the Literary Saloon
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Opinionated commentary on literary matters.
the Literary Saloon
2d ago
At Prospect Josiah Gogarty profiles The translator bringing Vladimir Sorokin to English readers -- Max Lawton, translator of Blue Lard, among (many) other works ..read more
the Literary Saloon
2d ago
At The Mercury Paola Martinez reports on how Deep Vellum expands literary and translation options in North Texas -- that being publisher Deep Vellum, quite a few of whose books are under review at the complete review.
Impressive to hear that: "Deep Vellum is now becoming international as they expand their administrative offices to New York and possibly London ..read more
the Literary Saloon
2d ago
Many Salome-variations are covered in my new novel, Salome in Graz, but the focus is on the ones that appeared up to 1906 -- but there is some mention of a few of the ones that came after, including some cinematic adaptations (Ken Russell !). One that my protagonists didn't get to was screened at the Berlinale practically at the same time the book came out -- Atom Egoyan's Seven Veils, starring Amanda Seyfried; it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last year.
I haven't seen this yet, but hope ..read more
the Literary Saloon
2d ago
Hwang Sok-yong's Mater 2-10 has been shortlisted for this year's International Booker Prize, and at Scroll.in Harshaneeyam has International Booker interview: How Sora Russell and Youngjae Bae translated ‘Mater 2-10’ from Korea ..read more
the Literary Saloon
2d ago
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of George Sand's 1839 Gabriel.
I was a bit surprised that this hasn't gotten more attention recently, given it's subject matter -- issues of gender-identity -- but the literary quality is ... well, not great.
This is published in the very impressive MLA Texts and Translations-series -- well worth working one's way through ..read more
the Literary Saloon
2d ago
In New York they're holding Faroe Islands Culture Days this week, including with the interesting-sounding Literature from the Faroe Islands event on 17 April.
This gives me opportunity to point to the impressive FarLit-site -- a Faroese Literature promotion site. The Nordics are very good with their literary support -- check out Norwegian Literature Abroad, the Icelandic Literature Center, and the Finnish Literature Exchange, for example -- but it's also a reminder of how many languages/countries can't (or can ..read more
the Literary Saloon
2d ago
At Quilette Brad Strotten profiles John Braine, in Desire and Ambition.
I'm usually all for the book over the movie, but I have to admit seeing the Laurence Harvey/Simone Signoret Room at the Top before coming to the book, and it -- especially the conclusion -- making a big (and devastating) impression on me ..read more
the Literary Saloon
5d ago
The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Johan Harstad's The Red Handler -- the Collected Works of (fictional) author Frode Brandeggen, in an (extensively) annotated edition, just out in English, from Open Letter.
(Two other Harstad titles have also been translated into English and are under review at the complete review, but I wonder if anyone will pick up his (1104-page) Max, Mischa & the Tet Offensive; see, for example, the Gyldendal Agency information page ..read more
the Literary Saloon
5d ago
The Society of Authors: "ran a survey of its 12,500 members and other authors, and received 787 responses" regarding 'experiences of generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems', and they summarize the findings here.
Interesting to hear that: 37% of translators, 20% of fiction writers, and 25% of non-fiction writers "said they had used generative AI in their work".
Also: 36% of translators say they have already lost work due to generative AI, while 43% say the incom ..read more
the Literary Saloon
5d ago
At the Asymptote blog Sarah Gear has Translating Indonesia's On-the-Ground Realities: An Interview with John McGlynn of the Lontar Foundation.
Lontar have published a fantastic selection of books; several are under review at the complete review ..read more