The Best Translated Book Award 2018, Longlist

Hello Gentle Reader

I’d love to say spring is here with summer on the horizon; but as I look out my window tenacious snow clings with frozen resolve to remain. The sky is quilted and layered in whites and greys. The light is dull as nickel; and the air is chilled and uncertain. The meteorologist—a young doe eyed spring chicken, dressed in his slim fit snappy suits, and white smile—proclaims with a disingenuous smile: ‘it’ll be a slow start to spring. But we will get there. It’s coming.’ Such hallow words, from a shallow mouth, falling on tin ears. Winter won’t last forever, and springs arrival—be it delayed—will come in due time; though that does very little to console the present reality at hand. To move away from the dire weather; literary award season has once again begun. Though, it has started with controversy erupting in a few corners. The first (or perhaps renewed controversy) is the Booker Prize once again finds itself embattled in criticism over the decision to include American authors in nomination and selection; this has subsequently shadowed the Man Booker International Prizes longlist. On a further note, the Swedish Academy finds itself embattled in internal turmoil and strife. So far three members have already resigned publicly; a fourth as openly confessed she has not been a part of the Academy since two-thousand and sixteen, and fifth member is considering resigning. Members of the literary establishment within Sweden have called for the Royal patronage to dismiss all current members, on the grounds they have failed to operate and conduct themselves with integrity, and maintaining public trust. Needless to say, with the controversy erupting and swirling around the Swedish Academy many are curious and cautious about the future of the Nobel Prize for Literature. For now though Gentle Reader, we can take our gaze away from the controversy for a moment of respite and pause, and review the Best Translated Book Award, and this year’s Longlist for Fiction and Poetry.

We will begin with the Fiction Longlist. This year’s fiction longlist hosts twenty-five authors from all over the world and from a diverse linguistic and cultural background. The following list is organized at random; but is structured by: author – country – work nominated, in its English translated format.

Guðbergur Bergsson – Iceland – “Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller,”

Wolfgang Hilbig – Germany – “Old Rendering Plant,”

Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette – Canada (Quebec) – “Suzanne,”

Santiago Gamboa – Columbia – “Return to the Dark Valley,”

Hanna Krall – Poland – “Chasing the King of Hearts,”

Naivo – Madagascar – “Beyond the Rice Fields,”

Antonio Tabucchi – Italy – “Isabel: A Mandela,”

Wu He – China – “Remains of Life,”

Amir Tag Elsir – Sudan – “Ebola76,”

Fleur Jaeggy – Switzerland/Italy – “I am the Brother of XX,”

Samanta Schweblin – Argentina – “Fever Dream,”

Johannes Urzidil – Czech Republic (German language) – “The Last Bell,”

Marie NDiaye – France – “My Heart Hemmed In,”

Rodrigo Hasbún – Bolivia – “Affections,”

Tomas Espedal – Norway – “Bergeners,”

Christine Angot – France – “Incest,”

Cristina Rivera Garza – Mexico – “The Iliac Crest,”

Rodrigo Fresán – Argentina – “The Invented Part,”

Mathias Énard – France – “Compass,”

Vivek Shanbhag – India (Kannada language) – “Ghachar Ghochar,”

Romina Paula – Argentina – “August,”

Daniel Kehlmann –Austria/Germany – “You Should Have Left,”

Antoine Volodine – France – “Radiant Terminus,”

Sergio Pitol – Mexico – “The Magician of Vienna,”

Pola Oloixarac – Argentina – “Savage Theories,”

One of the greatest reasons, why I love the Best Translated Book Award is the sheer diversity that is inducted into their lists. The award always is giving the impression that time and thought is allocated towards the compilation and decision making process. One can only imagine the intelligent discussions which take place to ensure the best results are shown; and great care (or at least it appears to be) is given to both established writers, and writers either just coming into their own or just being translated into English. This year’s longlist engulfs writers and prose works from all over the globe—from Iceland, to Argentina, to Madagascar, to Sudan, Poland and Italy, to India, to France and Germany, to China, and Quebec (Canada). The chosen novels vary not just in language or geography, but also theme, preoccupations and style. Guðbergur Bergsson’s novel (“Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller,”) is a viciously bleak comedy of vitriol, where a senile and miserable retired bank clerk, eviscerates and criticizes post-war Iceland. Hanna Krall’s novel (“Chasing the King of Hearts,”) is a potent love story during the Holocaust. Wu He fictionalizes in his novel (“Remains of Life,”) the remaining life of an aboriginal tribe in Taiwan, who in a headhunting ritual massacred the occupying/colonial forces of Japan, only to evoke the ire of the Japanese military of the 1930’s and were slaughtered to the point of virtual genocide. In experimental prose, Wu He imagines and conjures their lives and stories. Both Fleur Jaeggy in her stories (“I am the Brother of XX,”) and Wolfgang Hilbig in his novel (“Old Rendering Plant,”) evoke the tormented and tortured gothic ghosts of history and private life, and with lyricism and steel like precision they scalp and carve their dark renderings of life and society into works both haunting, admirable, and thoroughly delish—to describe these two authors would be to quote Nobel Laureate in Literature Camilo Jose Cela: “literature is the denunciation of the times one lives.” The longlist also probes the personal and private; first with Quebec actress and film director turned writer, Anais Barbeau-Lavalette, and her fictional biography (“Suzanne,”) of her where she imagines the missing and turbulent years of her artistic grandmother Suzanne Meloche; the second is Christine Angot scathing and confessional novel (“Incest,”) which recounts the story of a woman’s incestuous relationship with her father, and the lack of justice provided for her, and her mental collapse. Amir Tag Elsir writes a pointed caricature and satirically critical novel (“Ebola76,”) about the Ebola crisis which ravaged the Congo and Sudan in the nineteen-seventies. By contrast Pola Oloixarac has written a metaphysical and maximalist novel riddled with allusions, theories, trials, tribulations, eroticism; not to mention drug fueled debauched rampages and explorations, all the while those poor flawed characters seek to enact the theories and practices of eras now gone, to help themselves find their place in a modern and digitally fragmented world.

A special mention should be given to Naivo, his novel “Beyond the Rice Fields,” is a potent novel exploring the complicated history and past of the island nation, fit with colonial violence, missionaries, industrialism, and slavery; it’s a novel and a saga which explores the unfortunate preoccupations of human bondage, through experience, time, country, and life.  It is also the first novel from Madagascar to ever be translated into English.

Now the Poetry Longlist. The following list is composed at random; but structure by: author—country-work nominated; in its English translated format.

Johannes Heldén – Sweden – “Astroecology,”

Ursula Andkjaer Olsen – Denmark – “Third-Millennium Heart,”

Hirato Renkichi – Japan – “Spiral Staircase,”

Ana Ristović – Serbia – “Directions for Use,”

Ghayath Almadhoun – Sweden/Palestine – “Adrenalin,”

Wilson Bueno – Brazil – “Paraguayan Sea,”

Aase Berg – Sweden – “Hackers,”

Bhaskar Chakrabarti – India – “Things That Happen,”

Marosa di Giorgio – Uruguay – “I Remember Nightfall,”

Ryszard Krynicki – Poland – “Magnetic Point,”

Eleni Vakalo – Greece – “Before Lyricism,”

[Multiple Authors] Chinese Migrant Worker Poetry – China – “Iron Moon,”

I can offer very little commentary on the poetry selection of the prize as I am not a poetry reader, and poetry is a literary form, that I have never grown accustomed to enjoy or read. But what I can tell is the list is once again diverse, with numerous perspectives on show, truly showing the thought being placed into the selection and compilation for the award.

Without disappointing this year’s award showcases itself to being diverse, open, and extremely thoughtful in how any nominated writer is chosen or selected to being included on the longlist. If one ever lacks any idea of what good translations are out there, or has no point in which to begin their search, the Best Translated Book Award always seem to cover the most ground, and is an excellent place to begin, when looking for a new and exciting literary adventure.

Thank-you For Reading Gentle Reader

Take Care

And As Always

Stay Well Read

M. Mary