“What begins as a glance extends into lingering contemplation. She is going through my passport page by page, as if reading a novel. Then she turns to the computer for some corresponding information and back again. Her eyes have lit up. My first reaction is pride, that she likes it, but then I remember that […]
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Slovak fiction at B O D Y
“Shadow Play” by Slovak writer Peter Karpinský is the first story I brought to Prague literary journal B O D Y as a new contributing editor. The story of a translator of a German poet that reveals itself to be much more than that, is part of Karpinský’s 2010 Anasoft-nominated collection The Holy Non-Assumption. The […]
Literary roundup: Risky reflections and a transatlantic choice between German and Jewish lit festivals
At Slovakia’s Project Forum Salon there is a summary of a lengthy interview with Polish novelist, essayist and literary historian Stefan Chwin, who has recently written not only one but two books about Czesław Miłosz, so basically if he’s going to give an interview about him it’s going to be long. Just from the summary […]
Literary roundup: Tsvetaeva and fighting for writing in translation
On February 20 Prague literary journal B O D Y is hosting an evening of the work of Russian poet Marina Tsvetaeva by translator Mary Jane White. The translations will be accompanied by excerpts from the Russian originals and a scholarly talk about “the soundscape of Kafka’s and Tsvetaeva’s writing. “The evening kicks off with […]
Asymptote and the cause of international writing
In a world where overhyped English-language books playing on a predictable single-note formula (take your pick – 1. Quirky, 2. Topical, 3. Autobiographical) all too often overshadow masterpieces by writers from the wider world, it’s clear that international literature needs its champions. And champions it has, though not that many, and maybe not any who […]
Literary roundup: Marxism de Sade and Valentine’s Day Zweig
Boris Akunin’s Sebald Lecture delivered in London on February 4, is now available online. He talks about motherly manipulation, being tramautized by Steinbeck – i.e. everything you’d expect a lecture on translation to be about. But he also talks about the specific place of translation in the Soviet Union and how it was “cleaner” than […]
Jerusalem International Book Fair
The Jerusalem International Book Fair runs from February 10 to 15 and as always there are a lot of writers and events in literalab’s sphere of interest. At the literary cafes these include Hungarian writer and previous Angelus award winner (link) György Spiró, who will be speaking about his autobiographical novel Dreaming For You. Polish […]
Literary roundup: Karski animated and short stories in translation
The clock is ticking on the Kickstarter deadline for a project to make a partially animated documentary film about Jan Karski, the Polish resistance hero who tried to bring the Holocaust to light at a time when many people found the reports they were hearing too hard to believe. It’s called Karski & The Lords […]
Literary roundup: examining evil and Russian books 2013
Prague literary journal B O D Y has an unbelievable story from award-winning Czech writer Tomáš Zmeškal. “Vision of Hitler,” translated by Nathan Fields, is a story that is even more unnerving in keeping the reader guessing what kind of story it is than in its ultimate subject matter (though that’s unnerving too). What begins […]
Literary roundup: Akunin in London and reading to the void
On February 4 in London, Russian novelist Boris Akunin will deliver the annual Sebald lecture titled “Paradise Lost: Confessions of an Apostate Translator.” Akunin, a pen name for Grigory Shalvovich Chkhartishvili, is known primarily for his historical mystery series such as the The Adventures of Erast Fandorin, but before becoming a famous writer was an […]
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