Hello
Gentle Reader,
This
year’s Best Translated Book Award seemed like a wildcard year on the shortlist.
Heavy hitters and internationally renowned writers where quickly done away
with, when the shortlist was revealed; leaving behind a shortlist, which was
open to any writer to win the award. This year’s shortlist for fiction
included, books ranging from the family plots of treason and treachery; to the
complicated and personal histories of one middle class woman, who despises her
working class mothers life, in contrast to her own, but finds erotic and
sensual pleasure in sleeping with a rugged and blue collar working man; to the
personal history of one man overlooked by history and time, only to gain recognition
with his life being narrated and documented by his grandson, who showcases the
hopes and dreams of an artist, destroyed by the duty one feels to their country
and devotion to patriotic pride; to a novel of seven notebooks of a one sided
conversation a man has with his grandson in preparation for his death. The
shortlist was varied in themes, styles and geography; but in all it was a great
shortlist which showcased the overlooked talent and the exciting translations
currently being produced today and sold.
This
year’s fiction winner is the giant of Brazilian literature, Lúcio Cardoso and
his recently translated novel “Chronicle of the Murdered House.” Cardoso began
writing, in a time where Brazilian literature was more regionalist, rural, and
political (often left leaning); Lúcio Cardoso went in the complete opposite
direction, than his more established colleagues; Cardoso would bring more
modernist ideas to the Brazilian novel and prose, instead favouring introspection,
the inner experience of characters, subjective perceptions of reality, and
personal stories of tragedy and redemption. It should come to no surprise; Lúcio
Cardoso was a mentor to famous Brazilian writer Clarice Lispector, who as a
young woman was infatuated and in love with him. However, the love she felt towards
him was not reciprocated, as Lúcio Cardoso was a homosexual, but the two retained
close friends throughout their lives. “Chronicle of the Murdered House,” is considered
his masterpiece, published at the peak of his creative output, the novel is
described as a Faulknerian family saga, which precedes Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s
“One Hundred years of Solitude.” Alcoholism and an addiction to prescription drugs
would end this giant of Brazilian literatures life prematurely. After suffering
a stroke, Lúcio Cardoso was left partially paralyzed, and was inscape of
regaining his speech and writing abilities. Six years after suffering the first
debilitating stroke, Cardoso would suffer another stroke, and die at the tender
age of fifty six. Clarice Lispector, ever the close friend would die nine years
later also at the tender age of fifty-six, from ovarian cancer. Now with the
publication of “Chronicles of the Murdered House,” Lúcio Cardoso is marveling
English readers for the first time, who are left to appreciate the modernist
masterpiece from South America.
The
Poetry portion of this year’s prize has gone to the Argentinean poet Alejandra
Pizarnik for her collection “Extracting the Stone of Madness.” Alejandra
Pizarnik is a tragic literary figure as well; much like Sylvia Plath; Pizarnik
committed suicide at the age of thirty-six. The poetry, however, which she produced
in her short career and life time, is considered well formed and beautiful, in
the brief strike of a match and the intensity in which it burned, before being
snuffed out. “Extracting the Stone of Madness,” could not be a more fitting
title for this collection of poetry, which screams of the personal exorcism Alejandra
Pizarnik attempted, in which to cleanse her mind and life, through poetry. It did
not work, and at the age of thirty-six, Pizarnik committed suicide by
overdosing on a barbiturate: Secobarbital; the most frequently used drug, in
doctor assisted suicides (or doctor sanctioned deaths) in the United States. Alejandra
Pizarnik’s life, mimics those of the American poet Sylvia Plath and Japanese
short story writer Ryūnosuke Akutagawa. All three writers found great success
early in their writing careers, but would all succumb to personal demons and
private hells, in which case they would each take their lives in their
thirties: Sylvia Plath (thirty), Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (thirty-five) and Alejandra
Pizarnik (thirty-six). The poetry judges for this year’s award, praised the
translation of “Extracting the Stone of Madness,” for being able to relay in a
new language the personal suffering of the poet, as she depicts her solitary
world in jagged and beautiful compositions, which display the beautiful pain
she experienced and found a literary output for.
Congratulations
to both writers and translators—though sadly, both writers are now deceased;
but this only reaffirms their literary talents, which is finding new barriers
to cross and new readers to enjoy and empathize with. Another stunning year for
the Best Translated Book Award.
Thank-you
For Reading Gentle Reader
Take
Care
And
As Always
Stay
Well Read
M.
Mary
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