http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/index.htm opinionated commentary on literary matters en-us Copyright 2008 the Complete Review http://backend.userland.com/rss mao@complete-review.com mao@complete-review.com http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805b.htm#er9 In The history man in The Guardian Nicholas Wroe profiles Tokyo Year Zero-author David Peace. http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805b.htm#er9 http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805b.htm#es1 In Chroniclers of pain in The Guardian Jacqueline Rose 'traces the literature of this troubled land', Israel, over the years. http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805b.htm#es1 http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805b.htm#es2 In the Neue Zuercher Zeitung Andreas Breitenstein interviews David Albahari -- whose Pijavice shockingly is still not available in English translation. http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805b.htm#es2 http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805b.htm#es3 The most recent addition to the complete review is our review of Florian Zeller's Julien Parme. http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805b.htm#es3 http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805b.htm#er5 Paul Verhaeghen's Omega Minor has taken the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize; for full coverage see Boyd Tonkin's Independent Foreign Fiction Prize: Goodbye to Berlin in The Independent. And since he translated it himself, he only has to share the prize-money with himself. http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805b.htm#er5 http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805b.htm#er6 Italian author Luigi Malerba has passed away. http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805b.htm#er6 http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805b.htm#er7 In Speak, Nabokov in The Moscow Times James Marson looks at Nikita Khrushcheva's book, Imagining Nabokov: Russia Between Art and Politics, now that it's come out in Russia. http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805b.htm#er7 http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805b.htm#er8 The most recent addition to the complete review is our review of Amelie Nothomb's Ni d'Eve ni d'Adam. http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805b.htm#er8 http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805b.htm#er2 Tahar Ben Jelloun and Patrick Rambaud get the last two places at the Academie Goncourt table, so now they're all set to start wading through the 700 or so titles they have to consider for the Prix Goncourt this fall. http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805b.htm#er2 http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805b.htm#er3 The shortlists for the Annual Translation Prizes for superior English translations of French works published in 2007 awarded by the French-American Foundation and the Florence Gould Foundation are out. http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805b.htm#er3 http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805b.htm#er4 In Asterix and His Secrets in The New York Sun versatile translator (of Asterix and W.G.Sebald, among others) Anthea Bell, compares the comics-legends. http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805b.htm#er4 http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805b.htm#eq7 They've announced the shortlist for the 2008 Caine Prize -- popularly but inexplicably known as the 'African Booker'. http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805b.htm#eq7 http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805b.htm#eq8 The Palestine Festival of Literature -- 'Palfest' -- starts today and runs through the 11th. http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805b.htm#eq8 http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805b.htm#eq9 Yet another article on Daniil Kharms, as Tony Wood writes about him in the London Review of Books, in Art Is a Cupboard ! http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805b.htm#eq9 http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805b.htm#er1 The most recent addition to the complete review is our review of Gordon Burn's effort to present The News as a Novel, Born Yesterday. http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805b.htm#er1 http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805b.htm#eq3 A new issue of the Dalkey Archive Press-affiliated Context is up -- and they've made a lot more of the always-worthwhile Review of Contemporary Fiction book reviews accessible online. http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805b.htm#eq3 http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805b.htm#eq4 As Chung Ah-young reports at The Korea Times, leading Korean writer Park Kyung-ni Dies at 82. She is best known for her her multi-volume saga Toji ('Land') -- two volumes of which are available in (a very expensive) English translation. http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805b.htm#eq4 http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805b.htm#eq5 The spring issue of The Hungarian Quarterly offers: 'Imre Kertesz in Conversation with Zsigmond Sandor Papp', discussing Why Won't He Tell a Proper Story ?, while in All That Fall Kertesz-translator Tim Wilkinson looks at the 'Upsides of the Shorter Fictions of Imre Kertesz'. http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805b.htm#eq5 http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805b.htm#eq6 One of George Steiner's 'unwritten books' described in his recent memoir was a study of the brilliant Joseph Needham; now Simon Winchester has had a go at the man. The book has come out as The Man Who Loved China in the US, and will come out in the fall in the UK -- albeit as: Bomb, Book and Compass. http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805b.htm#eq6 http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805a.htm#ep6 In The Scotsman Tim Cornwell reports that Scottish literature website damned for 'bleeding cash'. http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805a.htm#ep6 http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805a.htm#ep7 In The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Bob Hoover has mixed feelings about One man's plan to rescue book reviewing, while at the Denver Post David Milofsky finds that Online reviewing boosts unsung authors. http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805a.htm#ep7 http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805a.htm#ep8 Former Australian premier Bob Carr has been getting quite a bit of attention down under for his new book on My Reading Life: Adventures In The World Of Books. http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805a.htm#ep8 http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805a.htm#ep9 They've announced the Spring 2008 NBCC Good Reads List at the National Book Critics Circle weblog, Critical Mass. http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805a.htm#ep9 http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805a.htm#eq1 A report on the conversation between Jeffrey Eugenides and Daniel Kehlmann. http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805a.htm#eq1 http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805a.htm#eq2 A report on the Books That Changed My Life event. http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805a.htm#eq2 http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805a.htm#eo7 Should we be pleased to learn that being a successful blogger is apparently enough to get your book reviewed at The New York Times Book Review ? http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805a.htm#eo7 http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805a.htm#eo8 The Literary Review section of The Hindu has two articles devoted to translation in India this week. http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805a.htm#eo8 http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805a.htm#eo9 In The Observer Brian Morton looks at the latest funding cuts and shifts and explains Why literary fiction is Scotland's latest endangered species. http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805a.htm#eo9 http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805a.htm#ep1 At The Valve Aaron Bady offers Some Uneducated Speculations on the "The African Novel" in Tanzania, as he tried buying books while he was there. http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805a.htm#ep1 http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805a.htm#ep2 In P D James, crime writer behind bars in The Telegraph William Langley profiles P.D.James, revelling in how: "her dislike for the liberal refashioning of society has become steadily more pronounced". http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805a.htm#ep2 http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805a.htm#ep3 A report on Ingo Schulze and Eliot Weinberger discussing Private Lives, Public Lives, Other Lives, New Lives. http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805a.htm#ep3 http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805a.htm#ep4 A report on Nuruddin Farah, Chenjerai Hove, and Abdourahman Waberi discussing (sort of) African Wars. http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805a.htm#ep4 http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805a.htm#ep5 Last day, last chance -- and still some worthwhile events. http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805a.htm#ep5 http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805a.htm#eo2 The new Faber Finds-project -- 'Bringing Great Writing Back Into Print. Coming Soon.' -- sounds like it has some potential. http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805a.htm#eo2 http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805a.htm#eo3 New publisher Open Letter gets some local attention, as Mark Hare describes how 'Open Letter' to make foreign literature accessible in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805a.htm#eo3 http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805a.htm#eo4 The most recent addition to the complete review is our review of Jose Eduardo Agualusa's The Book of Chameleons. http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805a.htm#eo4 http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805a.htm#eo5 A report on the PEN World Voices: Bookforum: Political Engagement event with Nuruddin Farah and Elias Khoury. http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805a.htm#eo5 http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805a.htm#eo6 Twenty-two events to choose from on Saturday. http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200805a.htm#eo6