The literary history of Ukraine’s Black Sea port city of Odessa is the focus of British novelist and journalist A.D. Miller’s article on the Odessa State Literary Museum “The Odessaphiles” at The Economist’s Intelligent Life. It’s a nice introduction to the city’s mythical place in Russian history, literary and otherwise, especially in regard to Isaak […]
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Literary roundup: from Led Zeppelin to contemporary Czech fiction
Kateřina Tučková has been awarded the 2012 Josef Škvorecký Prize for her novel Žítkovské bohyně (The Goddesses of Žítková). She beat out finalists such as Michal Ajvaz and Marek Šindelka for her book about mystical women in the White Carpathian mountains. Read more about Tučková, her work and check out the cool trailer for the […]
Prague German Writers: Franz Werfel
And Werfel’s friendship with another Prague German writer named Franz From the time his first book of poetry Friend of the World was published to great success and acclaim when he was 21 until his death 34 years later in exile in Los Angeles, Franz Werfel didn’t need to have his name brought to readers’ […]
Prague German Writers: German Literature Month
An introductory guest post at Beauty is a Sleeping Cat November is German Literature Month and there has already been a lot going on at blogs such as Beauty is a Sleeping Cat. The first part of my own contribution went up as a guest post on that excellent blog as an introduction to the […]
Bananas for Anna, or the Karenins are about to split
What do Tolstoy, a clothing chain, Elif Batuman and a Hollywood blockbuster have in common? Nothing. But wait, that was before the launching of Banana Republic’s Anna Karenina clothing line to profit from the publicity of the new Tolstoy novel adaptation about to hit the theaters. Elif Batuman gets thrown in there because the LA […]
Literary roundup: Polish crime (and a poet) and Czech art (and a writer)
There’s a burst of Polish crime in the UK this week starting at today’s Folkestone Book Festival with the appearance of A.M. Bakalar and Zygmunt Miłoszewski as part of Polish Book Autumnfest. Bakalar’s Madame Mephisto has been reviewed here, while I’ve only briefly noted Miłoszewski’s excellent Entanglement and will have a review of his recently […]
Viktor Shklovsky for Kids
Seminal Russian formalist critic Viktor Shklovsky has been back in the limelight as of late due to a slew of translations by Shushan Avagyan published and forthcoming from Dalkey Archive, including Bowstring: On the Dissimilarity of the Similar and Energy of Delusion, a pair of works of literary theory, as well as the more essayistic/historical […]
The _____ generation: on American novelists and theory
“Why don’t you all f-fade away And don’t try to dig what we all s-s-say I’m not trying to cause a big s-s-sensation I’m just talkin’ ’bout my g-g-g-generation” – The Who, “My Generation” n+1 magazine has an assessment of the influence of critical theory on American novelists who came of age in the 80s, […]
Literary roundup: Yevtushenko in Upstate New York and new writing galore
Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko is appearing at the University of Buffalo through November 3 for a series of events devoted to his work. He will read his poetry on November 1, hold discussions of his poetry and film, screen his film Stalin’s Funeral starring Vanessa Redgrave and be present at a Buffalo Philharmonic performance of […]
Literary roundup: Libya through Hungarian eyes, Akhmatova weighs in, and the dark marvelous
“Insallah,” he said, and took a long drag. “If NATO gives the green light, then we attack.” “Twins,” a story of the Libyan uprising from Hungarian writer and war correspondent Sándor Jászberényi is featured on Pilvax Magazine. And so yet another Central European writer has devoted his attention to the Arab/Islamic world without a peep […]
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