Today the ten finalists for the Best Translated Book Award were announced, whittling away at the longlist of twenty-five (click here for the longlist). Here they are:
- Lightning, by Jean Echenoz, tr. from the French by Linda Coverdale (New Press)
- Upstaged, by Jacques Jouet, tr. from the French by Leland de la Durantaye (Dalkey Archive)
- Kornél Esti, by Dezsö Kosztolányi, tr. from the Hungarian by Bernard Adams (New Directions)
- I Am a Japanese Writer, by Dany Laferrière, tr. from the French by David Hormel (Douglas & MacIntyre)
- New Finnish Grammar, by Diego Marani, tr. from the Italian by Judith Landry (Dedalus)
- Stone Upon Stone, by Wieslaw Mysliwski, tr. from the Polish by Bill Johnston (Archipelago Books)
- Scars, by Juan José Saer, tr. from the Spanish by Steve Dolph (Open Letter)
- Kafka’s Leopards, by Moacyr Scliar, tr. from the Portuguese by Thomas O. Beebee (Texas Tech University Press)
- In Red, by Magdelena Tulli, tr. from the Polish by Bill Johnston (Archipelago Books)
- Never Any End to Paris, tr. from the Enrique Vila-Matas (New Directions)
Since the longlist was announced on February 29, I have been trying to get through a number of the books, and to date I have read eleven. Of the seven finalists I’ve read to now, the only one on this list that I’m a bit surprised by is Upstaged, which was fun but . . . well, I must have missed something of the Republicanism or something. I also didn’t particularly care for New Finnish Grammar, but I can see why others like it.
Here are links to my reviews:
- Lightning (click here)
- Upstaged (click here)
- Kornél Esti (click here)
- New Finnish Grammar (click here)
- Scars (click here)
- Kafka’s Leopards (click here)
- Never Any End to Paris (click here)
No Leeches, no Zone, no Purgatory…I’m not sure about this shortlist!
Still, interesting. I’m going to back Diego Marani from this point.
While I haven’t read Leeches, Zone, or Purgatory yet, I have each of them on hand and completely expected them to make the list. Yesterday on twitter, though, I mentioned that of the ones I’d read I’d like to see Lightning, Stone Upon Stone, Scars, and Kafka’s Leopards on the list, so I’m happy they made it (even if my other choice, My Two Worlds, didn’t).
So, of the seven I’ve read, I like that five of them are on the list — and one I’m not happy with (well, at least I wouldn’t have chosen it) is the Diego Marani : ) ! I need to get my review finalized and posted so you can tell me what I missed.