Independent foreign fiction prize predictions 2014

Well it’s that time of year again and the IFFP has come around it does seem five minutes since last years prize ,of course for me as a translated fiction blogger the prize is my Oscars and I love doing this yearly guessing post on what I feel should be on the list and what books I need to read from last year so without further a do I shall dive straight in to what I feel will bo on the 2014 IFFP longlist  –

 

Now straight in with what I feel is a real chance of winning the prize and one I really enjoyed The Infatuations by Javier Marias ,in hat is maybe a big big name short year Marias is maybe the biggest name .the book follows a couple as viewed by a women and the difference from what we perceive and what is actually the truth .my review 

Now also translated from spanish are –

An English man in Madrid is another slow burning spanish novel ,an english art expert is in Madrid just as the first warning of the Spanish civil war are evident .I ve read this but never got to review it so if it makes the list I will ,but a review will be up at some point .

Now to Cuba and Carlos acosta ,I read this over the weekend it follows three generations in Cuba before the revolution  and a pig’s foot amulet .I hope it makes it as Carlos name would bring the IffP some great publicity .

Now the first book from Italy is another read and not reviewed book the tale of two close friends it shows the different paths various lives can take over time ,also maybe the chance to learn about the mysterious writer behind the book ,whom very little is known .Which is fun in the 21st century a writer can still hide behind a name relatively unknown .

Next up in the bumper year for Italian fiction is this wonderful satire on book prizes a trio of writers ,as you may say the three ages of men ,all try for the big prize as we see behind the scenes of being a writer .My review 

Now onto another Italian novel and another satire this on having too much money and maybe losing control ,also has a writer struggling after an early huge hit .My review

Every promise by Andrea Bajani is another Italian novel this one follows a man as his marriages falls apart and he meets an old man and rediscovers himself in russia .My review

Also I may mention the Wu ming novel  Altai that came out from Verso books ,I read the debut and this sounds interesting and again like Elena ferrante they hide some what behind the Wu Ming name these four writers .

Now on to Peirene I have read all three Peirene books from last year it is hard to sat which will make the list but I think Chasing the king of hearts an episodic view of the war from a jewish women in Poland was my favourite from there three books last year .My review .

Then the other I think will be the mussel feast ,a book about being east German but also a book at its heart  about families and how they live and can fall apart .Here is my review .

Now I am currently reading three books two are books I feel may make the longlist and the other is the first in the series because I feel the second book published first may make the longlist anyway reading this The foundling boy by Michel Deon just makes the list published in december and the first from one of France best known writers and member of the French academy .

Now I had this early last year but when I saw it was the second in the series and a comment at the time from a fellow blogger about the main character and something that had happened in his past I left it and am now reading Irene the follow-up in the uk but the first book out in the UK .

I read this also over the weekend a binge on Frank Wynne translations this one centre on the writer himself in a imagine childhood after an actual arrest a few years ago in a cell he relives his youth or what he felt was his youth all very french I feel .

 

A short french novel about a group of soldiers ,an escaped jewish prisoner and a Pole during a winters night in a house in the Polish countryside as the snow falls what is happening in the war ways heavy in the air .My review 

Another big name this book by Topol deals with the history of the holocaust and how we treat it a very dark satire on what we take from the past and do with it in the present .My review 

Now my lost gem of last year a son returns home and discovers a lot of secrets about his fathers past as he does so his view of his father changes .My review 

.Also from Faber whilst mention them is In times of fading light another book I am reading at the moment a from german book prize winner and all about the former east Germany .

A collection of interlocking stories from Japan dark and with a clever recurring motifs through them .My review

Now i did review this in 2012 as it was issued in the us with a different title the uk title is strange weather in Tokyo .a May to December love story Japanese style a former pupil and teacher find solace in one another .My review 

Part two in the life of Karl Ove the memoir novel of the Norwegian writers life this time we find him dealing with the early years of his marriage .

Another father and son tale this time from Montenegro ,we follow a son around his home town after falling out with father .A natural heir to Thomas Bernhard in some ways soul-searching stuff .My review .

Well that is it now a few outsiders I will mention in brief

White mask by Elias Khoury

Crow blue by Adriana Lisboa

The light and dark by Mikhail Shishkin

I will share Tonys list here my fellow shadow judge  a few difference between me and Tony ,he has chosen 8 books ,I have mention 16 books .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The front seat passenger by Pascal Garnier

The front seat passenger by Pascal Garnier 

French noir fiction 

Original title – La place du mort 

Translator Jane Aitken 

Source – review copy 

Pascal Garnier was a french writer ,he died in 2010 .I have reviewed  the a26 and Panda theory on the blog I have also read the other two book Gallic books have issued How’s the pain and Moon in the dead eye .So I come this his fifth book keen to see what it was about as I had enjoyed all his other books .This book was reissued just after his death and was originally written in 1997 and was his second novel so is actually the earliest of the novels that Gallic books have translated by him .

From the moment she had left them when Fabien was five ,she was always referred to as Charlotte ,never “Maman 2 .Fabien had never heard his father say  bad word about her ,nor a good word ,he simply didn’t mention her .Like Dreyfus ,he had exiled her to a place in his memory as distant as devil’s island

Fabien had loss early on in his life .  

The front seat passenger follows the usual Garnier trait and that is to take one point and expand it out in the  A26 he took a couple protesting a road being built ,in moon in the dead eye it is a gated community versus gypsies .so The front seat passenger is the story of Fabien his wife is the passenger of the title that died in a car crash with another man ,in the man’s car .It turns out the man was married and the two of the were having an affair and Fabien didn’t know about it.But there marriage wasn’t great but  he didn’t know about the affair  ,Fabien has experience loss like this before when his mother disappeared but did this first loss leave a hole in this man ?He learns that the wife of the other man is called Martine .He decides to find her and have a look  at her and then he starts to stalker her .Now Fabien is lucky he has a great friend  Madeleine whom is trying to help her good friend stay out of real trouble .Well to see how this pans out I would suggest buying the book to find out what happens to Fabian .

Fabien was astonished at how fast he was getting over his loss .When he forced himself to think about Sylvie ,like an invalid testing the progress of their convalescence, he felt as if he were looking back on someone else’s memories .Perhaps that was what as meant by ” turning the page ” the blank whiteness of the new page gave him vertigo .So he began to darken the page by writing ” Martine  Arnoult , 45 Rue Charlot , Paris 3rd 

Has he got over her or is his grief taking a darker turn ?

Well as ever Pascal Garnier is shining a light in the darker place of the human soul loss ,grief ,betrayal .Fabian is shocked when he finds out about Sylvie his wifes accident and even more so when he finds she had a lover .The way he deals with it in becoming a stalker and trying to get some revenge this  isn’t the usual way people would deal with this ,but this is the beauty of Garnier and his books the twists they take ,this isn’t the first of the last twist this book takes .The book is written in short chapter and is only 140 pages long so is one of those books that can be quite easily read in an evening . If you like your stories dark with a couple of twists this is the book for you .

#translationthurs hits a cover

Now when I suggest using the hashtag #translationthurs every Thursday to promote books in translation very week did I ever imagine it would find its way on to a book in translation but it has next month Arcadia books are publishing Zenith hotel by Oscar Coop-Phane a prize winning French novella that I feel is one of the best books in the last few years subtle heart wrenching and lifting the lid on a different France .I will be reviewing the book nearer the time but thought I would share the fact a little idea I had four years ago has hit a book cover

Polychrome by Joanna Jodełka

Polychrome by Joanna Jodełka

Polish crime fiction

Original title polichromia

Translator – Danusia Stok

source – review copy

Joanna Jodełka is a female polish crime writer she has so far published three novels in Polish this her first book won the top lit prize for crime in Poland the High calibre prize .This is her first book to be translated to English .

He’d put off talking to his mother for almost a month.And not long ago he’d been happy not to have to listen to her grumbling so frequently about his having let Malina go .It was so damm painful every time .They’d been together for six years .He’d been the one to mess things up when a year ago ,they’d agreed to part .

Maciej worries about his very overbearing mother and what to tell her .

Polychrome is set in the Polish city of Pznan ,which for me was the first book I had read to be set in this city .The book focuses on two at first unconnected murder in the town ,one of these murders of a retired art restorer happens to have happen in one of the upper class parts of the city the Villa area .Brought into investigate these crimes are Maciej Barrtol and his partner .Now Maciej is a chap in his mid thires with his own problems outside work .Now the two bodies where both found in strange places and strange positions ,now the two victims actually seem at first to have nothing in common ,but as the clues start flying in and they are no near they finally get a strange break about symbols and symbolism to do  with the bodies so they visited Madga an expert of Medieval symbols and symbolism  to get some help .The lack of a connection is actually a connection more in the death and  how they died .

Everybody’s life is riddled with secrets

Now this is the back cover quote from the book and it suits it perfectly as they all have secrets in this book .

Now yet again Stork books have brought us a prize-winning Polish crime novel to English.All the talk ion recnet years of Nordic crime and french crime fiction for me of the books of=ver that time I have read it has always been the Polish crime novels that have been the most challenging and inventive books around .Now on the surface I bet you are all thinking that is rather Dan brown like with the talk of symbols and symbolism  but no to me it remind  me more of the tv series White chapel were the past is just used as a guide to the present .Now Joanna Jodełka lead character Maciej is in the usual mould of a  detective in a modern crime fiction novel ,in his mid thirties ,with problems the difference is in his problems ,his relationship has recently broke up and he is now with his rather overpowering mother at home .This book cleverly scatters clues and keeps you turning the pages as you find the ones that matters and the red herrings along the way .So I hope we get to see her other two books in English as this is the first of a series and I’d love to learn more about Maciej and also his partner who here is there but feels like he has more to tell .

Have you a favourite novel from Polish crime oeuvre ?

Oliver VII by Antal Szerb

Oliver VII by Antal Szerb

Hungarian Fiction

Original title – VII. Olivér

Translator – Len Rix

Source personnel purchase on kindle

Antal Szerb is another writer that was rediscovered by Pushkin press .Antal Szerb was born to Jewish parents ,but was baptised into the Catholic church ,studied Hungarian German and English ,lived in France and Italy ,even spent a year in England .this book was originally issued  in 1924 in Hungary as though it was a translation from English as due to his Jewish heritage it couldn’t be published in his homeland .He later  was deported and died in a concentration camp in 1944 .

The situation in Alturia was as follows. Simon II, father of the present king, Oliver VII, had been an outstanding ruler, and the country had suffered in consequence ever since. He modernised the army uniform, established elementary schools, introduced telephones, public ablutions and much else besides, and all this benevolent activity had exhausted the state finances. Besides, as we all know from our geography books, the Alturian people are of a somewhat dreamy nature, fanciful and poetically inclined.

How he came to the throne .

Oliver VII is set in a fiction middle European state Alturia a small state that only exports a few products .But this country  is maybe a mix of all the lazy traits of Europe nations  as the people the King Oliver VII reigns over are actually the most care free and relax bunch ,also  huge dreamers and the King himself is like his subjects so hatches a mad plot to pretend to stage a coup and the return at a later date he in fact overthrows himself  ,then goes and travels too Italy and there falls in with a bunch of Con people who leads to whole unexpected turn of events for the King .

 

King Oliver entered his capital amid general rejoicing. The streets were a-flutter with flags; the Westros department store was adorned with huge portraits of Oliver and Princess Ortrud, seemingly made from entire rolls of silk and broadcloth; mothers held their children up to catch a glimpse of the happily waving King, and loyal inscriptions such as ‘King Oliver—King of our Hearts’, and ‘We cannot live without Oliver. Long live the Great Triumphal Return!’ were daubed on walls.

When Oliver VII finally returns to Alturia .

Now this book is what I love about Pushkin in a shell ,had they not found and brought Szerb to English readers we would missed this central European lterary Gem .The book is part farce ,part satire .But also maybe a huge comment on what matter as the people of Alturia are poor but happy .There is also a sense of maybe the Europe describe in the book at the time Szerb was writing the book of course mid world war two the idyllic scenes and lives he imagined of the king and his subjects was dying out .I also felt this remind me of the humour of Palin and co in their ripping yarns it has that feel of being just left of real almost believe so yes a tale of a king wanting time of and finding the perfect plan by doing a imagine over throw ,also the american film wag the dog tackled a similar concept in a modern setting instead of a coup using an imagine war .Another book that shows me what is great about small publishers and also translation ,because yes there are many stoners out there, but on the other hands there is loads of Szerb awaiting discovery to use English readers still .

Have you read Szerb ?

 

 

Journey into the past by Stefan Zweig

Journey into the past by Stefan Zweig

Austrian fiction

Original title –  Widerstand der Wirklichkeit

Translator – Anthea Bell

Source – Personnel copy

I couldn’t do two weeks about Pushkin press without at least once reviewing or mentioning Stefan Zweig ,as he is the writer most associated with them in my mind anyway .I have perviously reviewed his books Letter to an Unknown women   and although not published by Pushkin press the post office girl .I have also read Amok for this fortnight .In my mind Zweig is a true one-off writer that thanks to Pushkin we have gotten to read in English .At the height of his fame in the 1920’s and 1930’s he was one of the best known writers in the world .This is one of a number of books by Stefan Zweig that is published by Pushkin press .

“There you are !” He went to meet her with arms outstretched , almost flung wide.”There you are ” he repeated , his voice climbing the scale from surprise to delight ever more clearly ,while his tender glance lingered on her beloved form “I was almost afraid you wouldn’t come !”

“Do you really have so little faith in me ? ”

Ludwig arrives and meets the woman in the opening lines

So too the Journey into the past was only discovered in the seventies and published in the Germany .Ludwig is German engineer and in love with a women whom happens to be married ,but he is sent for a short trip to Mexico to work on opening a mine ,but whilst he is doing this the first world war breaks out leaving him stranded in Mexico .We see him recalling the past as he returns to see if his love is still there what has happened to her .As he travels back to his homeland the memories of their  past  as they await meeting again on the station . The narrative drifts through time past and present mingle .

They left the station , but no sooner were they out of the door than stormy noise met their ears , drums rattling , the shrill sound of pipes – it was a patriotic demonstration of veterans  associations and students in support of the Fatherland .Like a wall on the move ,marching in ranks four abreast ,flags flying ,men in military garb were goose stepping along ,feet thudding heavily on the ground .

The early signs of the Nazis and Ludwig and the woman leave the station .

Well this was a book that supposedly Zweig had worked and reworked this novella for over twenty years ,you can see how it has been cut and edited at just 81 pages it actually feels more like a 300 page novel than a short novella .Zweig has left fact bare and concentrated on the feeling ,memories and broken love  and dreams .Ludwig was a different character than I had previously encountered in Zweig works as in the previous book I have read he has mainly used female characters .I loved the sense of lose and longing we got from Ludwig a man caught by time ,the woman isn’t named we know she is married to a councillor so is maybe an older muse for the young Ludwig whom is in his mid twenties .You also see the changing times and how Zweig worked more recent times into the narrative like the fact when Ludwig arrives back there is a nazi parade taking place almost a small signpost to the future events that drew Austria into the second world war .If you love a tale of lost dreams and loves and longing this is one that you will love .

Have you read Zweig ,if so which is you favourite book ?

Hélène Gestern q& a

 

As I said when I reviewed the people in the photo last week .I had been given the chance to ask Hélène Gestern a few questions about her book and influences here are her answers .

1 Is the photo that is the key to the story real ? If so how did you get it ? And was it the kernel for the story ?
The photo isn’t real, and no photo described in the book is, except one. The first photo is of course the kernel : it’s the major enigma (who are these people, why they are together in Switzerland at this moment), and the starting of point of Hélène and Stéphane’s investigation.
2 The epistolary novel was almost declared dead a few years ago, but with the increased use of email it has been revived. What made you choose it ?
I read few contemporary books so I know little about epistolary novel revival. But I admire very much great letters writers, as Madame de Sévigné, and novels of the XVIIIth century like Dangerous Liaisons. Recently, my publisher offered me a fantastic one, Guidi Piovene’s Lettera di Una Novicia (translated in French as La Novice, 1941). This genre owes a particular and fascinating rhythm : each letter calls for an answer. It also allows the writer to introduce several characters with “I”, so to get a polyphonic narration, without creating the massive autobiographical effect from a single “I”. Regarding The People in the Photo, two dimensions are interwoven : the past elements Hélène and Stéphane find out together, and the way it influences their present lives. I needed personal voices to express what happens inside, as the journey goes along ; therefore I chose an epistolary pattern. It was especially easy for me as I’m used to communicating by writing letters or emails – I nearly never make phone calls.
3 Your book revolves around affairs and secrets. Given recent events in France do you think the French have a different view on these matters ?
In my point of view, nothing happened in France regarding François Hollande : a man has an affair with a woman, so what ? Foreign newspaper attacks against him on this point seemed exaggerated as well as slightly ridiculous. The general feeling here is that we would prefer hear about his politics, considering the economic and social context. I’m extremely affected by private life violation matters and am scared to observe how quickly internet can destroy a person’s intimacy. A society that requires of each of its citizens, including politicians, an exemplary sentimental life, and that forces him/her to apologize on a TV show each time he/she does something wrong at home – anyway, it should be interesting to define what “wrong” means – seems to me a dangerous nonsense. Maybe the French are more tolerant about politician’s private life, as it involves consenting adults… If your question refers to DSK, what he did is not a matter of “affairs” or “secrets”, but a range of serious offences. Everyone was flabbergasted to discover who he really was, and you won’t find now a single person in France to stand up for him.
4 Which writers have influenced your writing ?
Georges Perec had a major influence, regarding the matter of construction : he elaborated a brilliant system to build Life, A User’s Manual, which is one of the most amazing novels of the XXth century. As far as photography is concerned, I admire very much Anne-Marie Garat, a French writer whose novels and work are almost completely dedicated to photography and memory ; W.G. Sebald, for the same reason – he had a great French translator, Patrick Charbonnier. When I was younger, I was also keen on some novelists like Kazuo Ishiguro, with his amazing stylistic perfection (his sentences give the feeling to listen to a river flowing) or Antonio Munoz Molina, a great Spanish storyteller. But the majority of my reading, for 14 years now, is dedicated to autobiography and personal diaries. I often write reviews in La Faute à Rousseau and some of them are readable on my site.
5 My blog is dedicated to books in translation. Which French books would you suggest for my readers ?
For lovers of epistolary novels and classical literature, Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Choderlos de Laclos) ; for lovers of complex and brilliant story-telling, Life: A User’s Manual by Georges Perec. I would also recommend Sorj Chalandon’s My Traitor and Return to Killybegs, the strong, dark, moving story of lies and broken friendship between the author and Denis Donaldson. One text I would strongly recommend to English readers is Hélène Berr’s Journal. She was a young Jewish student at the Sorbonne and she died in Bergen-Belsen camp at the end of the war. She wrote one of the most radiant, sensitive, lucid and moving texts I have ever read. She decided to stay in Paris during WW2 despite the dangers (her own way to resist to Nazis) and describes how everyday life is turning to hell for her and her family. At the same time, she falls in love. Within the awfulness and the darkness, despite her conviction she will be caught and die in a camp, she remains able to perceive beauty of life, to tell of her love for Jean, her fiancé, for countryside, music and Yeats’s poetry. Everyone should read this text.
6 How easy was it to work with your translator ?
The work was very easy : I had nothing to do ! Actually, one of the translators, Ros Schwartz, is a friend of a friend a mine, but we discovered this extraordinary coincidence after the decision to translate was made by Gallic Books. I’m aware that I am especially lucky, as the book was translated by two people, Ros and Emily Boyce, to give a genuine touch to the epistolary effect. One day, Ros Schwartz sent a mail to ask me three questions about a chapter. They were so precise, regarding some very subtle meanings (even for a French-native speaker), that I knew the translation would be great – and it is. I read the whole book in English and was so moved to see to what extent they succeeded in keeping the original rhythm of writing – nothing is more difficult – and to express how a friendship turns into something else through the way the characters sign off their letters – although there is no equivalent between the two languages. This translation is amazingly faithful, but with its own grace, its own poetry.

Sheffield book bloggers meet up June 2014

I’ve mention a few times about a meeting of book bloggers so I have just decide to choose a day in June the 28th which is the last Saturday in the month and ask people to come and have a meet up .What I have in mind is meeting at millennium gallery and winter gardens which is very near the station having a coffee at one of the many near by coffee shops and having a book swap there if everyone brought a book wrapped and then we just swap them obviously not picking our own book back then a visit to waterstones which is quite a big one in Sheffield ,followed by lunch at museum pub followed by a walk round and visit to the large second hand book shop and some of the sights in Sheffield .I have made it four months ahead of time to let people sort time of transport etc I really hope people will be wanting to meet up and have a fun day in what is a fun town .

The break by Pietro Grossi

The break by Pietro Grossi

Italian fiction

Original title – L’Acchito

Translator – Howard Curtis

Source – Personnel copy

I’ve been meaning to try Pietro Grossi ,after a couple of years ago Rob of Rob around books raved about his previous book Fists  .I also knew its would be a winner when I mentioned on twitter I was reading it for Pushkin press fortnight and two people from over publishers tweeted their love of this book .Pietro Grossi is an Italian writer ,he was born in Florence is a huge fan of Hemingway and J D Salinger ,started writing age eight ,he has won a number of prize in Italy and has written five books so far .Pushkin have translated two his previous book the short story collection Fists made the Independent foreign fiction prize short list in 2010 .

When Dino got home ,Sofia was at the far end of the living room ,making soup in the kitchenette ,surrounded by steam and sliced vegtables .

“Hi” Dino said .

Sofia turned with soiled hands ,a look of suprise on her face “Oh” she said. “You’re early ”

“Yes it wasn’t my night ,” Dino said

“Weren’t you winning ?” Sofia asked ,turning away again ,and although she had her back to Dino ,he knew there was ironic smile hoovering on her lips .

Great interaction of the couple .

The break is the story of Dino a stonemason and huge billiards fan .His life is steady ,he lives in a small town and does dream of travel and others things with his wife .But isn’t really going anywhere ,then his wife tells him she is pregnant .This cause Dino to maybe face up to his life and future more than he has done before ,he also enjoys a huge success via an old mentor in a billiards competition .Add to this secrets of bribes in the local area and Dino needs to pull himself together and start facing his life ,wife and future .

They had a big notebook with a thick  coloured cover ,where they wrote down  everything in preparation for when they left .They had called it The travel book ,which wasn’t much of a name when you thought about it ,and yet every time they mentioned it or took it in their hands there seemed to be something great about it

Dreams can be great ,like Dino Amanda and I have many we need to start living .

I connected with Dino ,I am not a billiards player of talent ,but have played snooker and pool in my time so that part of the book I could connect with but the billiards is also used as a metaphor because Dino suddenly discovers clarity at the game but also maybe discovers clarity in his own  life  at the same time .I also connected with Dino as a person I myself find my life at this point as rather like Dino’s at a point of treading water ,I like dino have maybe settled for a simple easy life and have let life pass me by at times .I enjoyed Grossi vision in this Dino is a character that anyone in mid-life can connect with the book is about those huge turning points in people’s life ,in Dino’s it is a baby on the way and the responsibility that will bring  and wanting to live out some of his dreams .I like Dino need to finds some drive in my own life and maybe stop treading water on my life .The book is a small part of the modern world ,his trade a stone mason dying out but also overlooked due to corruption ,coping with a new baby ,getting on in the world these are all questions that face all of us in some ways in the modern world .

Have you ever really connected with a character in a book like I did with Dino ?

 

Welcome to Pushkin press fortnight 2014

I would  like to welcome you all to the first  Pushkin press fortnight two weeks celebrating one of the true champions of fiction in translation in the Uk .For me they have brought a number of names to me as a reader , that I wouldn’t have read other wise ,the biggest of course is Stefan Zweig but also modern writer like Andres Neuman ,Peter Stephen Jungk and Pietro Grossi .

Some recent reviews from me are

 

I was Jack mortimer by Alexander Lernet-Holenia – tense noir is fictrion ,as a man takes over a dead man’s identity .

The parrots by Flippo Bologna Italian wrioter compete for a to[ prize one is young one in the middle of his career and another considered a great writier near the end of his career .

Traveller of the century by Andres Neuman the wonderful book set in Europe a wonderful book on translation book shifting realities one of the best books of recent times also he has a new short story collection out soon .

This next two weeks I ll be reviewing two books from Stefan Zweig Amok and other stories and Journey into the past .The break by Pietro Grossi and Oliver VII by Antal Szerb all of which I have read I also have Butterflies in November by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir and from the fatherland with love by Ryu Murakami to try and read .

Have you a favourite book from Pushkin press ?