I know I've been amiss recently on the posting front. There's been no real reason I can think of, except for life in general. I shall try harder though. Perhaps there's a certain element of apathy in the face of the repetitive nature of the German book world. You know, books come out, people review them, people buy them and read them, then put them on their shelves, more books come out, more reviews, etc. pp.
Thank goodness for prizes, then! A welcome ray of pretend glamour in the humdrum life of a literary blogger. And today the Giant Haystacks of German book awards, the German Book Prize, announced its new jury. Studded with literary stars, it is: critics Maike Albath (who once won an award for being nice to translators) and Gregor Dotzauer, top poet/prose writer Ulrike Draesner, Goethe Institut man who once sent me an email Clemens-Peter Haase, my favourite ever German critic Ina Hartwig, radio and TV journalist Christine Westermann and Focus magazine man and Kehlmann fan Uwe Wittstock.
But as trade mag Buchreport points out, this year there's no bookseller among the judges. Apparently nobody volunteered because they'd have to read too many books. Now had they asked me (and offered me a significant sum of money), I would have willingly sacrificed my time as the voice of the reading public. But no. They'll just have to put up with this raggle-taggle band of talented and award-winning literary experts.
Showing posts with label ina hartwig. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ina hartwig. Show all posts
Tuesday, 15 February 2011
Thursday, 28 October 2010
Schulze & Hartwig on Contemporary German Writing
Two great pieces on German books in English:
My number-one fave critic Ina Hartwig gets all enthusiastic about Lutz Seiler, Clemens Meyer, Herta Müller, David Wagner (one of those people I see literally almost everywhere I go), Ulrich Peltzer (whose Part of the Solution will be out in English next year, translated by Martin Chalmers) and Marlene Streeruwitz. At sign and sight.
Hartwig writes:
The post-ideological vacuum which, at the end of the old world order, seemed to have resulted in a certain paralysis, has now given way to powerful and fascinating diagnoses of our times. Contemporary literature has long been fulfilling its very real seismographic duties. It is delivering earnest, sarcastic, sceptical, lyrical, buoyant and enduring images, more bold that the most incisive editorials, which go straight to the heart of the unknown society in which we live.
And in the run-up to their Best European Fiction 2011 anthology, Dalkey Archive Press interview the German contributor, Ingo Schulze. Echoing almost every writer I know, Schulze says:
Someone like Wolfgang Hilbig, who died three years ago, should be read and translated far more than he is. The best writing of the last thirty years in German comes from him.
This is indeed a crying shame. You can read translations of three very short pieces and "The Abandoned Factory" by Isabel Cole online, but he hasn't been published in the US or UK so far.
My number-one fave critic Ina Hartwig gets all enthusiastic about Lutz Seiler, Clemens Meyer, Herta Müller, David Wagner (one of those people I see literally almost everywhere I go), Ulrich Peltzer (whose Part of the Solution will be out in English next year, translated by Martin Chalmers) and Marlene Streeruwitz. At sign and sight.
Hartwig writes:
The post-ideological vacuum which, at the end of the old world order, seemed to have resulted in a certain paralysis, has now given way to powerful and fascinating diagnoses of our times. Contemporary literature has long been fulfilling its very real seismographic duties. It is delivering earnest, sarcastic, sceptical, lyrical, buoyant and enduring images, more bold that the most incisive editorials, which go straight to the heart of the unknown society in which we live.
And in the run-up to their Best European Fiction 2011 anthology, Dalkey Archive Press interview the German contributor, Ingo Schulze. Echoing almost every writer I know, Schulze says:
Someone like Wolfgang Hilbig, who died three years ago, should be read and translated far more than he is. The best writing of the last thirty years in German comes from him.
This is indeed a crying shame. You can read translations of three very short pieces and "The Abandoned Factory" by Isabel Cole online, but he hasn't been published in the US or UK so far.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)