opinionated commentary on literary matters - from the complete review

The Literary Saloon Archive

11 - 20 May

11 May: May Words Without Borders | State puppet writers ? | PEN awards ? | The LA Times opens up -- a bit
12 May: World Voices archive | Gerald Howard reviews Harry Mathews | TV keeping literature alive ? | The Case of the Female Orgasm review
13 May: CSL enthusiasm | Samuel Johnson Prize shortlist | Russian translation | Lint review
14 May: The Zahir ban in Iran | Wasserman departure | Ousmane Sembene profile
15 May: Read This ! announcement | Macmillan's New Writing project | Herculaneum papyri | Indian publishing
16 May: Case Histories | Alaa El Aswany interview | Trinidad literary prize | Translate Korean literature ! | Queen of Atlantis review
17 May: American publishing | Korean literature in translation ? | Voices from Chernobyl review
18 May: Seoul Int'l Lit. Forum | Durs at Stanford | Useless reviews ? | The Award review
19 May: Tait on Ozick | Nizami in Portuguese | Montanan poet laureate | Spring VLS
20 May: Thirlwell abroad | Batya Gur (1947-2005) | Korean literature in Germany

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       Thirlwell abroad

       Adam Thirlwell -- Areté-editor and Politics-author -- is, at least this week, all the rage abroad.
       In The Moscow Times Victor Sonkin profiles him in From Oxford With Love. Meanwhile, Le Monde has him write about contemporary British fiction, in Le roman anglais contemporain, au nom de Joyce.
       Among other things, he notes (or claims): "le roman est un genre qui se prête à la traduction" ("the novel is a genre that lends itself to translation").

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       Batya Gur (1947-2005)

       Israeli author and literary critic Batya Gur has passed away. She wrote for Ha'aretz, and they offer a brief obituary and Shiri Lev-Ari's `Warm and wise' writer Batya Gur dies.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       Korean literature in Germany

       In the Neue Zürcher Zeitung Ludger Lütkehaus profiles two German publishers who have done a fairly impressive job of publishing Korean literature, Edition Peperkorn and Pendragon-Verlag. Pretty impressive, what they've done -- and with Korea the guest of honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair this fall they'll probably even do pretty well with these titles for the next few months.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

       Tait on Ozick

       Theo Tait has a nice review of Cynthia Ozick's recent novel, The Bear Boy (originally published in the US as Heir to the Glimmering World) in the current London Review of Books. Only the tip of it is freely accessible, but already there Tait points out one of the ugly secrets about Ozick and her work:

(I)t is sometimes seen as surprising that she is so little read in Britain. Her formidable essays have been published and admired here; but, of her nine works of fiction, only The Bear Boy -- published in America as Heir to the Glimmering World -- is currently in print. There is, emphatically, no great mystery about this: I would bet good money that she has not been much read in America either, outside the band of academics often described as ‘the Ozick industry’.

       We've actually never heard of ‘the Ozick industry’, but suspect Tait is right on the money: all indications are that she's not a best-selling (or even particularly successful, sales-wise) author -- though we hope her book tour and the extenisve press coverage of her book have made for decent sales for this one.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       Nizami in Portuguese

       Mehr News report that Portuguese speakers to experience Leili and Majnun -- and that really is more interesting than it sounds.
       First of all, Nizami is well-known (and fairly well-translated into English), so it's somewhat surprising this wasn't available previously. Even more surprising:

"The Portuguese are familiar with Persian literature only through the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, which is available here in the English language," she said.

       Amazing, also, that the translator needs to explain:

She explained that she favors direct translation from Persian into Portuguese.

"I believe indirect translation spoils the effect of the work. I prefer to transfer the true feeling of the writer into the second language."

       On the other hand: it does mean that they've had to wait until now for a translation of a fairly well-known piece of world literature.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       Montanan poet laureate

       What excitement: they're narrowing down the list of contenders for the newly created position of Montana poet laureate.
       It's too late to nominate any more poets, but the Nomination Form and Guidelines is still of some interest. We were particularly amused that after stating that one requirement is that the poet must be: "Available to travel and give presentations" they still felt the need to note that there would be: "No posthumous awards". (True, a corpse could be available for travel and, in a pinch, presentations, but surely everyone realises that a living person would be better suited for those tasks.)
       They apparently weren't exactly inundated by nomination -- Ten nominated to be Montana's first poet laureate, Allison Farrell reports:

All 10 poets were nominated by Montanans from around the state. A committee of six or seven people who are intimately involved with Montana's poetry scene will consider all applications and select three finalists, and Gov. Brian Schweitzer will make the final appointment.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       Spring VLS

       The spring issue of the Voice Literary Supplement is now available -- and includes reviews of quite a few titles we have under review:

• W.G.Sebald's Unrecounted and Campo Santo
• Harry Mathews' My Life in CIA
• Gregory Rabassa's If This Be Treason

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

       Seoul Int'l Lit. Forum

       The Korea Times reports that:

The Seoul International Literature Forum will broadcast its proceedings on the Internet, the forum's organizers announced Tuesday

       The forum -- with a pretty decent participant-list -- runs 24 to 26 May. Usefully, they now offer paper previews of what the various authors will be presenting -- only excerpts, but it gives you a pretty good idea of what you might want to tune in for.
       See, for example, that Orhan Pamuk is offering Traffic, Religion and "We" -- or should we say: recycling Road to rebellion , which appeared in The Guardian a few weeks back ? (For added fun: compare the very different translations .....)
       Much else of interest, including Ngugi wa Thiong'o on Writing for Peace and Robert Coover on Literary Hypermedia & the Cave.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       Durs at Stanford

       Durs Grünbein gave a reading at Stanford on Monday, and Bonnie Swift offers a report in The Daily Stanford::

Before a pinstriped and pleated crowd, poet Durs Gruenbein made a brief appearance at Stanford yesterday to read his poetry.

       (Gotta love them college would-be journalists ... and their editors.)
       Still, it's nice to hear (even if one wishes it were expressed a bit more clearly):

The event drew people than expected and the venue had to be switched to a room much larger than anticipated.

       Also of interest:

Quoting Robert Frost, Gruenbein said that "the first thing that is lost in the translation of poetry is poetry itself." He was quick to add that "the whimsicality that many people see in Ashes for Breakfast comes directly from the translator."

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       Useless reviews ?

       At The Bookseller Waterstone's buying manager Scott Pack discusses The review malaise, disappointed by:

The realisation that literary editors are increasingly turning what should be a force for good in our industry into a complete waste of time.

       He also notes:

In more unguarded moments, usually involving a glass of something, you can get publishers to admit that they only push hardbacks for review so that they can generate quotes for the paperback jacket.

       Meanwhile, the most recent column by the Book Babes at The Book Standard similarly wonders whether reviews play any significant role in shifting books.

       (As a review-focussed site we are, of course, obsessed by the question -- and still have little idea of what sort of influence our coverage might have on book-buying decisions.)

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       The Award review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is our review of Lydie Salvayre's The Award.
       We recently reviewed her forthcoming novel, The Lecture, and liked this one even better -- and wonder why it got so little (essentially no) review coverage. Dalkey Archive Press has plans to bring out several more of her works: worth keeping an eye out for.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

       American publishing

       The Book Industry Study Group previewed their comprehensive study of American publishing trends, and a few reports are out.
       Rachel Deahl reports BISG Trend Report Sees Industry Growth in the The Book Standard, while Hillel Italie's AP report is all over the place, including as Publishers Putting Out Too Many Books.
       Italie notes:

The number of books sold dropped by nearly 44 million between 2003 and 2004, even as the annual number of books published approaches 175,000.

       (Once again -- though at this point we don't know why we even bother -- we point out that that 175,000-figure is completely worthless, including as it does everything from cookbooks to dictionaries to everything else, with fiction titles, for example, probably making up less than ten per cent of the total.)
       The decline in the number of units sold is still astonishing -- as is the fact that publishers ratcheted up prices so much that revenue was actually up 2.8 per cent, to $28.6 billion -- but: "Higher prices (...) also drove many readers, especially students, to buy used books, Greco said." (So all these sales totals are presumably only of new books.)
       Not surprisingly:

An especially troubled area, Greco says, is college textbooks. While no hard statistics have been compiled, many believe that students are increasingly turned off by prices for new books and instead buying used editions. The BISG anticipates a steady drop in sales for new works, from 68 million in 2004 to 64.4 million in 2009.

       We like the wording: "turned off by prices". How about simply being unable to afford them at these prices ?

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       Korean literature in translation ?

       We continue our obsession with Korean literature in (and not in) translation -- in large part because, with the Frankfurt book fair approaching, and them being the guest of honour, there's lots of coverage.
       Story of the day: The Korea Times reports Gallimard to Publish `Son of Sword' in French. Yes, the French publisher plans a translation of "Kim Hun's best-selling novel":

The novel sold over 500,000 copies here last year. In addition to French, Song of Sword will be published in Japanese and Spanish this year.

       And KBS report Kim Hun's "Song Of The Sword" to Be Translated Into German. (Which presumably is why the best foreign-language description is also in German, also at KBS: Das Lied eines Schwertes -- where we learn that even Korean president Roh Mu-hyeon liked it.)
       So what we're wondering is: which American and/or British publisher is taking it on ? Apparently, so far: none.
       Let's see: French, Japanese, Spanish, and German. Why the interest there and not here ?
       Okay, there might be a bit of a presentation problem: Books from Korea is an admirable let's-publicise-these-books effort, but they should do better in their book-descriptions than what they offer for this title:

Giving reality, some known stories of General Yi are documentarily stated. In the other hand, to provide fictitious interests, becoming General Yi, the author tells as the first person through the whole stories.

       Maybe the Spanish version got this across better .....

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       Voices from Chernobyl review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is our review of Svetlana Alexievich's Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster Voices from Chernobyl.
       As we've mentioned, this has gotten some decent coverage. We were going to wonder and complain: what took so long ? -- after all, this 1997 title was translated into numerous languages within a year of its publication, but it turns out a (different) English translation appeared back in 1999. And, apparently, disappeared pretty quickly.
       Odd .....

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

       Case Histories

       Yes, Kate Atkinson's Case Histories is the first The Litblog Co-op- Read This ! selection; see also our review.
       Not the most overlooked title of the year, but despite the coverage it's received it seems -- to judge by the comments surrounding the choice, including from some of the LBC-members -- that lots of readers weren't aware of it (or hadn't chosen to have a look). From a literary point of view -- and honestly, what else matters ? -- it's certainly a choice we can wholeheartedly endorse.
       If you still have your doubts, follow (and engage in !) the discussions sure to follow at the LBC site.
       (The other nominated titles -- several of which certainly count as very overlooked, in all respects -- will also get a mention and some coverage in the weeks to come, so stay tuned.)

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       Alaa El Aswany interview

       Egypt Today has an interview with Egyptian author Alaa El Aswany, whose The Yacoubian Building is the breakout Arabic novel of recent memory.
       (We're terribly jealous of MoorishGirl, who reports having gotten her hands on a copy. We look forward to her forthcoming coverage once she's read it !)

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       Trinidad literary prize

       We just like the headline so much: $$ donated for top literature prize.
       But the nationalistic illusions of grandeur are also amusing, as when a local, speaking of Derek Walcott, actually believes that:

"I don't think there is anybody in the world who doesn't know who he is," said Khan.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       Translate Korean literature !

       Just in case there's anyone out there with the qualifications and time: The Korea Times reports Entries Sought for 36th Korean Literature Translation Awards.
       Hey, the grand prize is 5 million won -- and there will be several Commendation Awards of 2 million won !

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       Queen of Atlantis review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is our review of Pierre Benoît's 1919 international bestseller (and oft-filmed) Queen of Atlantis, just re-issued in the University of Nebraska Press' Bison Frontiers of Imagination series.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

       Read This ! announcement

       Today is the day, the unveiling of the first The Litblog Co-op- Read This ! selection. It should be up at the LBC-weblog by now, so if you're curious, swing on by and see what's been anointed.

       (Our review is also already available, but in obnoxious teaser-style we're grudgingly forcing you to check the LBC site, then check back and find the review for yourself via our index of reviews. The direct link will be posted tomorrow .....)
       (Updated - 16 May): Our review can be found here)

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       Macmillan's New Writing project

       In his column in The Observer this week Robert McCrum tackles PanMacmillan's new New Writing ... opportunity, and finds Publishers swap taste for marketing tricks.
       He's not impressed ("On closer inspection, the New Writing scheme suggested that the days of taste and literary discrimination at Macmillan are over"), and notes:

Various literary agents weighed in, and all over town people sadly shook their heads and commented that if you take away the exercise of taste and judgment from publishing you are left with ... what ? An engaging professional lunch companion ? A harmless drone ?

       Agreed -- but we found that almost all taste and judgment (at least judgment that isn't marketing-driven) was taken away -- and taste driven out by marketing tricks --ages ago. (Not all -- there are occasional impressive exceptions -- but most.)
       Still, he sums up nicely many of the problems with contemporary publishing:

First, in a small market, the astonishing sums of money expended on new books, especially novels, have become unreal and unsustainable. Second, like gamblers in a casino, editors are being asked to make commitments to new books on the basis of incomplete typescripts, and over-hyped proposals. Third, where once the editorial decision-making process was sovereign, increasingly the key verdict must come from sales and marketing departments whose idea of exercising editorial judgment is to look up the prospective author on the all-powerful Epos system.

       All true, all leading to the predictable sad results we see all around us.

       Still, we have to admit we like the Macmillan solicitation which promises "a minimum of communication between publisher and author" and begs: "Do not send long explanations about the work".

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       Herculaneum papyri

       In The Independent Peter Popham writes about the Battle for the books of Herculaneum. Things are pretty complicated:

So why aren't the archaeologists and engineers busy burrowing under the Villa of the Papyri now, as we speak, to bring this hypothetical treasure to the light ? The essential reason is contained in a paradox: under present circumstances, the only way to ensure the survival of whatever may emerge from the villa is to leave it exactly where it is, encased in rock.

       See also the sites of the Herculaneum Conservation Project and the Friends of Herculaneum Society.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       Indian publishing

       In the Times of India Sridhar Balan is all excited about India being guest of honour at the Frankfurt book fair next year, believing they're Turned On By Indian Books.
       A decent overview of parts of Indian publishing, including the information that:

India has truly arrived on the world publishing stage. There are about 16,000 publishers in the country producing an estimated 70,000 titles every year.

       Amazingly:

A good 40% of the titles are in English, making India the largest producer of books in the English language after the UK and the US.

       This is both impressive and disappointing -- far, far less than 40% of India's population reads (or even speaks) English, i.e. regional languages (Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, and probably a few others are all far more widespread than English, even counting second-language speakers) are clearly grossly underrepresented. But given India's huge population, it all adds up to a lot of readers.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

       The Zahir ban in Iran

       As widely noted, the Daily Star has an AFP report that Brazilian author Paulo Coelho's latest book banned in Iran:

International best-selling Brazilian author Paulo Coelho said Thursday his latest novel The Zahir had been banned in Iran, with some 1,000 copies confiscated this week at Tehran's annual book fair.

       A thousand copies were confiscated -- but 2000 had apparently already been sold at the fair. (See also the official press release (from his literary agency) and the publisher's site.)

       We mentioned the Iranian publication of The Zahir more than a month ago -- because that's when the book first came out in Iran. Indeed, much to our surprise, Iran was the first country where the book appeared (even before Brazil) -- and it was an immediate success: recall that MNA reported (5 April): Persian version of Coelho’s “The Zahir” sold out in two weeks. Apparently 10,000 copies sold at that time -- with the publisher promising that: "The Zahir is to be republished for the 18th Tehran International Book Fair"
       So, between the 10,000 copies sold when the book first came out, and the 2000 additional copies unloaded at TIBF, this is one really poor and belated job of book-banning. But we'd love to hear the reasons (the censors weren't very forthcoming -- but reports so far rely entirely on Coelho's claims, so we have no idea what is really at issue here).

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       Wasserman departure

       Yesterday was The LA Times Book Review editor Steve Wasserman's last day on the job, leading -- at least at the San Francisco Chronicle -- to some overview coverage.
       David Kipen wonders about a Wasserman test for L.A. Times Book Review ? (link first seen at Arts Journal), and uses this changing of the guard to note:

newspaper book coverage in America is either stagnant or shrinking. If the Times or any paper's book coverage is to thrive, here are some questions it might do well to ask

       Meanwhile Heidi Benson offers a tribute, Editor who put West Coast on the literary map hangs up his spurs (link first seen at Romenesko). She writes that:

He has an advocate in Sam Tanenhaus, editor of the New York Times Book Review, who has called Wasserman a model for some of the things he's trying to do.

       And she finds people who actually believe:

"Wasserman may not be my cup of tea, but, objectively, he turned a book section that most people threw out into undoubtedly the best book review section of any paper in the country. I'm often infuriated by specific reviews, but it is the most exciting book review section in the country."

       Not having access to the until recently only pay-per-view book review section (and certainly not on the comp list, even when it existed), we're in no position to judge. But the Thumbnail-Meister, The Elegant Variation, suggests, week after week, that it ain't entirely so.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       Ousmane Sembene profile

       In The Guardian Maya Jaggi profiles Ousmane Sembène.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

       CSL enthusiasm

       We could barely contain ourselves when we first learned of the new Clay Sanskrit Library (see also the NYU Press publicity pages), and meanwhile they've been nice enough to send over the first batch of books that are now available in the series. I am still all agog.
       Eleven volumes are available, with their Shakuntala to follow in the coming weeks (and then a whole lot more in a couple of months). It will take a while to get a true sense of what they've done here, but the first impression -- where it's not simply overwhelming -- is a very good one.
       The Eric Ormsby-introduction in The New Criterion offers a good overview. The volumes are, indeed, attractive and handy (and the pocket-sized format -- just like the Loeb series -- so very, very, very welcome and convenient (making me wonder, once again, why more books aren't printed in that format ...)).
       I particularly appreciate the fact that the books provide both the Sanskrit text and an English translation: translations from the Sanskrit differ even more wildly than from most languages (see our reviews of three different versions of Kalidasa's Sakuntala, starting here -- or Dorothy Matilda Figueira's study of Translating the Orient), and though my Sanskrit is limited (two semesters (oh come on, you didn't expect anything less, did you ?)) it's enough to, with a little work, get at a sense of the original (if that's accessible -- as it is here) and -- with considerably more work -- perhaps be able to focus more on the original than the translation. A lot gets lost in translation from the Sanskrit -- the compounds (Sanskrit allows the stringing together of what sometimes seems like an endless number of words to create a new or more specific idea, image, etc.), especially -- and it's nice to be able to refer to the original. (I had some doubts about the CSL transliteration-embellishments, which include marks to mark sandhi and compounds but they turn out be very helpful and easy to get used to.)
       A bigger hurdle is, surprisingly, that the Sanskrit is written in Latin lettering rather than the Indian devanagari (which is how I learnt it). I'm still not used to the transliteration-conventions, so it's actually more difficult this way (for now) .....

       What I'd like to point out, however, is that this series should be of considerable interest even to those who have no interest whatsoever in dealing with the actual Sanskrit texts (i.e. most of you). The CSL makes available -- readily and attractively and, at a list price of $22.00 (cheaper than some trade paperbacks of similar length !), almost affordably -- English translations of books that have generally been inaccessible. Sure, you can find some Sanskrit works in translation -- Sakuntala, the Mahabharata, and the Ramayana (the latter two in many, generally dubious, versions) foremost among them -- but the CSL makes numerous otherwise impossible to find (except perhaps in expensive academic volumes, or in hard-to-find Indian editions) readily accessible.
       That's what really thrills me -- and the hardest decision, now that I have the first eleven volumes, is which to tackle first. (Putting aside the volumes that are parts of multi-volume books (the two volumes of the Ramayana available so far, for example) helps -- though some of these are very tempting too.) There's incredible variety in this first batch of titles -- including plays, poetry, and sagas -- and almost all of it is entirely new to me.
       For now Kalidasa's The Birth Of Kumara (see the NYU Press publicity page, or get your own copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk) is probably first choice -- there's already a bit of Kalidasa under review at the complete review, for one, and it's of manageable size (and the flap-copy promises that it climaxes with "Shiva and Párvati's marriage and cosmic lovemaking" ...). More ambitiously I'd like to follow it up with Dandin's What Ten Young Men Did (see the NYU Press publicity page, or get your own copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk), which is exactly the sort of book I never thought I'd own a copy of and couldn't be more pleased that I now do.
       I'm a bit disappointed to note the low sales rank of these volumes at Amazon (no one seems to have bought a copy of the titles I checked so far), and I haven't seen the books in any bookstores yet, but this looks like a well-endowed series that's in it for the long-term -- and over the long-term I can't imagine that it won't be a success. (I'm not sure about the English translations yet -- I haven't worked my way far enough into them yet -- and obviously that could be a problem, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they did a decent job there too.)
       Expect reviews of CSL volumes at regular intervals at the complete review in the months and years to follow -- but you might want to check out some of the volumes for yourselves before we get to them. This is exciting stuff.
       (And who knows ? If we decide to open up The Litblog Co-op Read This ! selections to deceased authors, I could see one or another of these titles rating a nomination .....)

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

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       Samuel Johnson Prize shortlist

       The BBC Four Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-fiction shortlist has been announced -- and we're pleased to see that the one title we have under review, Jonathan Coe's Like a Fiery Elephant made the cut.
       See also Arifa Akbar's Murder, art and city lives impress judges of non-fiction in The Independent.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       Russian translation

       In his Salon column in The Moscow Times Victor Sonkin writes about the state of translation (into Russian).
       He begins by stating:

The organizers of the Man Booker International Prize -- the offspring of the Man Booker Prize, one of the most prestigious literary awards in the world -- announced last week that they would bestow a new honor, worth 15,000 pounds, for the translation of a literary work into English.

       Which is, unfortunately, a bit of an oversimplification. As we mentioned, what they announced was that if one of the ten writers in the running for the MBI Prize who don't write in English wins that prize then they'll pony up some money for the translator(s). Otherwise: no prize (or cash) for any translators.
       Still, Sonkin offers some information about the Russian-translating situation.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       Lint review

       Steve Aylett has a new book out -- and our review of Lint is now available.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

       World Voices archive

       For all those who couldn't partake in the recent PEN World Voices festival, PEN admirably now makes available at their site a large selection of audio files (and pictures too, for those who like that kind of thing) from many of the events -- a fantastic resource. Find it at the Audio & Photo Gallery page (link first seen at MobyLives).

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       Gerald Howard reviews Harry Mathews

       The first big print-media review of Harry Mathews' My Life in CIA is now available (briefly -- it's at that The New York Observer site, so it will only last for a week): Gerald Howard's.
       He raves -- though he flails a bit in trying to describe the book:

What ensues is a delicious mixture of plausible autobiographical fact and sheer fabrication that reads as if Chuck Barris had decided to recast Confessions of a Dangerous Mind after attending a meeting of the intellectually acrobatic French literary group Oulipo -- Mr. Mathews is its sole American member -- and brought in Flann O’Brien and Georges Perec for the rewrite.

       Still, nice to see such enthusiasm.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       TV keeping literature alive ?

       In The Telegraph Andrew O'Hagan writes The plot flickers, arguing that:

television -- mainly thanks to the BBC -- has actually served British literature very well, keeping certain books alive and creating an audience for literary work where otherwise there would have been none.

       Hmmm .....
       The example he cites is Patrick Hamilton, whose work has been semi-resurrected thanks to the BBC-series Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky.
       Some truth to what he says, but how sad to even consider that:

There may be a coming generation who will know the literary classics only from television's adaptation of them, but that knowledge is better than no knowledge at all. I'm a novelist, so I'm hardly going to argue against the irreplaceable conditions of prose, the pattern and rhythm and truth of good writing. But literature is also about narrative and morality; if it takes a television show to get some of that over to an audience -- and possibly to send them to the original source -- then there are small grounds for moaning.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       The Case of the Female Orgasm review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is our review of Elisabeth A. Lloyd's look at Bias in the Science of Evolution in The Case of the Female Orgasm.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

       May Words Without Borders

       The Cuban-focussed May issue of Words Without Borders is now available online -- and it will be worth checking back on 18 May, when they promise:

a forum with Norman Manea on the importance and difficulties of literary translations, particularly (but not only) in a closed society.

       Also of interest: Robert Gray (see also his weblog, Fresh Eyes) wonders: Should Americans Read More Literature in Translation ?
       (Gray's answer is the obvious and proper one -- of course they should ! -- and while we agree with the viewpoint (and the arguments) and appreciate the attempt to win over readers to the pleasures and wonders of foreign literature we're getting to the point where we'd really love to read someone arguing the other position (literature in translation can safely be ignored, etc.).)

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       State puppet writers ?

       Tran Dinh Thanh Lam's IPS report asks whether (Vietnamese) Writers Becoming State Puppets ?
       Yes:

The long absence of good literary works from Vietnam has set off some soul-searching questions among authors here, with many asking whether government grants given to members of the Vietnamese Writers' Association (VWA) have been put to good use

       Okay, this particular sort of state-sponsored support for writing is fairly foreign to Western writers -- but there are a few striking similarities. Even in the US many so-called literary writers rely on what is essentially charity (dispensed, one hopes, with at least a nod towards quality) -- prizes, fellowships, teaching positions, etc. -- to continue churning out their products. (No indignant, self-righteous e-mails, please ! We don't mean you, you hard-working and very deserving creative writing/poetry/literature teacher on the side.) In Viet Nam it hasn't produced great results:

Though literary works -- novels and collections of short stories and poems -- have increased in record numbers over the past five years, there has not been anything significant that has won international accolades.

       (Of course that international accolade shortage might also be a result of the fact that outside of Viet Nam essentially no one is even aware of the existence of these literary products .....)
       Interesting this excuse:

Huu Thinh added sponsorship was necessary in order to prevent writers from commercialising their work. "It is true that writers could live and create without state subvention; but in that case we could not ask them not to run after market trends, not to commercialise their works."

       Ah, yes, that evil spectre of commercialism .....

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       PEN awards ?

       Apparently PEN has announced their annual literary awards. Not that you'd learn anything about that at their site (their literary awards page is, over 24 hours after the first press mentions of the awards, still devoid of any information about this year's prize).
       Even the press reports are pathetic -- this generic one (here at the Seattle Times) is about as clear as it gets (i.e. not very). As best we can tell two titles we have under review won something: Sam Harris' The End of Faith won some best nonfiction debut prize, while Tim Wilkinson picked up one of their translation prizes (there is apparently more than one, not that this report tells you what the hell the difference between them might be) for his translation of Imre Kertesz's Fatelessness (which they apparently judged to be better than the two other Kertesz-translations he did last year ...).

       (Updated): PEN has now gotten its act together: the full list of prizes (with all the funny prize-names), winners, and other finalists is now available.

(Posted by: complete review)    - permanent link -

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       The LA Times opens up -- a bit

       As has been widely reported, The LA Times is making their book review coverage (among much else) semi-freely accessible again (see this LA Observed piece).
       It's no longer pay-per-view, but since registration is required we won't be linking to any articles there any time in the near future. (We will, of course, register -- frequently, though with completely incorrect personal information -- so that we can at least check out the articles and report back on any of interest to you. (We would (register with false information, that is) anyway, just to skew their demographics.))

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