B O D Y’s Saturday European Fiction: One year anniversary

B O D Y’s series of European fiction in translation, Saturday European Fiction, kicked off one year ago and has since seen the publication of short stories and novel excerpts from almost every country in Central and Eastern Europe as well as Spain, from authors young and old, living and dead, previously unpublished in English along with more established names. It also featured the work of some of the best translators working today, with much appreciation for all their effort.

Saturday European Fiction began April 7, 2013 with Sándor Jászberényi’s “The Blake Precept”, translated from the Hungarian by M. Henderson Ellis. His story “Professional Killers” was a later addition to the series, and now his work will be published in book form at the end of 2014 by New Europe Books, entitled The Devil is a Black Dog.

Some favorites from the year:

Short stories –

“The Red Devil” by Boris Dežulović (translated by Will Firth)

Black humor and the wild distrust and fear of a child’s imagination present a unique take on the religious rifts within the Balkans, all through the prism of a famous Coca-Cola ad.

“Cross Hairs: 833 Meters” by Marin Mălaicu-Hondrari (translated by Jean Harris)

A story that begins “Roberto Bolaño says a poet can stand anything…” and remains that good, if not better, the rest of the way.

Novel excerpts –

The Swimmers by Joaquín Pérez Azaústre (translated by Lucas Lyndes)

(see what I wrote about it in Literalab’s Best Books of 2013)

The Sublimes by Yuri Mamleyev (translated by Marian Schwartz)

An opening chapter that announces a unique sensibility.

There’s more to come in Year Two, with new, previously unpublished (in English translation) writers – starting this upcoming weekend, with writers from countries that haven’t been represented in the series yet such as Germany and other Western European locales. So stay tuned.