a year in Britain can claim an artistic tax exemption. It means they can avoid paying tax on royalties from albums, scripts, books and paintings

The scheme, designed to help struggling Irish writers and poets, costs the Irish state at least £20m a year. Now pressure from the European Union and public opinion has forced Dublin to review it.

       It's not exactly a huge amount -- and it does seem like a good cause -- but the fact that there are some rich pop stars who take the exemption has apparently turned public opinion (and the EU understandably doesn't like these quirky local exceptions).
       The list of those who took the exemption April 1998 - December 2001 (warning ! .doc file !) is available online. Among the writers: lots of Irish ones, but also a couple of continentals -- Michel Houellebecq and Raoul Schrott, for example.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       Penguin India's local plans

       Two weeks ago we were all excited about Penguin India's plans to publish in local languages in India (i.e. not just English). But we should have looked at those plans a bit more closely. As Bibliofile reports in Outlook India about the first batch of non-English titles:

An overwhelming three out of the four titles will be Hindi translations of successful English titles

       Who needs that ? (Yes, yes, it's nice that some of this stuff is available to those who can't read English, but come on .....)
       We thought/hoped/expected they'd be fostering regional literature. Instead it looks like they're swamping it with translations from the English.
       Bibliofile also reports that translations from the English have served regional publishers well -- but shockingly and disappointingly:

Things have come to such a state that regional publishers have stopped hunting for new writers, focusing instead on translating from English.

       And, catastrophically, fiction is not even at the top of their lists.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       Soy un escritor frustrado review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is our review of José Ángel Mañas' Soy un escritor frustrado.
       The narrator is a writer who finds a creative (if hard to imitate) way of overcoming his writer's block, and one of the amusing bits in the 1996 novel is that after the phenomenal success of the main character's first book many publishers are eager to publish his second -- and his editor eventually tells him that he's a shoe-in for the next Premio Planeta (one of the most prestigious Spanish prizes). He's a bit surprised, since he hasn't written a word yet, but, as the editor explains: that's the way it works with Spanish literary prizes.
       It may sound exaggerated, but there's apparently a grain of truth to it: just a few weeks ago Ricardo Piglia, winner of the Argentinian Premio Planeta, 1997, and the organising publisher were ordered to pay author Gustavo Nielsen 10.000 pesos because the prize that year was apparently a far from fair contest (see, for example, this (Spanish) report).
       In an article in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung from a few days ago (no longer fully freely accessible, the bastards) they go into the whole Spanish-language-literary-prize scene and paint a pretty ugly picture. The fact that so many of the prizes are given out by publishing houses -- and for manuscripts, not previously published work (as is, for example, the norm in the UK and the US) --, publishers who have an interest in the success of the winner they then get to publish, makes for messy conflicts.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

       Farah's English

       In The Guardian Mike Phillips reviews Somali-born writer Nuruddin Farah's Links and notes:

On the other side of the coin, the problems of the novel are connected with Farah's use of language. English is apparently his fourth language, and I found myself wishing that he had written Links in one of the first three and got himself a decent translator.

       Ouch.
       A delicate issue, though Farah's situation is an extreme one: Somali has only existed as a written language for just over three decades -- and is not exactly known for it's (written) literary tradition. How many literary translators from the Somali can there be out there ?
       Given the current dominance of English as literary language -- and the near-impossibility of getting literature originally written in other languages translated into English, who can blame Farah for forsaking a bit of quality for the sake of facilitating publication in the English-speaking countries (and using that as a springboard to get published elsewhere) ?
       In The World Republic of Letters Pascale Casanova offers numerous examples of authors who similarly -- often temporarily -- forsook their native languages in order to gain a reputation (or at least some recognition) in the (French) literary world (including such unlikely authors as Strindberg). We can't really blame Farah -- and it's certainly worked for him; as Phillips notes, he's well-regarded far and wide -- but we admit we've always had some problems with his style (which has, in large part, to do with his use of language).

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       Cloud Atlas genesis

       In The Guardian David Mitchell offers some background to the genesis of his novel, Cloud Atlas.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       Cult writers ?

       In The Times Erica Wagner wonders what makes for a cult author, as she introduces a new Rough Guide -- on cult fiction (see the Penguin publicity page or get your copy from Amazon.co.uk).
       At the end of the article there are also a few examples from the book -- including Jerzy Kosinski (?!?).

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       Look back at Time of the Writer

       They held the Time of the Writer festival in South Africa last week, and in the Mail & Guardian Darryl Accone now "shares his views".

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       PEN World Voices preview

       We're sure ... well, we hope, anyway -- that there will be some decent American media coverage of PEN World Voices, which begins today. But until then at least there's a decent (albeit German) preview in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung where Andrea Köhler writes about Die Stimmen der Welt.
       Among the interesting observations:

Umgekehrt ist man -- jedenfalls was die deutschsprachige Literatur betrifft -- immer wieder überrascht, welche Bücher den Weg durch den Publikations-Dschungel finden und welche nicht. Mit Qualität jedenfalls hat dies oft wenig zu tun.

(On the other hand -- at least as far as German-language literature is concerned -- it's always surprising to see which books find their way through the publishing-jungle and which don't. It certainly generally has little to do with quality.)

       Alas: how true.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

       Andalus Publishing

       A profile by Jean-Luc Allouche in Libération makes us aware of Israeli publisher Andalus Publishing, specialising in Hebrew translations of Arabic literature.
       Most of the information in the article is also available (in English) at the site. Among the interesting titbits:

Since the 1930's just over 30 Arabic language fiction titles have been translated into Hebrew, most of them authored by Egyptians and Palestinians (before Andalus Publishing began operating, not a single Syrian, Iraqi, or North African writer was translated to Hebrew from Arabic -- the Moroccan Taher Ben Jaloun was translated from French as were a number of others). Of these, only three are women

       So there's a lot that can be done:

Andalus' goal is to translate a dozen titles each year, representing a variety of styles: classical and modern literature, journalistic and academic research, poetry, plays, satires, theory, and criticism. By so doing, Andalus Publishing hopes to act as a catalyst for other Israeli publishing houses to join in the massive project of making Arabic language books available to the Israeli Hebrew-reading public.

       The Allouche-piece points to some modest early success, such as Elias Khoury's Bab al-Chams with 3000 copies sold, plus another 1500 bought by libraries.

       Additional information can be found in Qantara.de's recent interview (in English) with publisher Yael Lerer. Especially interesting: the discussion of the copyright issues: because the translations are published in Israel, a country which many of the Arab states do not recognise and don't accept any business-dealings with, there are no real author-contracts, Lerer explaining:

At the moment there are no official contracts with the authors; we safeguard their rights for the future.

       After a somewhat rough start -- see, for example, Barbara Plett's BBC piece, Arab writer shuns Hebrew translation, from four years ago -- things seem to be going quite well. Definitely a worthy enterprise -- now let's see an Arabic publisher get started on all that untranslated Hebrew literature .....

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       Pamuk interview

       We previously mentioned (here, for example), that Orhan Pamuk has been getting a good deal of criticism back home in Turkey, mainly because of an interview with a Swiss newspaper in which he acknowledged that quite a few Armenians and Kurds had been killed at the beginning of the twentieth century (an unpopular opinion in Turkey, though pretty much universally accepted as truth outside of it). His fairly political novel, Snow, has also been used to fan the flames.
       That novel just came out in Germany, and though Pamuk withdrew from giving interviews over the past few weeks the pressure (or temptation ?) to appear in the media and spur book sales is apparently too great: this week he gives an extensive interview in Die Zeit. In it Snow and some of the issues raised in it are much-discussed, but not a word lost about the Armenians and the fuss about Pamuk's earlier interview.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       VD review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is our review of Thomas P. Lowry's Venereal Disease and the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       Philip Pullman lecture

       A few articles from the new issue of The Oxonian Review of Books are now available online, including a lecture Philip Pullman gave at the Oxford Women’s Luncheon Club in February, Once upon a time, and what happened next.
       As he explains:

I thought that today I’d tell you a little about one small aspect of this business, this craft, this art. And perhaps it’s the one that people who are interested in telling stories are most concerned about, because it has to do with the fear of the blank page that I know many would-be writers feel. It’s the question of how you begin a story

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       Nell Freudenberger (paperback) sighting

       Nell Freudenberger's Lucky Girls is now out in (a cheaper) paperback in the UK (get your copy at Amazon.co.uk), and so there will be a few newspaper mentions -- like Emma Hagestadt's brief review (scroll down) in The Independent today. (She finds it: "elegantly written but slightly enervating".)

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

       Impressive sales figures

       Börsenblatt report that the Reclam-edition of Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt's Monsieur Ibrahim and the Flowers of the Koran topped 100,000 copies sold last week.
       What's so remarkable about that ?
       It's a French edition, sold by a German publisher exclusively (theoretically, at least) in the German market (get your copy at Amazon.de). Not even a bilingual edition, a French one. (The German edition has apparently sold many more copies, and been high on the bestseller lists for some two years now).
       Reclam publishes several of their cheap, truly pocket-sized books in bilingual and foreign-language editions -- mainly, presumably for the student market. (The bilingual Greek and Latin texts are like those from the Loeb library in the English-speaking world.) But this has obviously crossed over to the general reading public.
       We're impressed.
       We'd be surprised if the American Other Press edition sold anywhere near ten thousand copies -- and that more than a few dozen copies of the original French version have been sold stateside, despite some publicity and a film version that opened (in a few cinemas) about when the book came out in the US. And we can hardly imagine any book not published in English selling 100,000 copies in the US or UK -- other than (maybe) the very occasional Spanish title (but that's because the US has a large Hispanic population that would rather read in Spanish than English).
       The occasional success of an English-language edition of a book -- the Harry Potters have done very well -- in Germany isn't entirely surprising, but a French book ? (Note that 100,000 copies sold of a French title in France already counts as an incredible success .....)
       As we said: we're impressed.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       Korea in Frankfurt

       In The Korea Times Kim Ki-tae reports Korean Books Open New Chapter in Frankfurt, a very good overview of what Korea is doing in preparation for and plans to do at the Frankfurt Book Fair where it will be guest of honour.
       Things seem to be progressing fairly well:

"Despite insufficient funding from publishers and little sponsorship form local conglomerates, we will be able to present fine cultural events during the fair," the committee's general director Hwang Chi-woo said during a recent news conference

       (They also have "a digital composite photo" of the Guest of Honor Hall, an ... interesting design-concept.)

       Not mentioned is that, alas, it appears Korea as guest of honour will mean pretty much only South Korea. It doesn't come as much of a surprise, but Börsenblatt now confirms that North Korea has bailed out and turned down the official invitation. They still hope for some role for North Korea (or at least individual writers), but it's a major disappointment.
       (No official statement or comment at the Book Fair site yet.)

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       The decibel Writer of the Year award

       In The Independent Sarah Shannon writes about "a new award for writers of African, Caribbean or Asian descent" in Making a noise in the bookcase.
       The prize is the decibel Writer of the Year, one of the many handed out at the British Book Awards. It is officially:

for a writer of fiction, narrative non-fiction or poetry who is of African, Caribbean or Asian descent and has made the greatest contribution towards or impact on the literary year.

       Naturally, the ethnic restrictions make good debate-fodder. We're not fans of this sort of thing (and wonder what exactly "descent" means in this context -- didn't we all come from Africa ...?), but it's no more ridiculous than the ever-popular nationality-requirements one finds nearly everywhere else.
       Less discussed but also of interest: it lumps together fiction, narrative non-fiction (as opposed to what, exactly ?) and poetry -- and demands a contribution to or impact on "the literary year" -- suggesting the writer-as-public-figure is what they're interested in, more than the written works.
       Like most of the BBAs, not a prize we can get very excited about.

       Also: the British Book Awards tout themselves as: "The Oscars of the Book Trade". We can't imagine that the folks at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences -- so protective of their Oscar (or rather: Oscar®, Oscars®, etc.) brand -- are very pleased about that .....

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       PEN Montblanc Literary Gala

       The press release for the 2005 PEN Montblanc Literary Gala has been released (typically, there's no information yet at the actual PEN site).
       Four Freedom of Expression Awards will be presented at a very fancy dinner with an impressive guest list.
       It is for a good cause .....

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       Happy Days review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is our review of Laurent Graff's Happy Days.
       This book has gotten some attention because Johnny Depp's production company apparently has optioned it. No film in sight yet, though.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

       Guggenheims

       The 2005 Guggenheim Fellowship Awards (US and Canadian Fellows) were recently announced; see the full list of fellows here.
       Quite a few literary fellows (including Rohinton Mistry and ZZ Packer) but none that particularly thrill us.
       A few 'scholarly' ones that are possibly of more interest: Daniel Mendelsohn translating Cavafy's "unfinished" poems with commentary (hasn't he been at this for a while ?), David Shields meditating "on the brute fact of human mortality", and Peter Turchi considering "writing as a way of seeing".

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       Literature in China

       Ah yes, familiar complaints from distant places: a China Daily report at Xinhuanet finds Literature suffers as money talks.
       Yes:

Literary stars are rising. Consumerism has become a fashion, while writers feel themselves drowned by things fashionable.

       And, of course:

Unfortunately, the mass media has accentuated this with their obsession with the cult of celebrity.

       So:

It will require efforts on the part of writers to pursue the true spirit of literature and rediscover the dynamism and energy in serious literature to reverse the current trend and make breakthroughs in literary creation.

       Good luck with that.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       Literature in translation in Viet Nam

       VNA report that in Viet Nam: Translated books drop 30 percent.
       Apparently:

Of the 228 book titles approved by the Publishing Department, 122 belong to classical and folk literature genres. All of them can be published without asking for copyright permission, as their right-term is no longer valid. Twenty-five others were gifts from foreign embassies. Local publishers purchased only a few book titles.

       Part of the explanation can be found in that "approved by the Publishing Department" requirement, much of the rest in the fact that Viet Nam is a recent signatory to the Berne Convention. Still, it's amazing how little was (officially) published where the publishers had to pay for the rights -- suggesting that the mere thought of having to pay for the translation rights was often enough to scare publishers off.
       Presumably, there's also an enormous black market of illegal translations (we'd guess The Da Vinci Code can even be found on the streets of Hanoi, and that Dan Brown isn't earning a penny off the sales there).

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       Book Sense books of the year

       Apparently, Book Sense have announced their books of the year -- not that you'd learn that from the official site.
       Nevertheless, some newspaper reports are already out: see, for example, this brief one at Newsday.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

       Bellow out of the running in Man Booker Int'l

       We wondered about this when we heard of Saul Bellow's death and can now confirm it: he is no longer eligible for the inaugural Man Booker International Prize.
       There hasn't been any official announcement -- indeed, he's still listed on the Judges' List --, but representatives of the prize have confirmed to us that they are sticking to the "living author"-requirement, which puts Bellow out of the running. (Punters might want to take this into account before they place any bets on the outcome: several of the remaining contenders on what is now a 17-strong judges' list are also in frail health .....)
       No one else seems to have reported this yet, but betting shop Paddy Power almost immediately pulled Bellow from their betting sheet. (Interestingly, they did not adjust the odds on the remaining contenders, though the odds of all the longer shots taking the prize obviously improved without Bellow being in the running.)
       We will adjust our take on the possible odds sometime in the next few days; at 5:1 Bellow was a favourite, and this opens up the field considerably (or solidifies Garcia Marquez's position as favourite ...).

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       Yvonne Vera (1964-2005)

       Bookish alerts us that Zimbabwean writer Yvonne Vera passed away 7 April in Toronto, of meningitis, while working on her sixth novel, Obedience. See, for example, the report in the Zim Observer.
       We actually have four titles by Vera under review, but we never really liked her stuff. Just not our style (really not our style) -- but don't take our word for it; she did, after all, win lots of prizes and got some very good reviews.
       See our reviews of:

• Butterfly Burning
• The Stone Virgins
• Under the Tongue
• Without a Name

       Meanwhile, somebody please explain to us why the first proper author-appreciation comes from Angela Schader in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung of all places .....

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       Tayib Salih on Arab literature

       Tayib Salih -- the Sudanese-born Arabic-writing author and longtime British resident -- comments on the state of Arabic literature abroad and more: see the report at, for example, Aljazeera or the Sudan Tribune.
       He maintains:

"The Arab novel has reached a very high standard which is comparable to any standard, anywhere in the world. The fact that this is not recognised abroad is a matter either of criteria ... or it is a lack of enthusiasm for foreign products,"

       We'd love some examples (and find it interesting that he focusses on the novel-form, since one often seems to hear that the novel, as a relatively new, foreign (i.e. imported) form, isn't the strongest part of Arab literature). We'd also suggest that, if true, the main reason the full worth of the Arab novel is not recognised abroad is because it is generally not available abroad (i.e. in translation) -- which may well be because of "a lack of enthusiasm for foreign products".
       He also says;

"If you find a publisher who believes in Arab literature and takes a risk on it, not just publishing a few thousand books, you will find readers for it,"

       Alas, that sounds like a very familiar complaint. Will they indeed find an audience if they take the big risk ? We'd love to believe it, but given how poorly foreign (and most literary) fiction fares in the US in particular we have our doubts. (And publishers would probably add that "publishing a few thousand books" would already mean taking an incredible risk .....)

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       Fleshmarket Close review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is our review of Ian Rankin's fifteenth Rebus-novel, Fleshmarket Close. (re-titled Fleshmarket Alley for the American market).

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

       PEN World Voices

       Only a few more days until PEN World Voices: the New York Festival of International Literature begins (it runs 16 through 23 April).
       The April issue of Words without Borders focusses on it -- and will offer three translation-forums which sound interesting.
       Among other sites with information about some of the events are The NY Review of Books -- International Noir -- and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, who are hosting two writers-in-conversation lunches.
       Especially noteworthy: the information at the Goethe-Institut (click on links for additional information about the various events). They only list the events with German author participation, but that seems to be pretty close to all of them .....

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       More on new Flashman

       We previously mentioned that there's a new book in the Flashman-series, Flashman on the March (in the UK -- and we don't know how we'll manage to wait until Novemeber, when it comes out in the US); see also the HarperCollins publicity page, get your copy at Amazon.co.uk (or pre-order your copy at Amazon.com).
       More coverage is available now, including D.J.Taylor's Fraser-appreciation in the Independent on Sunday, as well as new reviews in the Sunday Times and The Observer.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       Taslima Nasreen in India

       Considerable (literary) support in India for Taslima Nasreen (see also her official site) getting citizenship there: see reports at the BBC and in The Hindu.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       Gioia argues Why literature matters

       Nothing much new, but always nice to see prominent newspaper space given over to pieces arguing Why literature matters, as Dana Gioia offers in the Boston Globe.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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