Happy Friday, Asymptote readers! We say this every week, but perhaps some new vocabulary might spice up your reading experience. We can certainly say that for short stories—steer clear from these overused titles (I’ve certainly read at least five pieces titled “Hunger”).
So many of us battle with the canon—or struggle against it. At the Millions, a piece about reading (and not-exactly re-reading) Russian behemoth’s epic literary tome, War and Peace (wonder what translation she was using?). In present tense, Joseph Brodsky is still making waves: here’s a look at his bestselling biography. And finally, if contemporary Russian literature’s more your thing, be sure to check out this bloggin’ run-down of recent Russian book prizes.
Lest you forget the long list you’ve already acquired: there’s another ever-so-slightly divisive literary epic you likely haven’t read: China‘s 16th-century tome, The Plum in the Golden Vase, translated anew by David Tod Roy (bonus: the review gives you a pretty interesting run-down of the difficulties of translating from the Chinese language).
You probably know about the Pulitzers already—but if you didn’t, here’s the full list of winners, announced live (including Anthony Doerr for All the Light We Cannot See). Psst: there was “some worry” this year that the judges would come to an impasse, ergo the extra nominees this year—but you didn’t hear it from us. The Los Angeles Book Prizewinners include Mexican writer and blog-friend Valeria Luiselli for her novel Faces in the Crowd (it’s not even a translation-specific award, so yay—and congrats to translator Christina MacSweeney too!). Elsewhere, the Austrian State Prize for European Literature has been announced, and the list includes Romanian writer Mircea Cărtărescu (check out his Asymptote feature in an excerpt from his novel, Blinding).
Recent happenings, in the literary Net: gulp (or not). Danish filmmaker Lars Von Trier admits in an interview with the Guardian that he’s drinking again for his art. At the Paris Review, writing about an American in Paris—but not the literal kind, necessarily. The Norwegian terrorist massacre is under scrutiny in One of Us, as reviewed here in the New York Times Book Review.
Finally, it’s National Poetry Month—so what is poetry, really? Damion Searls examines the word’s etymology, and spoiler alert: doesn’t come to any real conclusion. But poet herself, Elisa Gabbert argues that prose wouldn’t exist if not for poetry either. Hm.