The ten nominees for the German independent book prize Hotlist have been announced, chosen by an internet vote plus a panel of judges. And here they are, a bit of an odd bunch:
Naomi Schenck/Ulrich Rüdenauer (eds.): Archiv verworfener Möglichkeiten (belleville)
(Fascinating pictures of sets/scenarios for unmade films, accompanied by texts by some excellent German writers)
Joseph Mitchell: McSorley’s Wonderful Saloon. New Yorker Geschichten (diaphanes)
(Pieces for the New Yorker, trans. Sven Koch and Andrea Stumpf)
Monique Schwitter: Goldfischgedächtnis (Literaturverlag Droschl)
(Short stories of absence, loss and death)
Nino Haratischwili: Mein sanfter Zwilling (Frankfurter Verlagsanstalt)
(Second novel by promising young thing, a love story that I suspect is probably a bit twisted)
John Ashbery: Ein weltgewandtes Land (luxbooks)
(Famous American poet translated by 27 not quite so famous German poets)
Lee Rourke: Der Kanal (mairisch Verlag)
(My secret favourite but I'm not allowed to say so because officially I only love German books; trans. Roberta Schneider)
Akos Doma: Die allgemeine Tauglichkeit (Rotbuch Verlag)
(Novel about a raggle-taggle band of losers by a translator from Hungarian; sounds quite good)
Steven Uhly: Adams Fuge (Secession Verlag)
(Second novel about a Turkish guy in Germany by a half-Bengali guy in Germany who translates from Spanish, Portuguese and English; I really want to read it)
Peter Kurzeck: Vorabend (Stroemfeld Verlag)
(Very poetic portrait of the author's childhood, presumably plot-free but very beautiful; longlisted for the big German Book Prize too)
Erich Mühsam: Tagebücher. Vol 1. Ed. Chris Hirte and Conrad Piens (Verbrecher Verlag)
(Diaries of Germany's favourite anarchist; they're planning another 13 volumes)
5 comments:
Just a note on Erich Mühsam's diaries: for those who (like me) are too cheap to buy the book, the entire Band 1 can be read online here:
http://www.muehsam-tagebuch.de/tb/diaries.php
It's rather addictive, once you start reading...
Excellent, thanks David!
Wow..shocked and surprised to see Joseph Mitchell on this shortlist. I adore Mitchell so much it hurts, so to see his legacy living on, and so far from New York, is incredibly warming.
Also, I'm with you on Lee Rourke's The Canal. It's a phenomenal novel(la), and one which seems to stick after one's read it. You have sublime taste Katy. but then I already knew that :)
Warmest
Rob
Thanks Rob! I've been enjoying your Edinburgh diary.
Thanks Katy, but you're easily pleased. It's all rushed and scrappy (which I guess reflects my general mindset throughout the two weeks :)). I still consider meeting you to be one of my festival highlights though. Thank you for giving me the honour.
Warmest
Rob
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