This week our writers report on a stage adaption of Clarice Lispector in New York, new publications in Guatemala and El Salvador, and the Nobel Prize for Literature ceremony in Sweden. Read on to find out more!
Daniel Persia, Editor-at-Large, reporting from Brazil
December has already been a notable month for Brazilian literature across the globe, with Clarice Lispector’s Near to the Wild Heart making its onstage (off-off-Broadway) debut in New York City. Lispector’s first novel takes on a stream-of-consciousness narration as it traces the life of its protagonist, Joana, from her middle-class childhood through an unhappy marriage—never afraid to delve into her deepest, innermost thoughts. Under the direction of Ildiko Nemeth at The New Stage Theatre Company, the stage adaptation places the brilliant language of Alison Entrekin’s 2012 translation in the hands of a highly memorable cast, supported by video projections and costume designs that are at once subtle and revealing. BroadwayWorld critic Derek McCracken praises the show’s “poetic, organic and otherworldly feel . . . [it] conjures up the mood and elements of a love story that got ghosted.” If you find yourself in New York, Near to the Wild Heart will be playing at the New Stage Performance Space until January 18, 2020—don’t miss out!
While Entrekin’s words have been making their way onto the mainstage, the well-known Australian translator has been busy sharing her latest endeavor: a new English-language translation of the classic, Grande Sertão: Veredas. Entrekin participated in the 11th International Connections Itaú Cultural event, held from December 3-4, 2019 in São Paulo, Brazil, where she delivered the last installment of a three-part translation workshop. Dozens of other writers, academics and critics—including American translator Flora Thomson-DeVeaux, Japanese translator Chika Takeda, and French translator and editor Paula Anacaona—engaged in dialogue on the role of Brazilian literature and cinema around the globe. Also among the topics discussed was the state of Brazilian and Portuguese studies at higher education institutions, as many universities shift departmental focus from national to transnational literatures. Each of the panels was recorded, and the complete series can be accessed for free online, courtesy of Itaú Cultural.
If a fabulous stage adaptation and several hours of critical dialogue aren’t enough to keep you busy, then you might want to start making your list for 2020, which is shaping up to be a promising year in translation. Here’s one to start you off: Blue Flowers, by Carola Saavedra, translated by Daniel Hahn (Riverhead Books), a novel of “dark obsession, missed connections, and violent love”—what more could you want from the new year?
José García Escobar, Editor-at-Large, reporting from Central America
Recently the debut book of poems by the Guatemalan rapper, poet, and activist Rebeca Lane was published by Editorial Arscesis (Spain). Lane’s book, entitled HIERBAMALA, includes the lyrics of some of her songs, as well as some never-before-seen poems. Earlier this year Rebeca also put out her fourth album, Quisiera olvidarme de tu nombre. Rebeca is one of the most celebrated female rappers in Guatemala and Central America and has sung in festivals across Europe, the US, and Latin America. You can read some of Rebeca’s early poems in her blog, Mujeres de Bolsa Grande y Zapatos Bajos.
Additionally, Editorial X (Guatemala) recently put out DRON by the multi-award winning Salvadoran writer Mauricio Orellana. Mauricio is also the author of La marea and Ciudad de Alado—both works were winners of El Salvador’s Premios Florales. But he is most known for Heterocity (2011), a novel based around the stigmatization of the LGBTQ community in his country.
Eva Wissting, Editor-at-Large, reporting from Sweden
On Tuesday December 10, the Nobel Prize award ceremony was held in Konserthuset concert hall in Stockholm. The ceremony is a formal and fancy affair, with the Swedish king giving the medals to the awarded laureates in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology, Medicine, and Literature. Afterwards, there is a large banquet in the Blue Hall of Stockholm’s City Hall with the whole event broadcast live with commentators and interviews.
The week leading up to the ceremony is filled with events such as a Nobel Prize Concert and public lectures by laureates. This year, as there were two writers awarded the Nobel Prize for literature, there was one lecture each by Polish writer Olga Tokarczuk (“Flights”), who was awarded the prize for 2018, and Austrian Peter Handke, the laureate for 2019.
This is not the first time that more than one writer has received the prize on the same day. What is unusual this year is that a Nobel Prize was awarded for the previous year. Because of controversies with the Swedish Academy, involving both sexual and financial crimes, the Nobel Foundation did not allow the Swedish Academy to award the Nobel Prize last year. Instead, the Nobel Foundation has since pressured the Swedish Academy to look over its organization and regulations, to reinstall trust.
The announcement of Handke as the Nobel Prize Laureate for 2019 came as a shock to many. While the prize has long been criticized for favoring Eurocentric, male writers, Handke not only fulfills both those criteria, but is also accused of playing down genocide during the Balkan war in the 1990s. Since the announcement of the laureates in October, protests against Handke have been continuous.
On Tuesday, one of the Swedish Academy’s own members protested by not participating in the celebrations. Writer, historian, and former head of the Academy Peter Englund (The Beauty and the Sorrow: An Intimate History of the First World War and The Battle That Shook Europe: Poltava and the Birth of the Russian Empire), who reported as a journalist from the Balkan war, said that it would be hypocritical of him to celebrate Handke.
Not only Handke has caused controversy though. Back home in Poland, Olga Tokarczuk is controversial enough in the eyes of the right-wing leadership for the state television to not broadcast the ceremony with their most recent and globally praised Nobel Prize laureate.
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