opinionated commentary on literary matters - from the complete review

The Literary Saloon Archive

1 - 10 July 2021

1 July: HKW Internationaler Literaturpreis | Prix Orange du Livre en Afrique | The Woman from Uruguay review
2 July: CWA Daggers | Desmond Elliott Prize | Babylon review
3 July: Ingo Schulze Q & A | 'The politics of literature'
4 July: Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o conversation | Overlook Press profile
5 July: Nigeria Prize for Literature longlist | Yasodhara and the Buddha review
6 July: Lispector's Translators | Richard Lewontin (1929-2021) | Grands Prix de la SGDL
7 July: New Royal Society of Literature fellows | A History of Modern Chinese Popular Literature | The Sword of Justice review
8 July: South Korean literature abroad | Adorable review
9 July: Premio Strega | PEN Translates awards | Keith Ridgway Q & A
10 July: US book sales | (Not) judging a literary prize | Barack Obama's summer reading list | Future War and the Defence of Europe review

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       US book sales

       In Publishers Weekly Jim Milliot reports that in the US Print Book Sales Soar in Year's First Half.
       The numbers are impressive, with unit sales up 18.5% in the first six months of 2021 over the comparable period in 2020.
       Good to see adult fiction led the way, with an increase of 30.7% -- but:

The big story in adult fiction was the strength of the graphic novel format. Unit sales soared 178.5% in the first half of the year, rising to 16.2 million copies sold, making graphic novels the second-largest adult fiction subcategory. Graphic novels made up nearly 20% of adult fiction unit sales in the first six months of 2021, compared to 9.3% last year.

       Graphic novels made up nearly 20% of adult fiction unit sales ?!??

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

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       (Not) judging a literary prize

       In the Sydney Morning Herald David Free writes on Judge a literary prize ? No thanks, they're all a giant waste of time.
       He finds:

They pose as trusty gauges of literary merit, but they’re thoroughly random and subjective. You get a sudden appreciation of that when a stranger rings you up one day and asks you to judge one yourself.

       He also suggests:

Not that I advocate the abolition of all literary awards. But if I had the funds to establish my own prize, I’d introduce some major tweaks. For instance, I’d lose the judging panel. I’d have one judge only – a different person each year, chosen strictly on the strength of his or her literary expertise.

       This is actually not unheard of: German author-prizes such as the Kleist-Preis and the Erich Fried Preis work this way.

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

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       Barack Obama's summer reading list

       Former American president Barack Obama's has released his summer reading list.
       Two of the titles are under review at the complete review: David Diop's At Night All Blood Is Black and Kazuo Ishiguro's Klara and the Sun -- though I am also looking forward to seeing the not-yet-out-in-the-US When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut.

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       Future War and the Defence of Europe review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of John R. Allen, Frederick Ben Hodges, and Julian Lindley-French's Future War and the Defence of Europe, just out from Oxford University Press.

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

       Premio Strega

       They've announced the winner of this year's Premio Strega, the leading Italian literary prize, and it is Due vite by Emanuele Trevi; see also the Neri Pozza publicity page.
       Due vite received 187 of the 589 votes; runner-up Borgo Sud by Donatella Di Pietrantonio got 135 votes.
       World Editions brought out his Something Written a couple of years ago; see their publicity page, or get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

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

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       PEN Translates awards

       English PEN has announced this year's twelve PEN Translates awards.
       Some great-sounding titles here -- and great to see a translation from the Tibetan (by Christopher Peacock), Flowers of Lhasa by Tsering Yangkyi, as well as more by Daša Drndić -- Canzone di Guerra, translated by Celia Hawkesworth, coming from Istros Books in the UK and New Directions in the US.

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       Keith Ridgway Q & A

       At The Paris Review's the Daily Christopher Notarnicola has In the Gaps: An Interview with Keith Ridgway.
       Ridgway's A Shock is just out; I hope to get to it -- and Hawthorn & Child -- soon.

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

       South Korean literature abroad

       In The Korea Herald Kim Hae-yeon reports that: 'New head of Literature Translation Institute of Korea vows to break stereotype of Korean literature', in Giving Korean work a place in global literature.
       Kwak Hyo-hwan is the new president of the Literature Translation Institute of Korea.
       Interesting to hear that:

When asked if there are any plans to work with North Korean literature, Kwak said, “We face two big problems that prevent us from opening a dialogue on the literature of North Korea. First is the ideological differences of the two sides. Second, there is no way to solve the copyright issues.”

       But I have my doubts about this:

A close examination of global readers’ interest in North Korean literature shows that the interest is not in the works and the authors, but in that country’s reality and the peoples’ lives, according to Kwak.

       My interest is most definitely in the works (less so the authors).

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

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       Adorable review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Ida Marie Hede's Adorable, just out in English from Lolli Editions.

       This is yet another Danish title from Lolli that shows just how interesting writing, especially by women, in that country currently is. (Olga Ravn's The Employees seems to be their break-out title so far, but the whole list is worth a look.)
       As far as this one goes: if my review doesn't convince you, maybe this quote from this one will:

In the physical sense alone, Adorable is a beautiful book. A minimalist graphic decorates the cover, the blurb is subtly embossed with a textured pattern, and the cover flaps lend it a sense of classiness. Don't be fooled: the stylish appearance belies one of the most viscerally nauseating books released this year.

       Viscerally nauseating ! How can you resist ?
       (Note that I didn't quite see it that way, but, yes, there is a ... graphic element to the work.)

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

       New Royal Society of Literature fellows

       The Royal Society of Literature has announced the election of 44 new Fellows and Honorary Fellows.

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

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       A History of Modern Chinese Popular Literature

       I have a copy of Fan Boqun's very interesting A History of Modern Chinese Popular Literature, but only in an e-format, which has so far kept me from properly reviewing it; it's good to see it now reviewed, by John A. Crespi, at the always useful MCLC Resource Center.
       See also the Cambridge University Press publicity page, or get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

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

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       The Sword of Justice review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Leif GW Persson's third Evert Bäckström-novel, The Sword of Justice.

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

       Lispector's Translators

       In the Los Angeles Review of Books Sarah McEachern considers The Many Souls of Clarice Lispector's Translators.

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

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       Richard Lewontin (1929-2021)

       Evolutionary biologist Richard Lewontin has passed away; see, for example, Jerry Coyne's remembrance of his Ph.D. advisor at his Why Evolution is True weblog.

       Lewontin wrote a great deal for The New York Review of Books -- and two of his books are under review at the complete review: The Triple Helix and It Ain't Necessarily So.

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

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       Grands Prix de la SGDL

       The Société des gens de lettres has announced the winners of six of their seven 2021 Grands Prix de la SGDL (with the Grand Prix SGDL-Ministère de la Culture pour l'Œuvre de traduction to be announced in September).
       The life's work/author prize, the Grand Prix SGDL pour l'Œuvre, went to Jean-Marie Blas de Roblès, author of Where Tigers are at Home and Island of Point Nemo.

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

       Nigeria Prize for Literature longlist

       They postponed last year's Nigeria Prize for Literature, but they've now announced the eleven-title strong longlist for this year's prize, selected from 202 submissions; see, for example, the report in The Lagos Review, which includes the complete announcement.
       The prize rotates through four genres -- prose, poetry, drama, and children's literature -- and this year is a prose year.
       They note:

A shortlist of three is expected in September. A winner, if any, will be announced by the Advisory Board.

       Gotta love a literary prize that acknowledges that, hey, maybe they won't find a title deserving of the prize (as, in fact, has happened in previous years).

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

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       Yasodhara and the Buddha review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Vanessa R. Sasson's 'hagiographical fiction', Yasodhara and the Buddha.

       This came out in India in 2018 (as Yasodhara), and is now available in a US/UK edition, from Bloomsbury Academic.

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       Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o conversation

       In The Star Justus Kizito Siboe Makokha looks at Why Ngugi wa Thiong'o champions mother tongue -- reporting on a recent Conversation with Ngugi wa Thiong'o moderated by Okey Ndibe which you can watch on YouTube.

       Several Ngũgĩ titles are under review at the complete review, including the recent The Perfect Nine.

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       Overlook Press profile

       At Publishers Weekly Jim Milliot reports that At 50, the Overlook Press Settles in at Abrams.
       The Overlook Press was bought by Abrams in the summer of 2018, but it's good to see them continue much of the strong Overlook fiction list.

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

       Ingo Schulze Q & A

       At hlo Thomas Sneddon continues their 'The State of Things'- interview series with Ingo Schulze: "The role of intellectuals truly cannot be overstated".
       Schulze offers quite the endorsement for the also forthcoming in English Herscht 07769 by Krasznahorkai László:

This novel precisely captures the conditions of today's Germany. I have to admit, without jealousy, that he has written the contemporary German novel.

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

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       'The politics of literature'

       At Eurozine Bán Zsófia, Rosie Goldsmith, and A.L.Kennedy have: 'A conversation on the politics of literature', Writing in opposition -- worth a look.

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

       CWA Daggers

       The Crime Writers' Association has announced the winners of their Dagger awards, with We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker winning the Gold Dagger and The Disaster Tourist by Yun Ko-eun winning the Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger.
       Another translated novel also won an award, the John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger, "for the best crime novel by a first-time author of any nationality", which went to The Creak on the Stairs by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir.

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

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       Desmond Elliott Prize

       They've announced the winner of this year's Desmond Elliott Prize, a first-novel prize for UK/Ireland authors, and it is The Manningtree Witches, by A.K.Blakemore.
       See also the publicity pages from Granta and Catapult, or get your copy at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

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       Babylon review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of René Crevel's 1927 novel Babylon -- translated by Kay Boyle and with illustrations by Max Ernst.

       This came out in the US from North Point Press (hardcover) and Sun & Moon Press (paperback) -- and Quartet in the UK --, which is a pretty good endorsement right there.

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

       HKW Internationaler Literaturpreis

       They've announced the winner of this year's HKW Internationaler Literaturpreis, a prize awarded for a work of contemporary literature in (German) translation, and it is the German translation (by Sina de Malafosse) of La petite dernière by Fatima Daas; see also Annabelle Steffes-Halmer's report at Deutsche Welle, International Literature Prize for 'The Last One'.
       An English translation is due out in November, from Other Press; see their publicity page.

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

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       Prix Orange du Livre en Afrique

       They've announced the winner of this year's prix Orange du Livre en Afrique, a francophone prize for a work by an African author, published by an African publisher, and it is Pourvu qu'il soit de bonne humeur, by Loubna Serraj, published by Moroccan publisher La Croisée des Chemins; see also their publicity page.
       74 novels were submitted for this prize, published by 44 publishers, from 16 countries.

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

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       The Woman from Uruguay review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Pedro Mairal's The Woman from Uruguay, just (about) out in English.

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

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