Michael Scammell came to the Prague book fair with two seemingly related tasks – to speak about his biography of Arthur Koestler, Koestler: The Literary and Political Odyssey of a Twentieth Century Skeptic, and to participate in a panel on Index on Censorship, of which he was the founding editor. And while issues of censorship […]
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Saudis at Prague book fair: cultural legitimacy for sale
Link: Saudis at Prague book fair: cultural legitimacy for sale On the controversy surrounding Saudi Arabia being the Guest of Honor at Book World Prague 2011 and the Saudi writers that weren’t there, as well as the idea that balancing the “Arab focus” of the event with a broad range of panels and writers was […]
Laurent Binet at Book World Prague 2011
Laurent Binet, author of HHhH, had a lot to say about the local setting of his succesful Goncourt-winning debut novel which recounts the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich carried out by two Czech paratroppers during WWII. About the documentary aspect of his novel and whether it will be an ongoing characteristic of his work, Binet replied […]
Book World Prague 2011: Modern writers in the ancient world
Book World Prague kicked off May 12 at the historic Industrial Palace, site of the Communist Party congress for 41 years during the regime of the same name. That the political landscape has changed considerably is evident even before stepping inside the building. With the opening ceremony approaching, the palace’s imposing art-nouveau façade was matched […]
Pick Your Literary Poison
Link: Pick Your Literary Poison An article published on Readux about Literature Night 2011 and the Night of Czech Detective Stories taking place in Bremen on May 11. (Photo by Drahomír Stulír of the Libeň Gasholder and Libeň Chateau, where some of the Prague readings will take place).
The New Inquiry: Un(der)known Writers: Alberto Savinio
Link: The New Inquiry: Un(der)known Writers: Alberto Savinio thenewinquiry: Operatic Lives: “Isadora Duncan” (1942) In Nice it was raining. Apollo and Diana stood at the curb, covered by black raincoats. When the automobile went by, Diana grabbed the scarf fluttering behind Isadora’s neck with two fingers and held tight. This and nothing more. A moment […]
Sigmund Freud was born 155 years ago today
“The greatest literary figures of Central Europe in the twentieth century (Kafka, Musil, Broch, Gombrowicz, but Freud as well) rebelled (they were very much alone in that rebellion) against the legacy of the preceding century, which in their part of Europe bowed under the particularly heavy weight of Romanticism. They felt that in its vulgar […]
Raskolnikov of Finland
In The New Republic Ruth Franklin has an interesting and damning survey of American novels dealing with terrorists. And though I was gently chided for being too hard on Franklin for her attempt to deny the differences between European and American writing, I just can’t help myself taking issue with some of the premises of […]
The literary divide – European vs. American fiction
Part I – On Best European Fiction 2011 and the Euro-American debate over literary adventurousness The publication of the inaugural Best European Fiction collection by Dalkey Archive Press in 2010 resulted in a bit of American literary defensiveness over claims that European fiction was more adventurous and experimental than its new world counterpart. Zadie Smith’s […]
Ernesto Sabato (June 24, 1911 – April 30, 2011)
In the last years of his long life Argentine writer Ernesto Sabato was apparently kept from reading and writing by his doctors and instead devoted himself to painting. Sabato’s literary ties to Central European and Russian fiction are evident enough in his books, but in case you needed further proof …
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