opinionated commentary on literary matters - from the complete review

The Literary Saloon Archive

1 - 10 March 2025

1 March: Martin Puchner Q & A | Andrey Kurkov's 'books of my life' | The Aesthetics of Resistance - the play
2 March: Banu Mushtaq Q & A | Salome in Riga
3 March: Academy Awards - Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
4 March: Shortlists: Sheikh Zayed Book Awards - PEN/Faulkner Award | Non-fiction (not) in paperback
5 March: Women's Prize for Fiction longlist | Ockham NZ Book Awards shortlists | Sono Ayako (1931-2025)
6 March: Preis(e) der Leipziger Buchmesse | (Not) reading in ... the UK | The Peach Blossom Fan review
7 March: Zettels Traum/Bottom's Dream editions | US State Department axes IWP funding | Zadie Smith Q & A
8 March: EUPL Prize finalists | New Books in German spring 2025 selections
9 March: Kazuo Ishiguro profile | Salome-film
10 March: Wingate Prize | Shevchenko National Prizes | Athol Fugard (1932-2025) | The Plains review

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       Wingate Prize

       They've announced the winner of this year's Wingate Literary Prize, awarded: "to the best book, fiction or non-fiction, to convey the idea of Jewishness to the general reader", and it is Lublin, by Manya Wilkinson.
       I have a copy of this, but I haven't gotten to it yet; see also the And Other Stories publicity page, or get your copy at Amazon.com, Bookshop.org, or Amazon.co.uk.

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

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       Shevchenko National Prize

       They've awarded this year's Taras Shevchenko National Prize(s) of Ukraine, with Volodymyr Zelenskyy taking part in the ceremonies.
       The literature prize went to Колекція by Yuriy Izdyk; see also the prize information page.

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

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       Athol Fugard (1932-2025)

       South African playwright Athol Fugard has passed away; see, for example, the obituary in The Guardian.

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

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       The Plains review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Gerald Murnane's 1982 classic, The Plains.

       Rather embarrassingly, I'm rather late to this one: Western Michigan University sent me a review copy in ... the summer of 2003 ..... Yes, it took me 7940 days to get to it -- though I reviewed a number of later-received Murnanes in the meantime (though I still haven't nearly fully caught up with the pile on hand). But, publishers take heart: just because I haven't gotten to your book yet doesn't mean I won't, eventually, possibly .....

       Though by now widely translated (nudged on by the Nobel-for-Murnane speculation of recent years), this one has had difficulty establishing itself in the US. George Braziller brought it out in 1985, but it got practically no attention at the time -- though The Los Angeles Times' critic did rave that: "Not since Alain Robbe-Grillet's Jealousy has a book appeared so impenetrable" -- and the 2003 Western Michigan University/New Issues edition (the one I have) did little better. (Just how poorly the Braziller edition did is suggested also by the Foreword to the 2003 edition, which claims that that WMU/New Issues edition is the first American one .....) The Text edition is apparently meant to be available in the US now, but it doesn't really seem very 'in print' here .....
       For a bit more on its US publishing history, with quotes, see also my thread.

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

       Kazuo Ishiguro profile

       It's apparently the twentieth anniversary of Never Let Me Go, and so at The Guardian Alex Clark has a profile of the author, ‘AI will become very good at manipulating emotions’: Kazuo Ishiguro on the future of fiction and truth.
       I'm a bit surprised to learn that of all his books, Never Let Me Go: "has outsold all his others".

       The Guardian also collects comments by Anne Enright, Mark Romanek, Venki Ramakrishnan, and Christopher Haydon on the book, in ‘The definition of a classic’: Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go at 20.

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

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       Salome-film

       Yet another take on Salome: this time a film on the mounting of a production of the Strauss opera, Atom Egoyan's Seven Veils, starring Amanda Seyfried, as the director putting on the production, now out in cinemas. (As readers know, I keep an eye out for this sort of thing re. my own novel, Salome in Graz.)
       A selection of reviews, at:

• AV Club
• Chicago Reader
• The New York Times (presumably paywalled)
• Paste
• RogerEbert.com
• Slant
• The Washington Post (presumably paywalled)

       You can also see the trailer here, and read a Q & A with the director at BoxOfficePro, Unveiling Obsession: Filmmaker Atom Egoyan on Fusing Film and Opera in SEVEN VEILS; see also Marriska Fernandes' article in S Magazine, Amanda Seyfried and Atom Egoyan Peel Back the Layers of ‘Seven Veils’ and Reflect on the Transformative Power of Art.

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

       EUPL Prize finalists

       They've announced the finalists for this year's European Union Prize for Literature.
       This prize is awarded in a three-year cycle, with thirteen or fourteen European countries nominating one title each in each cycle; the countries this year are: Austria, Belgium, Bosnia, Georgia, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, and Ukraine.
       The winner will be announced 16 May.

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

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       New Books in German spring 2025 selections

       New Books in German has announced its jury recommendations for spring 2025 -- a useful overview of recent German-language publications.

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

       Zettels Traum/Bottom's Dream editions

       Tom Ghostly writes On Arno Schmidt’s Zettel(‘)s Traum / Bottom’s Dream: A phenomenology of editions, offering an invaluable overview (with pictures !) of (editions of) Arno Schmidt's classic work.

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

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       US State Department axes IWP funding

       As the University of Iowa's Office of Strategic Communication now reports, US Department of State halts International Writing Program funding.
       *Sigh*.

       As the U.S. Department of State's most recent Comprehensive Annual Report on Public Diplomacy and International Broadcasting (warning ! dreaded pdf format !) reports -- see page 57 -- the International Writing Program received for the fiscal years:

• 2019: US$740,000
• 2020: US$740,000
• 2021: US$860,000
• 2022: US$740,000
• 2023: US$914,000

       Support of US$814,000 was planned for the fiscal year 2024.
       While federal support is not the only source of funding for the IWP, this is a devatsating blow to it, as:

Due to this loss of federal funding, totaling nearly $1 million, the program’s leaders will cancel its summer youth program, dissolve distance learning courses, and discontinue the Emerging Voices Mentorship Program. Because the program’s Fall Residency also receives funding through a combination of gifts, grants, support from foreign ministries of culture and nongovernmental organizations, the 2025 cohort will be reduced by about half. The fall program usually hosts about 30 writers.

       The State Department's own annual report notes that the IWP's: "programs contribute to freedom of expression, counter disinformation, and further democratic ideals", while their recent blow-off letter apparently states: "that the awards “no longer effectuate agency priorities,” nor align “with agency priorities and national interest.”". It makes you wonder what the new administration's priorities and perceived national interest are ....

       As the university press release notes:

More than 1,600 established writers from more than 160 countries have participated since the program was founded in 1967. For their efforts to promote cultural diplomacy by convening writers from around the world, IWP co-founders Paul and Hualing Engle were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976.

       And three participants have gone on to win the Nobel Prize in Literature !

       Cultural (or pretty much any kind of what we used to consider 'diplomacy') do not seem to interest the current American administration in the least, and this seems like (yet another, among so, so many) short-sighted, penny-(not-so-)wise/pound-(very-very-)foolish actions it has taken to disengage from the world at large.

       See also Vanessa Miller's article in The Gazette, State Department: UI International Writing Program no longer of ‘national interest’; terminates $1M funding.

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

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       Zadie Smith Q & A

       At npr Rachel Martin has a Q & A with the author, in Zadie Smith is learning to accept the limits of time.
       Among Smith's responses:

I just wish I was less selfish. Writing is a very selfish thing to have done with your time and it takes up all the time. I wish I had done a bit less of it or thought about what else I could have done in that time. Because it's all I did, I just wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote. Which is great, but there are a lot of other things in life that you can do apart from that.

       I also like the response:

When I left New York, for the first few weeks in London, I was still walking like a New Yorker. And people would be like, what the hell is wrong with you ?

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

       Preis(e) der Leipziger Buchmesse

       They've announced the shortlists for this year's prize(s) of the Leipzig Book Fair -- five books each in the three categories.
       The Fiction ('Belletristik') finalists include books by Wolf Haas, Christian Kracht, and Esther Dischereit, while there are two translations from the English in the translation category: Samantha Harvey's Orbital and a new translation of Erica Jong's Fear of Flying
       The winners will be announced 27 March, at the book fair.

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

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       (Not) reading in ... the UK

       YouGov reports that:

In the last year, the median Briton has only read or listened to three books, with 40% of the public not reading or listening to a single book in that time.

       Interesting also that:

British readers tend to favour fiction, with 55% of those who at least occasionally read or listen to saying so, including 18% who say they “only” read fiction. This compares to just 19% who say they mostly or only read non-fiction books

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

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       The Peach Blossom Fan review

       The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of a new translation of Kong Shangren's The Peach Blossom Fan, recently out in a bilingual edition in Oxford University Press' Hsu-Tang Library of Classical Chinese Literature.

       Attentive (long-suffering ?) readers will recall that I already reviewed a previous translation of this a few years ago -- but it's not the first title of which there are multiple translations under review -- and I'd actually like to do more of these.

       The (relatively new) Hsu-Tang Library has gotten some attention -- the Wall Street Journal did review (paywalled) one of the volumes -- but I'm a bit disappointed that I appear to be the most enthusiastic reviewer of these titles so far (having reviewed four of them). No doubt, they'll eventually be covered in the academic journals etc. but they surely already deserve more/better attention than an amateur like myself can offer -- aimed also at a (more) general audience; despite their scholarly 'look', they're hardly forbidding reads. (I assume The New York Review of Books will have an overview-review sometime in the next year or two, but other outlets -- including online -- should have a look (and spread the word) too.)

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

       Women's Prize for Fiction longlist

       They've announced the sixteen title-strong longlist for this year's Women's Prize for Fiction.
       I haven't seen any of these.
       The shortlist will be announced 2 April, and the winner on 12 June.

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

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       Ockham NZ Book Awards shortlists

       They've announced the shortlists for this year's Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.
       The winners will be announced 14 May.

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

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       Sono Ayako (1931-2025)

       Japanese author Sono Ayako has passed away; see, for example, the nippon.com report.
       Several of her works have been translated into English, but her Maximilian Kolbe-novel Miracles seems to be the only one in print; see the Wiseblood Books publicity page, or get your copy at Amazon.com, Bookshop.org, or Amazon.co.uk.

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

       Shortlists: Sheikh Zayed Book Awards

       They've announced the shortlists for this year's Sheikh Zayed Book Awards -- "One of the Arab World's most prestigious and well-funded prizes" -- though: "Sheikh Zayed Book Award decided to withhold the Award from the "Young Author" and "Publishing and Technology" categories for this edition".
       The titles were selected from over 4,000 nominations from 75 countries.

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

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       Shortlists: PEN/Faulkner Award

       They've announced the five finalists for this year's PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction -- selected from 414 (unfortunately not revealed) eligible novels and short story collections.

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

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       Non-fiction (not) in paperback

       In the Wall Street Journal Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg reports that: 'Publishers increasingly give nonfiction authors one shot at print stardom, ditching paperbacks as priorities shift', in Waiting for the Paperback ? Good Luck (possibly paywalled ?).
       Yes:

Traditionally, the paperback would hit the shelves about a year after the hardcover. Today, book publishers are printing fewer of them, closing a second-chance window for writers counting on a new cover or marketing campaign to spark sales. The shift reflects changing reader habits, the popularity of audiobooks and ebooks, and the power a few major retailers hold over the publishing industry.

       Stunningly:

New adult nonfiction paperback titles tumbled by 42% from 2019 to 2024, to just under 40,000, according to Bowker Books in Print, a bibliographic database.

The number of adult hardcover nonfiction titles fell by 9% during that same period.

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

       Academy Awards - Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

       The big American film awards, the Academy Awards (the Oscars®) were held yesterday, and Peter Straughan's screenplay of the Robert Harris novel Conclave took the prize in the Writing (Adapted Screenplay) category.

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

       Banu Mushtaq Q & A

       Banu Mushtaq's Heart Lamp was longlisted for this year's International Booker Prize; it's apparently not out yet -- see the And Other Stories publicity page -- but the Times of India has Shrinivasa M's TNN Q & A with the author, 'Need for more translations to take our literary treasures to the global stage'
       Mushtaq points out:

Though Kannada has produced diverse literary genres, its international exposure remains limited, unlike Malayalam literature where translations into English happen promptly. Despite the vast volume of Kannada literature published daily, less than 1% is translated. Many masterpieces remain inaccessible to international readers, and this recognition highlights the need to bridge that gap.

       (Indeed, only six translations from Kannada are under review at the complete review.)

       Mushtaq also responds:

With ‘Heart Lamp’ gaining global recognition, will you write more for an international audience ?

I have always written for myself and Kannada readers, without considering a global audience. My commitment remains to human experiences. My style and expression may evolve, but my core themes will not change.

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

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       Salome in Riga

       The protagonists in my novel Salome in Graz discuss and debate any number of Salome-variations, especially versions (translations, editions, performances) of the Wilde play and the Strauss opera and I wonder what they would have made of the new production of the opera from the Latvijas Nacionālā opera un balets which recently premiered.
       Certainly an unusual look, from the Amy Winehousesque take on the title character to ... well, whatever this take on Jochanaan is. Certainly some ... arresting imagery:


       And:


       Mike Hardy reviews it at OperaWire -- finding: "it is impossible to fathom what [Stage Director and Set Designer Alvis Hermanis] was aiming for here or what message he wished to convey". He does allow that: "Conductor Mārtiņš Ozoliņš does a fine job with Strauss’s score and the orchestra are exemplary" and that, in the title role, Astrid Kessler: "gave a convincing portrayal of a spoiled teenage brat", but generally finds the production ... far from a success (and borderline offensive, in numerous ways).
       Ah, well. But if you're in the neighborhood, you can catch a performance today (as well as on 20 March and 6 June). And you can see some scenes in the YouTube promotional video.

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

       Martin Puchner Q & A

       In The Harvard Crimson Kate J. Kaufman has Fifteen Questions: Martin Puchner on Philosopher Chatbots, AI Writing, and the Future.
       Among Puchner's responses:

FM: What advice would you give to current students who are grappling with how to use AI in their writing classes this semester ?

MP: I think there is only one use of AI, especially if you’re trying to learn how to write, that’s not good. And that is, just produce a couple of prompts and let it write the first draft. I think everything else is great. It’s great as a search engine. I think it’s really great as a sparring partner. I think a lot of students have trouble incorporating counter-arguments and counter-evidence into their writing.

So there are actually lots of uses, and I’m all for them. The one use where you just push a button and use the first answer it gives — I think that’s the one use where I feel like you would actually cheat yourself because you wouldn’t learn good writing.

       See also Puchner's Custom GPTs page, where you can: "Time-travel to converse with philosophers".

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

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       Andrey Kurkov's 'books of my life'

       The latest The Guardian 'The books of my life'-column features Death and the Penguin-author Andrey Kurkov: ‘At 17, I got my hands on an illegal copy of The Gulag Archipelago’.
       Among his responses:

My favourite book growing up

Martin Eden by Jack London. The main character’s dream of becoming a writer -- his tremendously strong will -- was probably what captivated me most.

       (This is also the book he selected for: "The book I could never read again".)
       And:

The book that made me want to be a writer

Goat Song by the Russian poet and novelist Konstantin Vaginov. Banned in the USSR, it was given to me by an American professor of literature who, when I was about 19, visited the university in Kyiv where I was studying English and French. You'll find traces of Goat Song in my novel The Silver Bone.

       Conveniently, New York Review Books is bringing out a translation of Goat Song in May; see their publicity page, or pre-order your copy at Amazon.com, Bookshop.org, or Amazon.co.uk

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

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       The Aesthetics of Resistance - the play

       With the third volume of Peter Weiss' The Aesthetics of Resistance finally coming out in English later this month -- 25 March; mark your calendars ! see the Duke University Press publicity page -- it's worth noting that there is a French stage-version, L'Esthétique de la résistance, which, conveniently is being revived at the Théâtre National de l'Odéon, running today through the sixteenth -- see their publicity page.
       Play-time is three hours and twenty minutes, with two intermissions extending the whole to four hours.

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

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