Getting No Respect

Monday, March 8th, 2010

M. A. Orthofer at The Complete Review notes the restructuring of the Man Asian Literary Prize.

The Lake by Yasunari Kawabata (川端康成)

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

The Lake by Yasunari Kawabata

Highly recommended.

Buy Buy Research

Really Deep List

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

Three Percent has the fiction shortlist for the Best Translated Book Award 2010.

The Assault by Harry Mulisch

Saturday, February 13th, 2010

The Assault by Harry Mulisch

Recommended.

Buy Buy Research

The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa (小川洋子)

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa

Recommended with reservations.

Buy Buy Research

The Real Story of Ah-Q and Other Tales of China: The Complete Fiction of Lu Xun (魯迅)

Sunday, January 31st, 2010

The Real Story of Ah-Q and Other Tales of China: The Complete Fiction of Lu Xun

Recommended.

Buy Buy Research

Senselessness by Horacio Castellanos Moya

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

Senselessness by Horacio Castellanos Moya

Recommended with reservations.

Buy Buy Research

The Enduring Russia

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

The appearance in English of this new version of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s best novel, mistranslated as “The First Circle” when it appeared in Britain and America more than 40 years ago, is an exciting literary event that is destined to be little noticed or appreciated in our Twitterized times.

Robert Kaiser of the Washington Post reviews the new version of Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn’s In the First Circle.

Coping Strategies

Wednesday, January 20th, 2010

Issue 13 of The Journal of Specialised Translation focuses on the difficulties of moving texts between Chinese and English.

Those That at a Distance Resemble Flies

Monday, January 18th, 2010

Michael Dirda of the Washington Post reviews Umberto Eco’s The Infinity of Lists.

In one of my favorite chapters, Eco describes rhetorical devices, or tropes, used in listmaking, such as asyndeton, the avoidance of conjunctions. For example, I left out “and” when speaking of “schedules, calendars, in-boxes, deadlines, memoranda.” Asyndeton conveys the impression that a series could go on forever. In my immediately following sentence, I employed polysyndeton, in which a conjunction — in this case “or” — appears between each activity mentioned. Such repetition creates a feeling of almost naive breathlessness or awe, as if the writer, overwhelmed by the number of choices, can only point to an item there and another here and still another over there and . . .

Mandarins by Ryunosuke Akutagawa (芥川龍之介)

Wednesday, January 6th, 2010

Mandarins by Ryunosuke Akutagawa

Recommended.

Buy Buy Research

Books upon Books

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010

The fiction longlist for the 2010 Best Translated Book Awards is available at Three Percent.

First Snow on Fuji by Yasunari Kawabata (川端康成)

Sunday, January 3rd, 2010

First Snow on Fuji by Yasunari Kawabata

Recommended.

Buy Buy Research

No Jackpot Mentality

Thursday, December 31st, 2009

In the New York Times, Larry Rohter profiles Open Letter Books.

Good Example of the Form

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

M. A. Orthofer of The Complete Review critiques Hansjörg Schertenleib’s A Happy Man.

The World as a Work of Art

Tuesday, December 15th, 2009

Michael Dirda of the Washington Post reviews Vivant Denon’s No Tomorrow.

Confessions: An Innocent Life in Communist China by Kang Zhengguo (康正果)

Thursday, December 10th, 2009

Confessions: An Innocent Life in Communist China by Kang Zhengguo

Recommended.

Buy Buy

The Invention of Morel by Adolfo Bioy Casares

Monday, November 30th, 2009

The Invention of Morel by Adolfo Bioy Casares

Recommended with reservations.

Buy Buy

I Have the Right to Destroy Myself by Young-Ha Kim (김영하)

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

I Have the Right to Destroy Myself By Young-Ha Kim

Not recommended.

Buy Buy

Hear the Wind Sing by Haruki Murakami (村上春樹)

Friday, October 23rd, 2009

Hear the Wind Sing by Haruki Murakami

Recommended with reservations.

Buy

Pinball, 1973 by Haruki Murakami (村上春樹)

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

Pinball, 1973 by Haruki Murakami

Recommended.

Buy

I Am a Cat by Natsume Soseki (夏目漱石)

Sunday, September 27th, 2009

I Am a Cat by Soseki Natsume

Recommended with reservations.

Buy Buy

The Informers by Juan Gabriel Vasquez

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

The Informers by Juan Gabriel Vasquez

Recommended.

Buy Buy

Tales of Belkin by Alexander Pushkin

Friday, September 11th, 2009

Tales of Belkin by Alexander Pushkin

Recommended with reservations.

Buy Buy

Gourmet Rhapsody by Muriel Barbery

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009

Gourmet Rhapsody by Muriel Barbery

Recommended.

Buy Buy

The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson

Not recommended.

Buy Buy

The Stones Cry Out by Hikaru Okuizumi (奥泉光)

Monday, August 10th, 2009

The Stones Cry Out by Hikaru Okuizumi

Recommended with reservations.

Buy Buy

Naomi by Junichiro Tanizaki (谷崎潤一郎)

Monday, August 3rd, 2009

Naomi by Junichiro Tanizaki

Recommended with reservations.

Buy Buy

The Elementary Particles by Michel Houellebecq

Monday, July 27th, 2009

The Elementary Particles by Michel Houellebecq

Recommended.

Buy Buy

Lurid Melodramatics

Thursday, July 16th, 2009

Michiko Kakutani of the New York Times reviews Stieg Larsson’s second thriller.

The ending of “The Girl Who Played With Fire” — like the revelation about Salander’s past, which gives the book its title — comes straight out of a horror movie: it’s gory, harrowing and operatically over the top. The reason it works is the same reason that “Dragon Tattoo” worked: Mr. Larsson’s two central characters, Salander and Blomkvist, transcend their genre and insinuate themselves in the reader’s mind through their oddball individuality, their professional competence and, surprisingly, their emotional vulnerability.

Kusamakura by Natsume Soseki (夏目漱石)

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009

Kusamakura by Natsume Soseki

Recommended with reservations.

Buy Buy

Capacious, Messy Romps

Thursday, July 9th, 2009

At Slate Nathaniel Rich examines the appeal of Scandinavian crime fiction.

What distinguishes these books is not some element of Nordic grimness but their evocation of an almost sublime tranquility. When a crime occurs, it is shocking exactly because it disrupts a world that, at least to an American reader, seems utopian in its peacefulness, happiness, and orderliness.

Rhyming Life and Death by Amos Oz

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009

Rhyming Life and Death by Amos Oz

Recommended.

Buy Buy

Centre Stage

Thursday, June 18th, 2009

The London Review Book Shop is holding a World Literature Weekend.

House of the Sleeping Beauties by Yasunari Kawabata (川端康成)

Sunday, June 14th, 2009

House of the Sleeping Beauties by Yasunari Kawabata

Highly recommended.

Buy Buy

Conjugal Love by Alberto Moravia

Thursday, June 11th, 2009

Conjugal Love by Alberto Moravia

Recommended.

Buy Buy

When I Forgot by Elina Hirvonen

Monday, June 1st, 2009

When I Forgot by Elina Hirvonen

Not recommended.

Buy Buy

Platform by Michel Houellebecq

Wednesday, May 20th, 2009

Platform by Michel Houellebecq

Recommended with reservations.

Buy Buy

The Pets by Bragi Ólafsson

Saturday, May 16th, 2009

The Pets by Bragi Ólafsson

Recommended with reservations.

Buy Buy

In the Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami (村上龍)

Tuesday, May 12th, 2009

In the Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami

Recommended with reservations.

Buy Buy

One of Life’s Burdens

Monday, May 11th, 2009

In the New York Times, Liesl Schillinger reviews Elina Hirvonen’s When I Forgot.

As a Man Grows Older by Italo Svevo

Monday, March 30th, 2009

As a Man Grows Older by Italo Svevo

Recommended with reservations.

Buy Buy

Bonsai by Alejandro Zambra

Friday, March 27th, 2009

Bonsai by Alejandro Zambra

Recommended.

Buy Buy

Best Approached in Small Doses

Wednesday, March 25th, 2009

Chad W. Post of Three Percent reviews Can Xue’s Five Spice Street.

Brutal Experience

Friday, March 20th, 2009

For the Washington Post, Maureen Freely writes about translating Orhan Pamuk’s works.

A Cat, a Man, and Two Women by Junichiro Tanizaki (谷崎潤一郎)

Thursday, March 19th, 2009

A Cat, a Man, and Two Women by Junichiro Tanizaki

Recommended with reservations.

Buy Buy

Hope Must Lie Elsewhere

Tuesday, March 17th, 2009

The Complete Review critiques Tarek Eltayeb’s Cities Without Palms.

Pale Rider

Saturday, March 7th, 2009

Michael Dirda of the Washington Post reviews Theodor Storm’s The Rider on the White Horse.

Throughout his fiction Storm repeatedly evokes the beauty of nature, “the sharp odor of the golden tansy blossoms,” the “grieving voices” of sea birds, the “secret music of the summer night.” But he also celebrates the simple pleasures of long ago: “We had jokes and riddles and rhymes at the table; and when they served dessert, we sang all the lovely songs that are now forgotten.” Somehow, he makes this nostalgia avoid the taint of mawkishness. Sometimes, this is through a sudden harsh truth: “For the first time she was facing life directly, in all its barren poverty: it was a path that seemed endless, dry; until, suddenly, it did end: you died.”

Without an E-book or Vampire in Sight

Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009

In the New York Times, Motoko Rich profiles Europa Editions.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Sunday, March 1st, 2009

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Recommended with reservations.

Buy Buy

Sensitive Subjects

Friday, February 27th, 2009

Andy Baio of Waxy.org explores how Chinese Internet users access articles from The Economist.

The Master of Go by Yasunari Kawabata (川端康成)

Wednesday, February 25th, 2009

The Master of Go by Yasunari Kawabata

Recommended.

Buy Buy

Tough Nut

Friday, February 20th, 2009

Three Percent announces its Best Translated Book Award winners.

Hate the Artist

Thursday, February 12th, 2009

At The New Republic, Javier Marias frets about the behavior of artists.

The most worrisome thing for those of us who have turned out to be novelists or poets or sculptors or painters or musicians is that not even as adults have we seen much reason to admire our predecessors. We might feel great admiration for their work, but we rarely take to them when their lives are recounted in books or depicted on screen. I don’t know if it’s just that our profession has been particularly unfortunate in that respect or if artists really are unbearable.

All She Was Worth by Miyuki Miyabe (宮部みゆき)

Wednesday, February 11th, 2009

All She Was Worth by Miyuki Miyabe

Recommended with reservations.

Buy Buy

The Widow by Georges Simenon

Monday, January 19th, 2009

The Widow by Georges Simenon

Recommended.

Buy Buy

The Post-Office Girl by Stefan Zweig

Tuesday, January 13th, 2009

The Post-Office Girl by Stefan Zweig

Recommended with reservations.

Buy Buy

The Waitress Was New by Dominique Fabre

Thursday, January 8th, 2009

The Waitress Was New by Dominique Fabre

Not recommended.

Buy Buy

Art and Revolution

Sunday, January 4th, 2009

The Complete Review critiques Victor Serge’s Unforgiving Years.

Lazier and More Provincial

Saturday, January 3rd, 2009

. . . Raffel’s translation loses the original’s music without finding a music of its own; he is wordy where the original is pithy and bare where the original is lush. Chaucer is in many ways the progenitor of English fiction—he is closer to Dickens than to Keats—but he is also a great master of English poetry; and since poetry is what is lost in translation, why not take the trouble to read the original and avoid the loss?

At Slate Adam Kirsch reviews Burton Raffel’s translation of The Canterbury Tales.

What They Read

Friday, December 12th, 2008

Granta’s Books of the Year list is more interesting than most.

Richard Ford:

One publication I heartily recommend is Vasily Grossman’s book of cablegrams reporting on the Nazi push toward Moscow and Stalingrad. It’s called A Writer at War: Vassily Grossman and the Red Army, 1941–1945. The writing is (even in translation) extremely memorable as writing – not just for its reportorial virtues – and for the actually haunting pictures it puts into one’s mind. Grossman was a Jew, reporting on Nazis, at the same time as Stalin was exterminating Jews in various precincts of the Soviet Union. His precarious hold on his life, the truth, his profession, his sense of collegiality, his family, his own writing is a subtle but forceful torque in the writing itself.

Too Loud a Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal

Thursday, December 11th, 2008

Too Loud a Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal

Recommended with reservations.

The Face of Another by Kobo Abe

Sunday, December 7th, 2008

The Face of Another by Kobo Abe

Recommended.

Best Translated Book

Friday, December 5th, 2008

Three Percent announces the twenty-five titles on its longlist.

In terms of criteria, we only considered original titles published (or released) in the U.S. in 2008. No retranslations, no reprints, no paperbacks of previously published hardcovers were eligible. And what we’re looking for is the best translated book, not just the best translation.

In Praise of Shadows by Junichiro Tanizaki (谷崎潤一郎)

Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008

In Praise of Shadows by Junichiro Tanizaki

Recommended with reservations.

Easy to Forget

Saturday, November 29th, 2008

National Public Radio’s All Things Considered has a segment by Rick Kleffel on the art of translation.

The Funeral Party by Ludmila Ulitskaya

Wednesday, November 26th, 2008

The Funeral Party by Ludmila Ulitskaya

Recommended.

The Squabble by Nikolai Gogol

Wednesday, November 19th, 2008

The Squabble by Nikolai Gogol

Recommended with reservations.

Those Who Read It Young

Wednesday, November 12th, 2008

The tapestries that hung so self-sufficiently at the end of part one of the novel become a backdrop for social criticism in part two. Malte seems to be merely historicizing them at first, noting that these tapestries used to hang in a private house, among the descendants of the fifteenth-century knight who commissioned them. But then he turns and notices that there are girls in the museum, modern girls with sketch pads who, like the tapestries, have moved out of the old houses and now live independently, with no one to fasten the backs of their dresses. These aristocratic girls dimly recognize that the lady in the tapestry represents everything that would have been theirs if family and religion and feminine passivity were still triumphant.

Writing for The Nation, Benjamin Lytal revisits Rainer Maria Rilke’s The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge.

A Single Plummeting Arc

Sunday, November 9th, 2008

At Slate, Adam Kirsch reviews Roberto Bolaño’s 2666.

The Pathseeker by Imre Kertész

Monday, November 3rd, 2008

The Pathseeker by Imre Kertész

Recommended.

The Charm of Tradition

Friday, October 31st, 2008

Ron Charles of the Washington Post reviews José Saramago’s Death with Interruptions.

The story opens at the start of a new year in a small, unnamed modern country. As is typical of the allegorical universalism in much of Saramago’s work, we never get a precise location or time period. The frenetic, amiable narrator refers to characters only by each one’s generic function: e.g. prime minister, mother, editor. All of them are confronting the most unusual nonevent in human history: “No one died. . . . New year’s eve had failed to leave behind it the usual calamitous trail of fatalities, as if old atropos with her great bared teeth had decided to put aside her shears for a day.”

Scavenger

Sunday, October 19th, 2008

At a meeting on Wednesday morning with the Flemish Literary Fund, Jill Schoolman, the publisher and editor in chief of Archipelago Books, a nonprofit Brooklyn publisher of works in translation, discussed her plans to bring out “Wonder,” a novel by Hugo Claus, a Belgian writer who was frequently discussed as a Nobel contender before he died by euthanasia earlier this year.

For the New York Times, Motoko Rich covers the Frankfurt Book Fair.

After the Quake by Haruki Murakami (村上春樹)

Saturday, October 18th, 2008

After the Quake by Haruki Murakami

Recommended with reservations.

To Our Discredit

Thursday, October 16th, 2008

National Public Radio’s Day to Day laments America’s literary insularity.

Boredom by Alberto Moravia

Monday, October 13th, 2008

Boredom by Alberto Moravia

Recommended with reservations.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

Friday, October 10th, 2008

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

Recommended with reservations.

The Sound of the Mountain by Yasunari Kawabata (川端康成)

Saturday, September 27th, 2008

The Sound of the Mountain by Yasunari Kawabata

Recommended.

Cultural Treasures

Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008

Britain is a nation of museums, where they have collected everything worth collecting. A good museum typically requires generations of hard work. With long and careful planning the British have plundered collectibles from Egypt, India and Mexico, from China, and all corners of the world, carting valuables home like tireless ants. They spent no small amount of taxpayers’ money doing this, and they have spent even more on preservation.

They were spending pounds sterling, and everyone knows how far the pound goes.

The Guardian has “Collecting” by Zhu Wen.

Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth by Xiaolu Guo

Tuesday, August 26th, 2008

Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth by Xiaolu Guo

Recommended with reservations.

We Always Treat Women Too Well by Raymond Queneau

Thursday, August 7th, 2008

We Always Treat Women Too Well by Raymond Queneau

Recommended with reservations.

Time Regained by Marcel Proust

Sunday, July 13th, 2008

Time Regained by Marcel Proust

Recommended.

Grading Translations

Thursday, July 3rd, 2008

In The Korea Times, Chung Ah-young covers a study by South Korea’s Literature Translation Institute on the quality of English translations of Korean literature.

According to the project, only 10 percent, or seven, among the 72 translated works scored an A in high reliability. Two thirds were evaluated as non-reliable (grade B to C) translations. There were no grade A+ works.

After the Banquet by Yukio Mishima

Tuesday, July 1st, 2008

After the Banquet by Yukio Mishima

Not recommended.

Contempt by Alberto Moravia

Thursday, June 19th, 2008

Contempt by Alberto Moravia

Highly recommended.

Prized Translations

Wednesday, June 11th, 2008

Lindesay Irvine at The Guardian writes of “a very bright patch for a rarely spotlit field, with three awards for literary translations into English going to independent publishers in recent days.”

The Old Capital by Yasunari Kawabata (川端康成)

Wednesday, June 11th, 2008

The Old Capital by Yasunari Kawabata

Recommended with reservations.

Equal Danger by Leonardo Sciascia

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

Equal Danger by Leonardo Sciascia

Recommended with reservations.

Natasha

Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008

The New Yorker has a new English translation of a Nabokov short story (circa 1924).

Envy by Yuri Olesha

Friday, May 30th, 2008

Envy by Yuri Olesha

Recommended.

Twisted Cinderella

Thursday, May 29th, 2008

In the Village Voice, Michael Feingold notes a new English translation of Viennese author Stefan Zweig’s The Post-Office Girl. The short novel “displays Zweig’s two facets, the social-psychological analyst and the Romantic sentimentalist, in what often looks like a death struggle for control of the narrative.”

Writing Style

Wednesday, May 28th, 2008

Mainichi Daily News interviews Haruki Murakami about his translations of American literature.

Thousand Cranes by Yasunari Kawabata (川端康成)

Tuesday, May 13th, 2008

Thousand Cranes by Yasunari Kawabata

Recommended.

The Diving Pool by Yoko Ogawa

Friday, May 9th, 2008

The Diving Pool by Yoko Ogawa

Recommended with reservations.

Doubling Up

Thursday, May 8th, 2008

Lindesay Irvine at the Guardian notes that Paul Verhaeghen has won the Independent foreign fiction prize for writing and translating his novel Omega Minor.

Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo

Thursday, May 8th, 2008

Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo

Recommended with reservations.

The Captive and The Fugitive by Marcel Proust

Tuesday, April 29th, 2008

The Captive and The Fugitive by Marcel Proust

Recommended.

Beauty and Sadness by Yasunari Kawabata (川端康成)

Wednesday, April 9th, 2008

Beauty and Sadness by Yasunari Kawabata

Recommended.

Six Records of a Floating Life by Shen Fu

Monday, March 31st, 2008

[Cover]

Recommended with reservations.

Sodom and Gomorrah by Marcel Proust

Sunday, March 23rd, 2008

[Cover]

Recommended with reservations.

Kokoro by Natsume Soseki (夏目漱石)

Sunday, March 16th, 2008

[Cover]

Highly recommended.

Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata (川端康成)

Wednesday, March 12th, 2008

[Cover]

Recommended.

The Guermantes Way by Marcel Proust

Thursday, February 14th, 2008

[Cover]

Recommended with reservations.

The Elephant Vanishes by Haruki Murakami (村上春樹)

Thursday, February 7th, 2008

[Cover]

Recommended.

Black Rain by Masuji Ibuse

Thursday, January 24th, 2008

[Cover]

Recommended with reservations.

Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami (村上春樹)

Thursday, January 24th, 2008

[Cover]

Recommended with reservations.

Within a Budding Grove by Marcel Proust

Friday, December 14th, 2007

[Cover]

Recommended.

The Setting Sun by Osamu Dazai

Wednesday, December 12th, 2007

[Cover]

Recommended.

Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust

Thursday, December 6th, 2007

[Cover]

Recommended.

The Theory of Clouds by Stephane Audeguy

Sunday, November 4th, 2007

[Cover]

Not recommended.

Memories of My Melancholy Whores by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Wednesday, October 31st, 2007

[Cover]

Recommended.

Real Life

Sunday, October 28th, 2007

Michael Dirda at the Washington Post reviews a new translation of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace.

No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai

Thursday, October 4th, 2007

[Cover]

Recommended with reservations.

The Decay of the Angel by Yukio Mishima

Friday, August 24th, 2007

[Cover]

Recommended with reservations.

The Temple of Dawn by Yukio Mishima

Saturday, August 18th, 2007

[Cover]

Recommended with reservations.

Runaway Horses by Yukio Mishima

Tuesday, August 14th, 2007

[Cover]

Not recommended.

Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima

Tuesday, August 7th, 2007

[Cover]

Highly recommended.

South of the Border, West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami (村上春樹)

Monday, July 16th, 2007

[Cover]

Highly recommended.

After Dark by Haruki Murakami (村上春樹)

Saturday, June 16th, 2007

[After Dark]

Recommended with reservations.

Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami (村上春樹)

Monday, June 4th, 2007

[Cover]

Recommended.

Out by Natsuo Kirino

Thursday, May 17th, 2007

[Cover]

Not recommended.

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami (村上春樹)

Friday, April 20th, 2007

[Cover]

Not recommended.

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami (村上春樹)

Friday, March 30th, 2007

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

Recommended.

Our Twisted Hero

Monday, February 19th, 2007

[Cover]

Recommended.

Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami (村上春樹)

Monday, January 22nd, 2007

[Cover]

Recommended.

A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami (村上春樹)

Monday, January 15th, 2007

[Cover]

Recommended.

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami (村上春樹)

Saturday, September 30th, 2006

[Cover]

Highly recommended.

Stick Out Your Tongue

Tuesday, September 12th, 2006

[Cover]

Not recommended.

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami (村上春樹)

Saturday, September 2nd, 2006

[Cover]

Recommended.