Hard to believe we’re approaching the end of May—only a month until summer’s official starting date. Still, spring is springing: read Karl Ove Knausgaard’s greatest sign of spring. And while we’re on the topic of the Norwegian sensation: some love him. Others just don’t get the hype.
English-language translators have a right to cheer at 2013’s stats: more and more publications are being translated to English than ever before, thanks in large part to the increased flexibility of digital platforms and startup publishing houses (the article even features past blog interviewee, Frisch and Co.’s EJ Van Lanen!). The fact that AmazonCrossing is a significant force in this achievement shouldn’t save the behemoth’s arm for translated literature unscathed: translators in Luxembourg dispute the raw deal they’ve been handed. In general, French publishers are under threat of invisibility in the international market. J.R.R. Tolkein is undoubtedly one of the English-language world’s favorite authors—but should his 1926 translation of Beowulf really be published (spoiler alert: publication is set—whether you like it or not—for later this week)?
The literati like to talk about this Internet age of distraction—but here are twelve novels that break off mid-sentence. In the White Review, super-smart former Asymptote contributor and British jack-of-trades Adam Thirlwell opines on literature in a fundamentally distracted age. Though the Internet begets distraction, it begets archival as well, though no internet-user is nearly as noble as Mali’s Abdel Kadel Haidara, a librarian protecting texts against jihadists.
No fun: in Iran, young YouTubers boogie-ing to Pharrell’s ubiquitious song “Happy” get released from prison, while in China, bland American primetime television (such as “Big Bang Theory,” “The Good Wife,” and “NCIS”) is strictly, and puzzingly, banned. Literary and translation-conscious burrito eaters might feel a bit of indigestion this week, as the Mexican-style food chain Chipotle unleashed a series of paper cups decorated with short fiction—though no single Mexican author was featured.
Prizes! Prizes! The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize goes to an Arab writer for the very first time in its twenty-four-year history. Hassan Blasim snagged the honor for his book, The Iraqi Christ, translated by Jonathan Wright. At St. Anne’s College, the shortlist for the Oxford Weidenfeld Translation Prize has been announced. If you’re feeling competitive, follow Three Percent’s upcoming World Cup of Literature, inspired by the Morning News’ Tournament of Books.