opinionated commentary on literary matters - from the complete review

The Literary Saloon Archive

1 - 10 July 2024

1 July: Bachmannpreis | Sigríður Hagalín Björnsdóttir and Jón Kalman Stefánsson profile
2 July: Ismail Kadare (1936-2024) | Robert Irwin (1946-2024)
3 July: Miles Franklin shortlist | Murakami re-translation | The Millions' summer preview
4 July: Brands and literature | Kseniya Tsyhanchuk Q & A | Speculative Arab fiction
5 July: Premio Strega | Wales Books of the Year | Nerîman Evdikê Q & A
6 July: HKW Internationaler Literaturpreis | Crime Writers' Association Daggers | Bookselling in Germany 2023 | The Book and the Brotherhood review
7 July: Anita Desai
8 July: Cavafy house | Rose Royal review
9 July: Best Books of the 21st Century ? | Robert Walser-Preise
10 July: Martin Puchner Q & A | Korean anthology

go to weblog

return to main archive

       Martin Puchner Q & A

       In The Harvard Gazette Eileen O'Grady reports on how: 'Martin Puchner is using chatbots to bring to life Socrates, Shakespeare, and Thoreau', in A modern approach to teaching classics.
       Puchner edited the latest, fifth edition of The Norton Anthology of World Literature -- see my mention -- and that's addressed here as well.
       And, yes, he's 'customized' AI chatbots, as:

You upload a defined data set -- let's say the Platonic Dialogues -- and then you generate instructions. Through trial and error, I figured out how to shape that combination of data set and instructions so that you can talk to Socrates.

       It's apparently that simple .....

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

---

       Korean anthology

       In The Korea Times Park Han-sol reports on how the First century-spanning anthology of modern Korean women's literature hits shelves; see also the Mimusa weblog mention.
       Seven volumes -- this looks very impressive.

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

       Best Books of the 21st Century ?

       The New York Times is the latest to try to determine The 100 Best Books of the 21st Century (presumably paywalled) -- so far only 100-81, though they might have revealed more by the time you read this.
       They had: "503 novelists, nonfiction writers, poets, critics and other book lovers" vote.

       They are,of course, far from the first to have a go at this; see, for example The Guardian's The 100 best books of the 21st century (from 2019) and Vulture's Premature Attempt at the 21st Century Canon, from 2018.

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

---

       Robert Walser-Preise

       They've announced the winners of this year's Robert Walser Prizes, a biennial Swiss prize awarded for first works of prose, one in German, one in French, with Ferymont by Lorena Simmel winning the German prize -- see also the Verbrecher Verlag publicity page -- and Ceux qui appartiennent au jour by Emma Doude van Troostwijk winning the French prize -- see the Éditions de Minuit publicity page.
       Each winner gets CHF 20,000.

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

       Cavafy house

       I mentioned the recent opening of the Constantine Cavafy archive a few months ago, and now Helena Smith has a longer piece in The Observer on Cavafy's house in Alexandria, in Greek poet who inspired Forster, Hockney and Jackie Onassis emerges from the shadows.

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

---

       Rose Royal review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Nicolas Mathieu's novella, Rose Royal: A Love Story.

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

       Anita Desai

       Anita Desai has a new book, Rosarita -- out in the UK, and coming in January in the US; see the publicity pages from Picador and Scribner, pre-order your copy from Amazon.com or get it at Amazon.co.uk -- and so there are a some profiles and the like out.
       In The Guardian Emma Brockes recently had a profile of her, Anita Desai: ‘After I left India, I had to train myself to express my opinions’.
       At Scroll.in Sayari Debnath now has a Q & A with her, ‘I have spent at least a part of my day writing since the age of seven’: Anita Desai.

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

       HKW Internationaler Literaturpreis

       The Haus der Kulturen der Welt has announced the winner of this year's Internationaler Literaturpreis, a leading German prize for a work in translation, and it is Stefan Moster's translation of Pajtim Statovci's My Cat Yugoslavia; see also the Vintage publicity page for the English translation.

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

---

       Crime Writers' Association Daggers

       The Crime Writers' Association has announced the winners of this year's Daggers -- though not yet at the official site, last I checked; see, for example, Melina Spanoudi's report at The Bookseller.
       The Gold Dagger went to Tell Me What I Am, by Una Mannion.
       The Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger went to Emma Ramadan's translation of My Husband, by Maud Ventura.

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

---

       Bookselling in Germany 2023

       Christina Schulte has the official numbers for the German book market in 2023 at Börsenblatt, in Die offiziellen Zahlen für den Buchmarkt 2023 sind da.
       Among the numbers of interest:

• 25 million people bought books in 2023 -- down 2.8 per cent from 2022.
• 60,230 new titles were published in 2023, down 6.3 per cent from 2022 (64,278) -- and down from 70,395 in 2019 .....
• 8760 works in translation were published, down 6.8 per cent from 2022 (9403)

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

---

       The Book and the Brotherhood review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Iris Murdoch's The Book and the Brotherhood.

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

       Premio Strega

       They've announced the winner of this year's Premio Strega, the leading Italian novel prize, and it is L’età fragile, by Donatella Di Pietrantonio. It received 189 of the 644 submitted votes, comfortably beating out runner-up Invernale by Dario Voltolin which got 143 votes; Autobiogrammatica by Tommaso Giartosio fared by far the poorest of the six finalist, garnering a mere 25 votes.
       Europa Editions has published translations of two previous titles by Di Pietrantonio, and a translation -- by Ann Goldstein -- of this title is expected in 2025; meanwhile, see the Einaudi publicity page.

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

---

       Wales Books of the Year

       They've announced the winners of this years Wales Book of the Year, with Tom Bullough's Sarn Helen winning both the Creative Non-Fiction Award and the Overall Wales Book of the Year, and Mari George's Sut i Ddofi Corryn winning the Overall Welsh-language Wales Book of the Year 2024 and Fiction Award.

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

---

       Nerîman Evdikê Q & A

       ANF has a two-part Q & A with Northern and Eastern Syria Literature Council spokesperson Nerîman Evdikê -- The real literature of this revolution will emerge and We need more literary critics.
       Yes, among her responses is that:

One of our main problems is the lack of literary criticism. There is no evaluating or analyzing the new books.

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

       Brands and literature

       A few weeks ago I mentioned a report on brands 'leaning into the literary world', and at Jing Daily Bethanie Ryder now offers examples of How brands are harnessing luxury's love for literature in China.

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

---

       Kseniya Tsyhanchuk Q & A

       At New Eastern Europe Kinga Anna Gajda has a Q & A with Kseniya Tsyhanchuk, in Exploring crime fiction, war and Ukrainian literature.

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

---

       Speculative Arab fiction

       At the Middle East Research and Information Project Marcia Lynx Qualey writes about Speculative Climate Futures in Arab Literature.

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

       Miles Franklin shortlist

       They've announced the shortlist for this year's Miles Franklin Literary Award, a leading Australian literary prize.
       No surprise that Praiseworthy, by Alexis Wright, is still in the running .....
       The winner will be announced on 1 August.

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

---

       Murakami re-translation

       Murakami Haruki's Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World was published in English in 1991. As the small print acknowledged, it was in fact: "translated and adapted by Alfred Birnbaum with the participation of the author" [emphasis added].
       'Adapted', *sigh* ..... And there are people who complain about AI translation .....
       Fortunately, this outrage is now being rectified: a new translation, by Jay Rubin, is due out in December -- and the first big change is already the truer-to-the-original translation of the title (世界の終りとハードボイルド・ワンダーランド in the Japanese original), as: End of the World and Hard-Boiled Wonderland.
       See also the publicity pages from Everyman's Library Contemporary Classics Series and Vintage Classics, or pre-order your copy at Amazon.com, Bookshop.org, or Amazon.co.uk.

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

---

       The Millions' summer preview

       The Millions now has their Most Anticipated: The Great Summer 2024 Preview -- "more than 80 books".

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

       Ismail Kadare (1936-2024)

       Leading Albanian author Ismail Kadare has passed away; see, for example, David Bellos' Ismail Kadare obituary in The Guardian -- Bellos translated a number of Kadare works from their French translations -- as well as Richard Lea's Ismail Kadare, giant of Albanian literature, dies aged 88, also in The Guardian, as well as Rusha Haljuci in The New York Times, reporting that Ismail Kadare, 88, Dies; His Novels Brought Albania's Plight to the World (presumably paywalled).
       Several of Kadare's novels are under review at the complete review:

• The Accident
• The Fall of the Stone City
• A Girl in Exile
• The Successor
• The Traitor's Niche
• Twilight of the Eastern Gods

       And see also David Bellos on The Englishing of Ismail Kadare: Notes of a retranslator at the cr Quarterly.

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

---

       Robert Irwin (1946-2024)

       British author Robert Irwin has passed away; see, for example, the report at Locus, as well as some personal reflections by publisher Eric Lane at Dedalus.
       Two of Irwin's novels are under review at the complete review Prayer-Cushions of the Flesh and The Runes Have Been Cast, and I'm sure to get to more.

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

       Bachmannpreis

       They held the Tage der deutschsprachigen Literatur over the weekend, with the Bachmannpreis, the German literary prize where invited authors read texts and are judged live by a jury; Tijan Sila won the top prize, with his Der Tag, an dem meine Mutter verrückt wurde (warning ! dreaded pdf format !).

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

---

       Sigríður Hagalín Björnsdóttir and Jón Kalman Stefánsson

       At High North News Astri Edvardsen has a profile of Sigríður Hagalín Björnsdóttir and Jón Kalman Stefánsson after they participated in a debate on 'resilience in the North', in Icelandic Author Couple: Literature Allows Us To Explore Everything, Including the End of the World.

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

previous entries (21 - 30 June 2024)

archive index

- search the site -

- return to top of the page -

© 2024 the complete review


Main | the New | the Best | the Rest | Review Index | Links