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The Literary Saloon Archive

21 - 31 August 2015

21 August: Mountain Echoes literary festival | Etgar Keret Q & A | Vondel Translation Prize shortlist | Twenty-One Days of a Neurasthenic review
22 August: Korean fiction | Q & As: Yevgeny Yevtushenko - K.E.Semmel
23 August: Chetan Bhagat Q & A | Swedish romance ? | The Maestro, the Magistrate & the Mathematician review
24 August: The NYTBR reviews slanders Mario Vargas Llosa ? | Ishiguro archive to Ransom Center | Shimmer Chinodya Q & A | Savage Seasons reviews
25 August: Writers from ... Indonesia | Les Misérables in ... Urdu | Erdal Öz Edebiyat Ödülü
26 August: Man Booker International Prize judges | New World Literature Today
27 August: 'Novel Scarlett Johansson tried to ban' | Posthumous Günter Grass | Lisa Hayden Q & A | Philippine Literary Festival | Tram 83 review
28 August: Mogadishu International Book Fair | China Bookworm Literary Award
29 August: Pirate libraries | Fiction from ... Central Europe | Moods review
30 August: हंस profile | Mountain lit. prize | Murakami and the Nobel (sigh ...)
31 August: Lanark, the play | Chetan Bhagat Q & A | French Concession review

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31 August 2015 - Monday

Lanark, the play | Chetan Bhagat Q & A | French Concession review

       Lanark, the play

       Alasdair Gray's best-known work -- and modern classic -- Lanark has been turned into a play, by David Greig, and has now premiered at the Edinburgh International Festival; see their publicity page.
       Not an easy work to adapt -- but at a nearly four-hour running-time Greig seems to have tried to stuff a great deal in.
       Early reviews -- see those in The Guardian, The Observer, and The Stage -- have been enthusiastic.

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



       Chetan Bhagat Q & A

       The Times of India gets a number of writers to play along in its 'Write India' initiative, soliciting reader-questions for them; this month they offer Chetan Bhagat's responses to fifteen reader-questions

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



       French Concession review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Xiao Bai's French Concession.

       I was particularly curious about this one, because Yao Minji, in Old Shanghai thriller lures Western publisher, noted:
The novel by Shanghai author Xiao Bai sold only moderately well in China, but it has the elements that appeal to Western readers.
       Personally, I'd much rather see titles that are more popular in China, even if that means they're ostensibly mystifying to 'Western' readers -- and, indeed, despite whatever Western-reader-appealing elements this novel (supposedly) has, it turns out not to be a very good one. I'm not particularly surprised it wasn't a big hit in China -- and I suspect it won't be in the 'West' either; sure, aspects of it are interesting -- but it's also a mess.
       I fear publishers still haven't hit on the formula of Chinese fiction translating into Western success ..... (I also fear they are going about it mostly, if not all, wrong -- but then that would be more or less par for the publisher course, at least as far as the majors are concerned.)

       (Note also that this was a work-for-hire translation -- translator Chenxin Jiang didn't get to keep the copyright (as she should have), instead it's: "English language translation © HarperCollins". Yes, there are exceptions -- Elena Ferrante, sigh ... -- but basically it's a good rule of thumb: if the translator doesn't have the copyright the work is much more likely not to be ... of the highest quality .....)

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



30 August 2015 - Sunday

हंस profile | Mountain lit. prize | Murakami and the Nobel (sigh ...)

       हंस profile

       In the Hindustan Times Manoj Sharma reports that For Hindi literature, Hans writes a story of grit and revival, profiling हंस (Hans) magazine.
       Hey, founded by Premchand and with Mahatma Gandhi as its editorial adviser .... that's not a bad pedigree. (Okay, there was a long interim between that time and Hans 2.0, but still ......)
       In any case, good to hear that this kind of publication can survive -- indeed that its readership is apparently growing:
Interestingly, in this digital age when the circulation of major magazines has going down, that of Hans has gone up in the last two years from 9,500 to 11,000, which makes it the largest-read Hindi literary magazine.
       And I kind of like the idea of a 'literary' magazine printed on newsprint.

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



       Mountain lit. prize

       The Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature is ... exactly that, "an annual award to authors of literary works, the central theme of which is concerned with mountains" (and worth £3,000).
       They've now announced their shortlist for the 2015 prize -- though I am a bit disappointed by the similarity in covers (blue and snow dominate), as well as the fact that a book with the subtitle: "A Life Rocked by Mountains" passed muster .....

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



       Murakami and the Nobel (sigh ...)

       I haven't really gotten into much Nobel-speculation yet -- even though the announcement-date is only about six weeks off -- but there hasn't been much gossip in the air so far (even though the Swedish Academicians have long narrowed down the list to the final five or so contenders). (But if you want pre-Nobel activity: there has been pretty active discussion at The Fictional Woods and the World Literature Forum -- and of course you can already place bets at Ladbrokes.)
       Not that much media coverage, either, but in The Japan Times Damian Flanagan gets things rolling with his look at Mishima, Murakami and the elusive Nobel Prize.
       (Note that I don't think he makes quite enough of the fact that Mishima's Nobel chances were surely mainly dashed by his youth, and then his death at a very early age -- only three authors (Kipling, Sinclair Lewis, and Camus) were 45 (Mishima's age at his death) or younger when they won the prize; the average age of literature laureates in the 1960s was -- despite Camus -- 65, and in the 1970s 69.)

       (As to the: "here we are now, with only two Japanese winners in the 114 years since the prize was first awarded", a reminder that there still hasn't been a Dutch winner. (No Korean one either, etc. etc., but Dutch still ranks as the most glaring omission to date.))

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



29 August 2015 - Saturday

Pirate libraries | Fiction from ... Central Europe | Moods review

       Pirate libraries

       At Eurozine they reprint Bodó Balázs' piece (originally in Visegrad Insight), offering 'A central and eastern European perspective' on Pirate libraries.
       He reports that:
Today's pirate libraries were born to address political, economic and social issues specific to Soviet and post-Soviet times, but they quickly became vital beyond their original context.
       Of course, the legal morass remains ... a morass.

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



       Fiction from ... Central Europe

       Checking out Visegrad Insight (re. above), I find this useful Translators' guide to new fiction from the Visegrad Group countries (the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Poland) -- a nice overview of notable recent fiction from Central Europe.
       None of these titles are available in English yet, as best I can tell (and I can tell pretty well -- and it's hardly surprising: fiction from these nations usually does not get translated with ... alacrity), but a lot of these names are familiar -- indeed, almost all of them have had works published in English.
       Among the less well-known (but already translated) is Martin Reiner -- though I have to say I'm not so sure about his (600-page) "biographical novel in the form of literary collage", about Ivan Blatný; see the Torst publicity page.
       Among the better-known: books by Esterházy Péter, Kertész Imre, and Olga Tokarczuk. And Rivers of Babylon-author Peter Pišťánek's last work.

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



       Moods review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Yoel Hoffmann's Moods, recently published in translation by New Directions.

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



28 August 2015 - Friday

Mogadishu International Book Fair | China Bookworm Literary Award

       Mogadishu International Book Fair

       Great to hear that they're holding the Mogadishu International Book Fair (see also the write-up by Warka at Mareeg, Literary feast in Mogadishu as Mogadishu International Book Fair opens).
       Or is this just a reaction to the Hargeysa International Book Fair they held earlier this month (see also Nyabola, H. Nanjala's write-up at Quartz, Somaliland’s book fair opens the country to the world) ... ?
       Still, holding book fairs has got to be a good sign, right ?

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



       China Bookworm Literary Award

       With judges including A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers-author Guo Xiaolu and translator (e.g. Running Through Beijing) and editor Eric Abrahamsen, the China Bookworm Literary Award seems well-positioned to select worthy new Chinese fiction deserving of translation -- and now they've announced the first winners of the award, with the winner getting 5000RMB, and both the first and second place titles to be published in English translation.
       Hard to judge based on the brief descriptions available here, but second-place-winner Li Ziyue's I Am in the Red Chamber, You are on the Journey to the West is one of the best titles I've heard this year.

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



27 August 2015 - Thursday

'Novel Scarlett Johansson tried to ban'
Posthumous Günter Grass | Lisa Hayden Q & A
Philippine Literary Festival | Tram 83 review

       'Novel Scarlett Johansson tried to ban'

       I mentioned Scarlett Johansson's suit against French author Grégoire Delacourt (The List of My Desires (US title: My Wish List)) about his using her (sort of) as a character in a novel of his -- and now Nick Clark reports in The Independent that Novel Scarlett Johansson tried to ban, Grégoire Delacourt's The First Thing You See, to be published in UK.
       I'm actually surprised the publisher isn't going with: 'Novel Scarlett Johansson tried to ban' as the title ... or that they aren't even playing up this angle more. Good for them -- and I am eager to see the book. (No US publication is sight, yet, as best I can tell.)
       See also the Weidenfeld & Nicolson publicity page, or pre-order your copy at Amazon.co.uk (and ignore that 'July, 2014' publication date -- it's only coming out in English now).

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



       Posthumous Günter Grass

       Günter Grass may be dead, but that's no reason why he shouldn't have more books coming out -- and, indeed, as DeutscheWelle reports, Günter Grass leaves a last farewell book (I'm not quite clear on how many first/other farewell books he 'left' ...), Vonne Endlichkait.
       See also the (very nice) Steidl publicity page, or get your copy at Amazon.de. And apparently: "An English version should be available in the fall of 2016".

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



       Lisa Hayden Q & A

       At Russia Beyond the Headlines they have a translation of Yulia Arseniy's Q & A with translator and Lizok's Bookshelf-blogger Lisa Hayden.
       I have both Addendum to a Photo Album (see the Dalkey Archive Press publicity page, or get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk) and Laurus (see the Oneworld publicity page, or pre-order your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk) and hope/expect to get to them.

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



       Philippine Literary Festival

       The Philippine Literary Festival runs tomorrow through 30 August.
       They seem to be using the 'big' foreign names -- Matthew Quick and Meg Wolitzer -- as ... loss leaders ? but most of the other participants are local. Interesting to see especially the local phenomena -- iamkitin ! iDangs ! marielicious ! KwentoNiJhingness ("I write. I rant. I am a potato." her weblog promises) ! blue_maiden ! Yam-Yam28 ! Art Sta. Ana ! And why haven't I seen any of their books ?

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



       Tram 83 review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Fiston Mwanza Mujila's Tram 83, yet another impressive addition to the Deep Vellum catalogue.

       Tram 83 odds and ends:
  • Lubumbashi-born Mwanza Mujila was the 'Stadtschreiber' (city-writer) 2009-10 (and is currently pursuing his PhD) in my hometown of Graz, Austria.

  • The Kirkus review offers the wonderful incongruous observation: "Mujila is not working in the George Eliot tradition of realistic fiction". I mean it's true, sort of, technically -- but talk about out of left field .....

  • Papa Wemba gets a shout-out in the novel ! Does no one listen to Papa Wemba any longer ? Maria Valencia has been echoing in my head all night .....

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



26 August 2015 - Wednesday

Man Booker International Prize judges
New World Literature Today

       Man Booker International Prize judges

       As I (tried to) explain last month, the one-time biennial author prize that was the Man Booker International Prize ate -- and transmuted into -- what used to be the annual book prize that was the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize (which no longer exists as such -- or rather exists pretty much unchanged (except there's now more prize money on offer) but is now called the 'Man Booker International Prize' ...).
       Now: The Man Booker International Prize 2016 Judges Announced -- and a pretty impressive panel it is, chaired by Independent Foreign Fiction Prize-holdover Boyd Tonkin, and including Tahmima Anam, Ruth Padel, Daniel Medin, and, most impressively, David Bellos.
       Of particular interest: Medin was a two-time Best Translated Book Award judge, and he's the first to serve on the juries for both of these leading translation prizes. And of course it raises the question of whether Krasznahorkai's Seiobo There Below isn't the prohibitive favorite to take the 2016 Man Booker International Prize -- it won the 2014 BTBA (on which Medin served as one of the judges, as did I). (It is presumably eligible, with official UK publication only coming this year; get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.)

       One of the reasons they apparently ditched the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize and went all-in on the revised Man Booker International Prize was to take advantage of the brand recognition. It's disappointing then to see that, aside from a more or less regurgitated press release mention at The Bookseller the announcement of the judging panel so far hasn't rated any major-press mention. Sure, this isn't the most exciting news in the world -- but you'd (well, I'd) figure it would make for filler-material in the British papers at this relatively slow-news time of the year. It's hard to imagine something won't pop up -- especially at The Independent, given the Tonkin connection -- but so far the Man Booker brand hasn't pulled its weight .....

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



       New World Literature Today

       The September/October issue of World Literature Today is now (partially) available online.
       Completely available: the World Literature in Review-section -- i.e. the reviews, with lots of good coverage.

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



25 August 2015 - Tuesday

Writers from ... Indonesia | Les Misérables in ... Urdu | Erdal Öz Edebiyat Ödülü

       Writers from ... Indonesia

       With Indonesia the guest of honour at the upcoming Frankfurt Book Fair there has been a decent amount of coverage -- and at Qantara.de Monika Griebeler now introduces Seven must-know authors from Indonesia (with a bonus of three dead-so-they-won't-be-able-to-attend authors, making for ten in all).
       A decent introduction, and hard to argue with most of these inclusions, which include Ayu Utami (whose Saman remains one of the defining novels of the past twenty years (even as it opens, as I never fail to be amused by, overlooking (New York's) Central Park ...)); Leila Chudori, whose Home is forthcoming in English from Deep Vellum soon (see also the Modern Library of Indonesia publicity page, or pre-order your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk); Supernova-author Dewi ("Dee") Lestari; and The Rainbow Troops-author Andrea Hirata.
       You can argue about who was overlooked -- and the most obvious name here is Eka Kurniawan, two of whose books are appearing in English this fall too (my review of Beauty is a Wound should be up soon; meanwhile see the New Direction's publicity page, or pre-order your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk).
       As to the three bonus-selections: yes, Pramoedya Ananta Toer remains the foremost Indonesian author, the other two are also worth seeking out.

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



       Les Misérables in ... Urdu

       In Dawn Rauf Parekh reports on A new, complete Urdu translation of Les Misérables -- apparently the first complete-length rendering, though an abridged one appeared almost a century ago.
       I must say I also like the cover, which includes the famous Émile Bayard-Cosette but goes beyond the bleakly black-and-white.

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



       Erdal Öz Edebiyat Ödülü

       He won the Nobel Prize quite a few years ago, but only now does Orhan Pamuk win the Erdal Öz Edebiyat Ödülü; see, for example, the report in Today's Zaman
       The previous winners of this prize aren't nearly household names abroad -- but maybe this is a sign that the Turkish literary establishment is fully embracing Pamuk as one of their own .....

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



24 August 2015 - Monday

The NYTBR reviews slanders Mario Vargas Llosa ?
Ishiguro archive to Ransom Center | Shimmer Chinodya Q & A
Savage Seasons reviews

       The NYTBR reviews slanders Mario Vargas Llosa ?

       Oh, dear.
       So The New York Times Book Review had Book of Numbers-author Joshua Cohen review Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa's new non-fiction title, Notes on the Death of Culture -- an admittedly somewhat thankless task (Mario Vargas Llosa's Notes on the Death of Culture is as uplifting as the title suggests, The Globe and Mail titles its review ...); I have the book and haven't managed to bring myself to cover it yet .....
       As the 'Editors' Note Appended' warning now found at the top of the review suggests, there are ... issues with the review. Vargas Llosa helpfully also wrote a letter to the editor, complaining about: "information about me that is both slanderous and perfidious", and noting, nicely indignantly:
I am flabbergasted to learn that this kind of gossip can work its way into a respectable publication such as the Book Review.
       The New York Times Book Review helpfully explains both that the text has now been altered and that:
editors determined that the reviewer had based his account of these matters mostly on information from an article about Vargas Llosa in The Daily Mail, but neither the reviewer nor editors independently verified those statements. Using such information is at odds with The Times’s journalistic standards, and it should not have been included in the review.
       Interestingly, that Daily Mail article still stands -- with the offending claims unchanged (unlike the NYTBR piece ...), despite the stricter British libel laws. And I can't find a letter to their editor from Vargas Llosa .....
       Not a shining moment for The New York Times Book Review -- but fact checking is something that's presumably easy/tempting to skimp on. I think the fact that they couldn't even spell the poor lady's name right -- see the first correction, because there were several ... ---, something even one of their kids could/should have checked on the Internet, is even more damning .....
       This one is going to be tough to live down, all around .....

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



       Ishiguro archive to Ransom Center

       They've announced that Ransom Center to Acquire Archive of Kazuo Ishiguro, as the Harry Ransom Center has purchased Kazuo Ishiguro's archive (for: "just over $1m", The Guardian reports).
       Among the finds: "his first serious attempt at fiction, a pulp Western", which I am so hoping someone publishes.

       Ishiguro seems kind of young (he's sixty) to be selling out -- though, yeah, the money is good and times are tough. Still .....
       And I wonder how much younger writers -- who don't have nearly as much archival accumulation in this electronic age -- consciously try to collect papers so that they'll someday have a pile to sell too .....

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



       Shimmer Chinodya Q & A

       In The Herald Elliot Ziwira has a lengthy Q & A with Zimbabwean Chairman of Fools-author Shimmer Chinodya.
       All over the place -- but also some good advice:
Read, read, read ! Write, write, write, write ! Open your windows to ventilate your imagination.

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



       Savage Seasons reviews

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Haitian author Kettly Mars' novel of 'Papa Doc' consolidating power in the 1960s, Savage Seasons, recently released in translation by the University of Nebraska Press.

       A bit depressing to see how many online reviews of the German edition (published by a really small publisher) are available, while the English-language version has had a .... limited impact (not even reviews at Publishers Weekly or Kirkus Reviews ...).

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



23 August 2015 - Sunday

Chetan Bhagat Q & A | Swedish romance ?
The Maestro, the Magistrate & the Mathematician review

       Chetan Bhagat Q & A

       At Scroll.in Mayank Jain has a Q & A with mega-bestselling (in India ...) Chetan Bhagat (One night @ the call centre, etc.), occasioned by the publication of his new book -- a non-fiction collection ("I want to expand my range as a writer", he explains ...), Making India Awesome.
       And while a bit of an exaggeration -- interviews such as this one surely are marketing-efforts (even if he doesn't have to pay for them) -- interesting to hear that:
So how much emphasis do you put in marketing your books ?

I don't need to. I just need to put on Twitter that I am writing a book, if you can call that marketing. I have zero budget for marketing. I have never spent anything on it at all.

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



       Swedish romance ?

       After the Nordic crime wave comes ... Swedish romance novels ? Francis Hoch suggests that terrifying prospect in Publishers Weekly, in Swedish Romance -- the Next Hot Trend ? as a novel by the 'Swedish queen of of romance' (yes, Sveriges romancedrottning) Simona Ahrnstedt -- "an avid feminist, and a passionate cheese lover", as her agency's information page helpfully informs -- is going to be published in English.
       I'm always glad to see popular fiction in all its form get published in translation -- and several of her works have already been translated into other languages -- but I think it's unlikely that this is the beginning of something big. Still, I am curious as to the impact -- and whether it will lead to popular romance novels from other languages/countries (not just Scandinavian) getting translated.

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



       The Maestro, the Magistrate & the Mathematician review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Tendai Huchu's The Maestro, the Magistrate & the Mathematician.

       This came out from Zimbabwean publisher amaBooks last year, and is now being published abroad by Welsh Parthian. Just last week The New York Times Book Review covered his debut, The Hairdresser of Harare (now out in a US edition).

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



22 August 2015 - Saturday

Korean fiction | Q & As: Yevgeny Yevtushenko - K.E.Semmel

       Korean fiction

       In The Korea Times Nam Hyun-woo writes about Kim Jin-myung's (김진명) latest novel, 글자전쟁 ('Letter Wars'), which has apparently been very successful in South Korea.
       The premise has a predictably nationalistically-pleasing twist -- Chinese (writing) characters aren't Chinese at all, the Koreans invented them ! -- but hand it to the author, he presents it dressed up in a very different sort of story, featuring:
an ambitious arms dealer who proclaims that his ultimate goal is earning 50 billion won. However, his successful career starts to go wrong as a prosecutor investigates him on a charge of illegal lobbying. He flees to China and gets along with North Koreans, looking for a chance to return to his job.
       As Nam notes:
Writer Kim has garnered popularity with his stories deriving from a hidden piece of history or a conspiracy that can be interpreted in a way of promoting Koreans' pride. Such a theme and the veteran novelist's technique create a riveting read.
       Much as I appreciate a great deal of the Korean literature that is finding it's way into English, what I want to know is why crap like this isn't. Surely, this is excactly the sort of pop fiction we should be seeing (and reading), too. Come on -- here's an author who: "never distracts readers with absurd bids to materialize abstract thoughts" !
       Okay, I understand most 'literary' publishers couldn't touch (or bear) this stuff with a ten foot pole -- but there must be publishers who could handle it.
       AmazonCrossing, how about it ? We need to see this stuff !

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



       Q & A: Yevgeny Yevtushenko

       At Russia Beyond the Headlines they have an English version of Igor Virabov and Pavel Basinsky's Российская газета Q & A with Yevgeny Yevtushenko (original).
       Among the take-aways: he's coming to Brooklyn next month (really).
       There's also some fun Soviet-era nostalgia:
It was a venue for about 800 people, but they put speakers out on the street, and people stood and listened there, too. It was a very chilly day in April. I read for four and a half hours without a break. There were children in the audience as well. That was one of the happiest days of my life.
       And interesting (if unsurprising) the observation:
Our intelligentsia simply does not understand how detached it is from the general public.

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



       Q & A: K.E.Semmel

       At the Asymptote blog Katrine Øgaard Jensen has a Q & A with translator-from-the-Danish K.E.Semmel -- whose translation of Naja Marie Aidt's Rock, Paper, Scissors, just out from Open Letter, I recently reviewed. (Another Semmel-translation under review: Disgrace (US title: The Absent One) by Jussi Adler-Olsen.)
       In response to the question; 'What is the best translated book you've read recently ?' he says ... The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist .....

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



21 August 2015 - Friday

Mountain Echoes literary festival | Etgar Keret Q & A
Vondel Translation Prize shortlist | Twenty-One Days of a Neurasthenic review

       Mountain Echoes literary festival

       Bhutan's literary festival, Mountain Echoes, runs through tomorrow -- sounds like a nice place to have a literary festival.
       See also the PTI report -- here in the Business Standard -- Mountain Echoes: A literary fest with a royal touch.

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



       Etgar Keret Q & A

       At Guernica Meakin Armstrong has a Q & A with Etgar Keret, We Can Try to Be Human.
       Among his observations:
In America, where writers are preoccupied with the craft of writing, I always try to introduce this concept of the badly written good story. Turning the hierarchy around and putting passion on top and not craft, because when you just focus on craft, you can write something that is very sterile. It looks beautiful, but soulless.
       Also interesting:
Apparently, I’m very, very popular in jails. [...] Most of them were murderers. But when I went there to talk, they were the nicest people.

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



       Vondel Translation Prize shortlist

       They've announced the shortlist for the biennial Vondel Translation Prize, given: "for the best English translation of a Dutch literary novel or cultural-historical book".
       Two of the shortlisted titles are under review at the complete review: Tirza (Sam Garrett's translation of Arnon Grunberg's novel) and The King (Nancy Forest-Flier's translation of Kader Abdolah's novel).

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



       Twenty-One Days of a Neurasthenic review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Octave Mirbeau's 1901 novel, Twenty-One Days of a Neurasthenic, now available in a translation from Dalkey Archive Press.

       Now somebody just has to translate La 628-E8 ..... (Meanwhile, read the French here (warning ! dreaded pdf format !), for example.)

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



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