opinionated commentary on literary matters - from the complete review

The Literary Saloon Archive

21 - 30 June 2023

21 June: Arno Schmidt exhibit | I Hate Martin Amis et al. review
22 June: Robert Plunket profile(s) | Japanese summer reading
23 June: Bookforum revived | Orwell Prizes | Days at the Morisaki Bookshop review
24 June: MCC takeover of Libri | American literature abroad
25 June: Summer reading | AI-written fiction
26 June: Animal Farm in Zimbabwe
27 June: Premi de Literatura Eròtica | Fontane-Literaturpreis finalists
28 June: Warwick Prize submissions | Julia, oder die Gemälde reviews
29 June: New World Literature Today | Constantijn Huygens-prijs | Borges' literary estate
30 June: Society of Authors' Awards | Locus Awards | Dante Alighieri's Publishing Company review

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       Society of Authors' Awards

       They've announced the winners of this year's batch of Society of Authors' Awards -- many categories; some thirty winners.

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

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       Locus Awards

       The Locus Science Fiction Foundation announced the winners of this year's Locus Awards a few days a go; among the categories are science fiction, fantasy, and horror.

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

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       Dante Alighieri's Publishing Company review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Eric Lane's just re-issued 1985 novel, Dante Alighieri's Publishing Company.

       Lane is one of the founders and publisher of Dedalus -- and this is the fictionalized story of the founding and early days of Dedalus.

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

       New World Literature Today

       The July-August issue of World Literature Today is now available online -- including with the always-of-interest book review section

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

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       Constantijn Huygens-prijs

       They've announced the winner of this year's Constantijn Huygens Prize, the leading Dutch-language author prize, and it is Anjet Daanje.
       None of her work appears to have been published in English yet, but De herinnerde soldaat should be coming out from New Vessel Press -- and no doubt we will see a translation of Het lied van ooievaar en dromedaris as well (see also the Dutch Foundation for Literature information page).

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

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       Borges' literary estate

       When Jorge Luis Borges' widow, María Kodama, died earlier this year she did not leave a will -- thus also leaving the Borges literary estate in limbo. Now AP reports that Rights to the works of Argentine literary giant Jorge Luis Borges granted to his widow’s nephews.
       Since "Kodama's longtime lawyer, Fernando Soto" admits: "he was "surprised to find out she had nephews,"" it would appear they had not been ... a big part of the handling of Borges' work to date. Which, given Kodama's handling of it may not be an altogether bad thing ..... Still, there are five of them, so let's hope they can all get on the same page. (It'll be intersting to see if they keep on Andrew Wylie as literary agent for the estate .....)

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

       Warwick Prize submissions

       The Warwick Prize for Women in Translation admirably does what far too few literary prizes do: reveal all the books that are actually in the running for the prize. The list of this year's eligible submissions is now available, here (warning ! dreaded pdf format !).
       There are 153 titles, originally written in 32 languages -- led by French and Spanish, with 26 each. The biggest surprise to me is that Japanese only ranks eighth, with six titles (behind even Catalan) -- it's really seemed to me that a lot more fiction by female Japanese authors was coming out in translation.

       I have never understood why literary prizes do not reveal what titles are actually being considered and remind you that any which does not -- from the Bookers to the Pulitzer to far too many others -- is suspect.

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

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       Julia, oder die Gemälde reviews

       The most recent additions to the complete review are my reviews of Arno Schmidt's final, unfinished novel, Julia, oder die Gemälde: Scenen aus dem Novecento, and Susanne Fischer on Arno Schmidts Zettelkasten zu Julia, oder die Gemälde, »Julia, laß das!«.

       (I was fortunate enough to get a review copy of the Schmidt novel -- back in the day. I know it's not much of a consolation to publishers, who like coverage to go up quickly -- but, hey, better late than never, right? Yes, it took 7795 days between my getting the book and my posting a review ... so never give up hope .....)

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

       Premi de Literatura Eròtica

       They've announced the winner of this year's Premi de Literatura Eròtica La Vall d'Albaida -- a Valencian prize awarded for the twenty-ninth time -- and it is No vull que m’ho conten, by Lourdes Toledo Lorente, selected from 40 submissions.
       See also the list of previous winners.

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

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       Fontane-Literaturpreis finalists

       They've announced the five finalists for this year's Fontane-Literaturpreis, a German literary prize for up and coming authors, meant to provide the winner with the opportunity to dedicate themselves to writing for two years. At €40,000 it is one of the richest German literary prizes.
       The winner will be announced 24 August.

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

       Animal Farm in Zimbabwe

       At BBC News Lucy Fleming reports on how Zimbabwe's obsession with Animal Farm as novel gets Shona translation, as House of Books has now brought Orwell's novel out as Chimurenga Chemhuka, see also their publicity page.
       Author Petina Gappah translated this with poet Tinashe Muchuri -- with considerable input from many others -- with Gappah noting:

Gappah said they had been able to bring added depth, meaning and humour for readers as their characters use the different Shona dialects spoken around Zimbabwe.

       At The Conversation Tinashe Mushakavanhu also reported on this a couple of weeks ago, in Animal Farm has been translated into Shona -- why a group of Zimbabwean writers undertook the task.
       As Mushakavanhu notes: "too few great books are available in the country's indigenous languages", so hopefully more will follow.

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

       Summer reading

       In The Guardian they offer their annual look at Summer books: Zadie Smith, Ian Rankin, Richard Osman and others pick their favourites.
       M John Harrison's Wish I Was Here gets two mentions -- from Olivia Laing and Jonathan Coe -- but, alas, no US edition in sight yet .....

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

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       AI-written fiction

       At Slate Ken Liu considers the potential of LLMs (large language models) generating fiction, in The Imitation Game also in reaction to Jeff Hewitt's The Big Four v. ORWELL, which also looks at some of the issues raised by their potential.

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

       MCC takeover of Libri

       In Hungary the Mathias Corvinus Collegium (!) has taken a controlling interest in leading Hungarian publisher and bookseller Libri Group -- see the official press release.
       This is not seen as a great development: see Philip Oltermann 's report on how Authors leave Hungarian publisher in protest at sale to Orbán-linked college in The Guardian.

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

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       American literature abroad

       In Publishers Weekly Ed Nawotka reports that European Book Fairs Want American Literature -- but, since: "The U.S. doesn’t need to promote its literature abroad; everyone already buys rights to its books", American publishers aren't really very active on the international book fair circuit.

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

       Bookforum revived

       Bookforum is -- or soon will be -- back, as The Nation Leads the Relaunch of Bookforum.
       The first new issue will appear in August.

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

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       Orwell Prizes

       They've announced the winners of this year's Orwell Prizes, including the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction, which went to The New Life, by Tom Crewe.

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

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       Days at the Morisaki Bookshop review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Yagisawa Satoshi's Days at the Morisaki Bookshop, now also coming out in English.

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

       Robert Plunket profile(s)

       New Directions has brought out a new edition of Robert Plunket's 1983 novel My Search for Warren Harding -- see their publicity page, or get your copy at Amazon.com, Bookshop.org or Amazon.co.uk --, a revival that has been getting a lot of attention.
       Alexandra Alter wrote about Taking a Late-in-Life Victory Lap, Thanks to His Novel’s ‘Lunatic Energy’ [$] in The New York Times, and now Pam Daniel writes, in Sarasota, the magazine for which Plunket has long written, on how The Literary World Is Finally Embracing Robert Plunket. Sarasota Has Known He’s a Genius for Decades.
       See also recent pieces in the Observer -- Sarasota gossip columnist gets a new lease on life -- and at The Paris Review's The Daily weblog -- Who Was Robert Plunket ?

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

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       Japanese summer reading

       At Metropolis Iain Maloney offers an overview of: "a few Japanese and Japan-related books" in making up Your Summer Reading List 2023.
       I haven't seen any of these yet.

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

       Arno Schmidt exhibit

       At the Arno Schmidt Stiftung they have an exhibit up through 17 June 2024 on 'Arno Schmidt and some of his admirers', "»›Leser‹ ? – achduliebergott.«" ('Readers ? ohmydeargod.), exploring the relationship of Schmidt and some of his readers and fans; this looks like a lot of fun.
       There's been some German newspaper coverage, including Michael Martens' report in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung..

       (For an introduction to Schmidt, you can always check out my Arno Schmidt: a centennial colloquy.)

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

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       I Hate Martin Amis et al. review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Peter Barry's 2011 novel, I Hate Martin Amis et al..

       It seemed an appropriate time to get to it .....

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

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