Our writers bring you the latest literary news this week from Lebanon, where writers have been responding in the aftermath of the devastating port explosion. In Japan, literary journals have published essays centred upon literature and illness, responding to the ongoing pandemic. Romanian literature has been thriving in European literary initiatives and in Hong Kong, faced with a third wave of COVID-19, the city’s open mic nights and reading series have been taking place online. Read on to find out more!
MK Harb, Editor-at-Large, reporting from Lebanon
This week, as French President, Emmanuel Macron, began his Lebanon tour by meeting the iconic Lebanese diva, Fairuz, the literary world continued to grieve for Beirut in the aftermath of the explosion. Author Nasri Atallah, writing for GQ Magazine, recounts the cataclysmic impact of “Beirut’s Broken Heart.” Writer and translator Lina Mounzer and writer, Mirene Arsanios, exchanged a series of letters to each other for Lithub, talking about the anguish of distance and the pain of witnessing tragedy.Writer Reem Joudi also wrote an intimate essay exclusively for Asymptote, reflecting on her experience of the explosion and the uncertain future that Beirut now faces. Naji Bakhti, a young Lebanese writer, made his literary debut with Between Beirut and the Moon. Published on August 27 with Influx Press, the book is a sardonic coming of age story in post-civil-war Beirut (1975-1990). While Bakhti was chronicling the past, reading it now feels eerily relevant.
In translation news, writer and transgender activist, Veronica Esposito, interviewed Yasmine Seale about her upcoming translation of the Thousand and One Nights. Seale, whose English translation of Aladdin is beautiful in the most transgressive sense, will be the first woman to translate the Thousand and One Nights into English. In the interview, she discusses the colonial and class legacy of translating classics and the wild possibility of re-translating and re-imagining many Arabic classics. Lastly, here at Asymptote, we are excited about acclaimed Egyptian author, Mansoura Ez-Eldin’s new novel, Basateen Al-Basra from Dar El-Shourouk publishing house. Her previous novel, Beyond Paradise, was shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction in 2010. We eagerly await its translation from Arabic!
David Boyd, Editor-at-Large, reporting from Japan
This month, Japan’s major literary journals continue to showcase writing that deals with illness. The September issue of Subaru features several essays on the intersection between literature and illness, including “Masuku no sekai wo ikiru” (Living in the World of the Masque), in which Ujitaka Ito connects Sayaka Murata’s Convenience Store Woman to the current pandemic.
Novelists have also been addressing COVID-19 in their work. In a new short story entitled “Minna no kao wo,” published online by tree, novelist Keigo Higashino (author of The Devotion of Suspect X) views the world through the eyes of a grandfather who has tested positive: “But when the doctor strode in the next morning, I had a good feeling about it. I couldn’t tell because of the mask, but I could have sworn he was smiling.” This story, translated into English by Alexander O. Smith as “All of Your Faces,” has also appeared online as a part of tree’s “Day to Day” series, which has published dozens of English and Chinese translations of Japanese short stories over the past few months.
Following up on July’s update from Japan, the winners of the 163rd Akutagawa Prize were announced on July 15. The winning novellas were Haneko Takayama’s Shuri no uma (Shuri Horse) and Haruka Tono’s Hakyoku (Breaking Point). Hiromi Kawakami (author of Strange Weather in Tokyo and the recently published People from My Neighbourhood) wrote of Haneyama’s novella: “[She] has always been a writer with access to ‘magic,’ but in this work [Haneyama] does not resort to force—the magic simply flows.” Readers have noted Takayama’s attention to the politics and history of Okinawa. This was her third nomination for the prize. Hakyoku is Tono’s second novella. Criticism of his work has largely focused on the narrator and the strange distance from which he observes his surroundings. In some ways, he resembles Keiko from Murata’s Convenience Store Woman. Tono, 29, is the first writer born after the death of Emperor Hirohito (1989) to win the Akutagawa Prize. The Akutagawa’s sister prize, the Naoki, was awarded to Seishu Hase for Shonen to inu (A Boy and A Dog).
MARGENTO, Editor-at-Large, reporting from Romania and Moldova
Romanian-international literary initiatives and trends continue to make the most of whatever silver lining can be found in the current coronavirus context. Past Asymptote contributor Flavia Teoc, based in Denmark, started a multimedia initiative on a Facebook page titled (in Danish) Rumænsk poesi – 2020. Here, Teoc translates contemporary Romanian poems and posts them alongside recordings of the authors reading the originals. Among the poets to have been featured so far are past Asymptote contributor Ruxandra Cesereanu and Cosmin Perța. Also in northern Europe, past Asymptote contributor Felix Nicolau, Romanian lecturer at University of Lund, Sweden, recently launched the third volume of the outstanding Swedish Journal of Romanian Studies. With Nicolau as its Editor-in-Chief, this volume features academics affiliated with universities in Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Bulgaria, and Romania, and covers a variety of issues in English, Romanian, French, and Spanish.
In spite of the heavy human and economic toll, the pandemic has proved, at times, beneficial to such international literary/academic collaborations. While co-serving at the helm of a pan-European COST research initiative on Distant Reading for European Literary History, Iași-based forefront literary and digital humanities researcher Roxana Patraș has just started a new grant-funded project on the nineteenth-century Romanian popular novel (POP-LITE). Also in Iași, poet, academic, and musician Șerban Axinte is continuing a series of posts on his blog (which he started back in April) with an installment tellingly titled “In Confinement.”
In fact, Romanian literati seem to be active all over Europe—and beyond—and apparently more industriously so than ever. In Ireland, for instance, Viorel Ploeșteanu recently edited two Romanian diaspora writing anthologies, of both poetry and fiction. In Madrid, poet Gelu Vlașin edited an international journal, Kryton and organized a Romania-Israel poetry contest before relocating to Romania to continue organizing the Poetry Exchanges of Telciu (consistently online lately).
Across the Atlantic, and on a more official level, the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York has been co-organizing a series of online events titled #LifeAnew, with the Romanian Museum of Literature. Top-billing places have so far been given to major writers like Gabriela Adameșteanu and past Asymptote contributor Simona Popescu.
Charlie Ng, Editor-at-Large, reporting from Hong Kong
Confronted with a third wave of COVID-19, Hong Kong has adopted stricter rules to maintain social distancing in the past two months. With the significant drop in the number of infected cases recently, the measures have begun to ease. While dining in at restaurants is allowed until 10:00 p.m. starting from September 4, cinemas, beauty parlours, and some outdoor sports centres can also reopen for business. However, most literary activities in the city still remain online with few exceptions.
Local weekly poetry open mic organizer, Peel Street Poetry, has hosted regular open mic nights in its social room in Central for almost a decade. Its recent gatherings from late July to August have moved to the Internet due to the pandemic. Moreover, Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, continues to organize their Cha Reading Series, this time in cooperation with the International Literature Festival Berlin, hosting “Zoom—Read for Hong Kong” on September 9 through Zoom. The event invites Hong Kong English-language writer Xu Xi in conversation with Cha editor Tammy Ho. The event also involves a call for reading for the Democracy Movement in Hong Kong.
With the donation of almost three thousand books by renowned professor of Chinese literature, Leo Ou-fan Lee, the House of Hong Kong Literature has been hosting a second-hand book sale, “We Love Second-hand Books,” in Foo Tak Building, Wan Chi, which will continue for three consecutive weekends, after starting the weekend of August 29-30. To prevent the spread of coronavirus, the organizers are limiting he number of customers in the venue to fifteen, while people waiting in the line outside maintain social distancing. In an age of pandemic, literary groups persist in maintaining offering to readers and supporting literary events.
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