Over at Three Percent, the 2013 Best Translated Book Longlist has been announced. A great list! I will be updating this post throughout the day and the season to include links to reviews and whatever else seems appropriate.
- The Planets, by Sergio Chejfec; Argentina; tr. from the Spanish by Heather Cleary (Open Letter Books)
- Prehistoric Times, by Eric Chevillard; France; tr. from the French by Alyson Waters (Archipelago Books)
- The Colonel, by Mahmoud Dowlatabadi; Iran; tr. from the Persian by Tom Patterdale (Melville House)
- Atlas, by Dung Kai-Cheung; China; tr. from the Chinese by Anders Hansson & Bonnie S. McDougall (Columbia University Press)
- Kite, by Dominique Eddé; Lebanon; tr. from the French by Ros Schwartz (Seagull Books)
- We, the Children of Cats, by Tomoyuki Hoshino; Japan; tr. from the Japanese by Brian Bergstrom (PM Press)
- The Map and the Territory, by Michel Houellebecq; France; tr. from the French by Gavin Bowd (Knopf)
- Basti, by Intizar Husain; Pakistan; tr. from the Urdu by Frances W. Pritchett (NYRB Classics)
- Mama Leone, by Miljenko Jergovic; Croatia; tr. from the Croatian by David William (Archipelago Books)
- Awakening to the Great Sleep War, by Gert Jonke; Austria; tr. from the German by Jean M. Snook (Dalkey Archive Press)
- My Struggle: Book One, by Karl Ove Knausgaard; Norway; tr. from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett (Archipelago Books)
- Satantango, by László Krasznahorkai; Hungary; tr. from the Hugarian by George Szirtes (New Directions)
- Autoportrait, by Edouard Levé; France; tr. from the French by Lorin Stein (Dalkey Archive Press)
- A Breath of Life, by Clarice Lispector; Brazil; tr. from the Portuguese by Johnny Lorenz (New Directions)
- The Lair, by Norman Manea; Romania; tr. from the Romanian by Oana Sanziana (Yale University Press)
- The Hunger Angel, by Herta Müller; Romania; tr. from the German by Philip Boehm (Metropolitan Books)
- Traveler of the Century, by Andrés Neuman; Argentina; tr. from the Spanish by Nick Caistor and Lorenza Garcia (FSG)
- Happy Moscow, by Andrey Plantonov; Russia; tr. from the Russian by Robert Chandler and Elizabeth Chandler (NYRB Classics)
- With the Animals, by Noëlle Revaz; Switzerland; tr. from the French by Donald W. Wilson (Dalkey Archive Press)
- Maidenhair, by Mikhail Shishkin; Russia; tr. from the Russian by Marian Schwartz (Open Letter Books)
- Joseph Walser’s Machine, by Gonçalo M. Tavares; Portugal; tr. from the Portuguese by Rhett McNeill (Dalkey Archive Press)
- Island of Second Sight, by Albert Vigoleis; Germany; tr. from the Germany by Donald O. White (Overlook)
- Dublinesque, by Enrique Vila-Matas; Spain; tr. from the Spanish by Rosalind Harvey and Anne McLean (New Directions)
- Transit, by Abdourahman A. Waberi; Djibouti; tr. from the French by David Ball and Nicole Ball (Indiana University Press)
- My Father’s Book, by Urs Widmer; Switzerland; tr. from the German by Donal McLaughlin (Seagull Books)
Now that I’ve had a moment to digest this large list, here are a few of the details.
- This list comes from 19 countries (!) and 13 languages (including six from French).
- The books come from 15 presses. Dalkey Archive has the most, with 4 titles on the list; New Directions and Archipelago both have 3.
- There are only 4 women authors above: Eddé, Lispector, Müller, Revaz.
- I have read six of the titles, and this is the first year that I can’t find one on the list that I don’t want to read (whether I’ll get to all 25 I don’t know).
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I will be spending some time editing this post to include book-specific information. Please feel free to send me links to include here (including your own reviews), whether by email or in a comment below.
The Planets, by Sergio Chejfec; Argentina; tr. from the Spanish by Heather Cleary
Prehistoric Times, by Eric Chevillard; France; tr. from the French by Alyson Waters
The Colonel, by Mahmoud Dowlatabadi; Iran; tr. from the Persian by Tom Patterdale
Atlas, by Dung Kai-Cheung; China; tr. from the Chinese by Anders Hansson & Bonnie S. McDougall
- Columbia University Press Publicity Page
- Review at The Complete Review
Kite, by Dominique Eddé; Lebanon; tr. from the French by Ros Schwartz
We, the Children of Cats, by Tomoyuki Hoshino; Japan; tr. from the Japanese by Brian Bergstrom
The Map and the Territory, by Michel Houellebecq; France; tr. from the French by Gavin Bowd
Basti, by Intizar Husain; Pakistan; tr. from the Urdu by Frances W. Pritchett
Mama Leone, by Miljenko Jergovic; Croatia; tr. from the Croatian by David William
Awakening to the Great Sleep War, by Gert Jonke; Austria; tr. from the German by Jean M. Snook
My Struggle: Book One, by Karl Ove Knausgaard; Norway; tr. from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett
Satantango, by László Krasznahorkai; Hungary; tr. from the Hugarian by George Szirtes
Autoportrait, by Edouard Levé; France; tr. from the French by Lorin Stein
A Breath of Life, by Clarice Lispector; Brazil; tr. from the Portuguese by Johnny Lorenz
The Lair, by Norman Manea; Romania; tr. from the Romanian by Oana Sanziana
The Hunger Angel, by Herta Müller; Romania; tr. from the German by Philip Boehm
Traveler of the Century, by Andrés Neuman; Argentina; tr. from the Spanish by Nick Caistor and Lorenza Garcia
Happy Moscow, by Andrey Plantonov; Russia; tr. from the Russian by Robert Chandler and Elizabeth Chandler
With the Animals, by Noëlle Revaz; Switzerland; tr. from the French by Donald W. Wilson
Maidenhair, by Mikhail Shishkin; Russia; tr. from the Russian by Marian Schwartz
Joseph Walser’s Machine, by Gonçalo M. Tavares; Portugal; tr. from the Portuguese by Rhett McNeill
Island of Second Sight, by Albert Vigoleis; Germany; tr. from the Germany by Donald O. White
Dublinesque, by Enrique Vila-Matas; Spain; tr. from the Spanish by Rosalind Harvey and Anne McLean
Transit, by Abdourahman A. Waberi; Djibouti; tr. from the French by David Ball and Nicole Ball
My Father’s Book, by Urs Widmer; Switzerland; tr. from the German by Donal McLaughlin
Wouldn’t it be nice if every translation contained at least one face-to-face page with the original language.
That’s a long long-list. I’ve been moving more towards literature-in-translation the past few years, and would love to give some of the titles here a go, but where to begin?
I’ll have to wait for the short list.
I agree with Shelley by the way. But I wonder if you can find this using the ‘See Inside’ function on AMazon.com.
Yes, 25 books is long, and I would have little patience with it for many other annual prizes. I have little patience when most prizes go over 13. But there’s something about this prize that makes me glad they put in 25 titles, and yet there are still plenty that could be included. I’m sure I won’t make it through all of the above books, but I’m going to do as much as I can.
This and the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize are my favorite literary prizes of the year. Even so, I agree that this longlist is way too long. I’ve read three of the titles and am familiar with six. I was really pleased to see that The Colonel made the cut, less so regarding The Planets and The Hunger Angel (both good books, but wouldn’t make my top 10 of last year).
Do you have a favorite, Trevor?
Of what I’d read, 4 of the ones I thought sure things were (Kraznahorkai, Shishkin, Lispector, Chevillard; I had thought Makine’s Life of an Unknown Man eligible since Graywolf only brought it to US in 2012), as with 4 I hadn’t read (Chejfec, Knausgaard, Neuman, Vila-Matas).
But yeah, life’s too short for longlists. How the judges manage, I dunno.