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<?xml version="1.0"?><rss version="2.0"><channel> <title>the Literary Saloon</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/index.htm</link> <description>opinionated commentary on literary matters</description> <language>en-us</language> <copyright>Copyright 2025 the Complete Review</copyright> <docs>http://backend.userland.com/rss</docs> <managingEditor>mao@complete-review.com</managingEditor> <item> <title>Translation today</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505b.htm#hr6</link><description><![CDATA[ In <i>The Age</i> Nell Geraets reports <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/culture/books/google-translate-no-thanks-these-writers-prove-their-human-worth-20250506-p5lx1c.html" target="_blank">Google translate ? No thanks, these writers prove their human worth</a>.<br> Author Mariana Enríquez is quoted, noting: <blockquote><font size="-1">Throughout her career, during which she has been translated into over 20 languages, she has never read a poor translation, though some are more surprising than others.<br><br>“For example, Spanish from Argentina can sound very commanding. To us, it sounds gentle, but not to others,” she says. “So, when I read a text in French, it sounds too ornamented sometimes. It’s not that the translation is bad; it just doesn’t sound like me.”</font></blockquote>]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505b.htm#hr6</guid> </item> <item> <title>Oromay review</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505b.htm#hr7</link><description><![CDATA[ The most recent addition to the <font color="#a52a2a"><i>complete review</i></font> is my review of Baalu Girma's 1983 novel <a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/ethiopia/baalu_girma.htm" target="_blank">Oromay</a> -- a rare translation from the Amharic (apparently the first published by major publishers in the UK and US) that came out earlier this year.<br><br> It's interesting to note that this was widely reviewed in the UK -- even the <i>Daily Mail</i> <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/books/article-14321873/The-story-Ethiopian-classic-threatens-overshadow-novel-Literary-Fiction-week.html" target="_blank">reviewed</a> it ! -- but seems to have gotten no significant review coverage beyond the trades in the US. What gives ?]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505b.htm#hr7</guid> </item> <item> <title>PEN America Literary Awards</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hr4</link><description><![CDATA[ PEN America has <a href="https://pen.org/press-release/2025-pen-america-literary-awards-honor-13-authors-and-translators-at-nyc-ceremony/" target="_blank">announced</a> the winners of its Literary Awards -- though for the second year in a row the top prize -- the $75,000 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award -- was not conferred.<br> <a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/poafrica/coutom.htm" target="_blank">The Tuner of Silences</a>-author Mia Couto won the PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature, while Brian Robert Moore's translation of Michele Mari's <i>Verdigris</i> won the PEN Translation Prize. ]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hr4</guid> </item> <item> <title>'On Ismail Kadare'</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hr5</link><description><![CDATA[ At n+1 Daniel Petrick writes at length on the <a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/kadarei/twilight.htm" target="_blank">Twilight of the Eastern Gods</a>-author Ismail Kadare, in <a href="https://www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/online-only/what-a-terrible-name/" target="_blank">What a Terrible Name !</a>]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hr5</guid> </item> <item> <title>Joseph-Breitbach-Preis</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hr1</link><description><![CDATA[ The Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur | Mainz has <a href="https://www.adwmainz.de/akademie/nachrichten/artikel/joseph-breitbach-preis-2025-an-frank-witzel.html" target="_blank">announced</a> the winner of this year's Joseph Breitbach Prize, a leading German-language author award, paying out €50,000, and it is Frank Witzel (whose <a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/moddeut/witzelf.htm" target="_blank">Die Erfindung der Roten Armee Fraktion durch einen manisch-depressiven Teenager im Sommer 1969</a> won the German Book Prize in 2015). <br><br> Hard to top their 2000 selections -- Ilse Aichinger, W.G.Sebald, and Markus Werner were all homored -- but the prize has consistently had a fairly good record.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hr1</guid> </item> <item> <title>Age Book of the Year Awards</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hr2</link><description><![CDATA[ They've announced the winners of this year's Age Book of the Year Awards; see, for example, Kylie Northover's report in <i>The Age</i>, <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/culture/books/a-late-career-marvel-and-an-enriching-memoir-the-age-book-of-the-year-winners-20250508-p5lxmp.html" target="_blank">A late-career marvel and an enriching memoir: The Age Book of the Year winners</a>. <br> Rodney Hall's <i>Vortex</i> won in the fiction category; see also, for example, the Picador Australia <a href="https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781761560767/" target="_blank">publicity page</a>. ]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hr2</guid> </item> <item> <title>Neustadt International Prize jurors</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hr3</link><description><![CDATA[ The <a href="https://www.neustadtprize.org/" target="_blank">Neustadt International Prize for Literature</a> has <a href="https://worldliteraturetoday.org/blog/news-and-events/jury-announced-2026-neustadt-prize" target="_blank">announced</a> the jurors for the 2026 prize -- more significant than for most prizes, because this is a prize where each juror gets to select one of the finalists for the prize.<br> The finalists they choose will be announced next month, and the winner will be annound in October.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hr3</guid> </item> <item> <title>Oxford-Weidenfeld Prize longlist</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hq8</link><description><![CDATA[ They've <a href="https://occt.web.ox.ac.uk/the-oxford-weidenfeld-prize#collapse4197946" target="_blank">announced</a> the longlist for this year's Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize, awarded: "for book-length literary translations into English from any living European language".<br> Only one of the titles is under review at the <font color="#a52a2a"><i>complete review</i></font> -- Megan McDowell's translation of Alejandro Zambra's <a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/chile/zambraa6.htm" target="_blank">Childish Literature</a> -- and I have only seen one more of these .....]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hq8</guid> </item> <item> <title>Prix Jan Michalski longlist</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hq9</link><description><![CDATA[ The prix Jan Michalski -- rewarding: "works of all literary genres, fiction or non-fiction, irrespective of the language in which it is written" -- has <a href="https://fondation-janmichalski.com/en/prix#current" target="_blank">announced</a> its first selection. <br> The only title under review at the <font color="#a52a2a"><i>complete review</i></font> is Barbara J. Haveland's translation of Solvej Balle's <a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/dansk/balles_OCV_I.htm" target="_blank">On the Calculation of Volume (I)</a>; other finalists include Percival Everett's <i>James</i> and the new Pierre Bayard.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hq9</guid> </item> <item> <title>Goncourt de printemps</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hq5</link><description><![CDATA[ The Académie Goncourt has <a href="https://www.academiegoncourt.com/_files/ugd/d5bd15_2ae0a83518b94b9b9f96551592d3e266.pdf" target="_blank">announced</a> <font size="-1">(warning ! dreaded pdf format !)</font> the winners of its spring prizes, including Anca Visdei's Cioran-biography -- see the L'Archipel <a href="https://www.lisez.com/livres/cioran-ou-le-gai-desespoir/9782359053876" target="_blank">publicity age</a> --, the biography-prize winner ]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hq5</guid> </item> <item> <title>Valeriy Shevchuk (1939-2025)</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hq6</link><description><![CDATA[ Ukrainian author Valeriy Shevchuk has passed away; see, for example, the Babel <a href="https://babel.ua/en/news/117742-ukrainian-writer-valeriy-shevchuk-dies" target="_blank">report</a>; see also the A-BA-BA-HA-LA-MA-HA <a href="http://ababahalamaha.com.ua/en/Valeriy_Shevchuk" target="_blank">author page</a>. <br> His <i>The Meek Shall Inherit ...</i> has been translated into English; print copies are hard to come by, but you can find a pdf copy <a href="https://tarnawsky.artsci.utoronto.ca/elul/English/Shevchuk/Shevchuk-Meek-Shall-Inherit.pdf" target="_blank">online</a>.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hq6</guid> </item> <item> <title>The last bookshop in Greenland</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hq7</link><description><![CDATA[ I missed this a couple of weeks ago, but apparently tha last and only real bookshop in Greenland closed at the beginning of the year; see Malthe Pedersen's report at nordiskpost, <a href="https://www.nordiskpost.com/2025/04/06/greenland-last-bookstore-closed/" target="_blank">Greenland without a bookstore: the end of Atuagkat marks a cultural turning point</a>. ]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hq7</guid> </item> <item> <title>Pulitzer Prizes</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hq2</link><description><![CDATA[ They've <a href="https://www.pulitzer.org/news/22865" target="_blank">announced</a> this year's Pulitzer Prizes.<br> <i>James</i>, by Percival Everett, <a href="https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/22691" target="_blank">won</a> the Fiction category, over three other finalists: <i>The Unicorn Woman</i>, by Gayl Jones; <i>Mice 1961</i>, by Stacey Levine; and <i>Headshot</i> by Rita Bullwinkel.<br> The Criticism award <a href="https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/22649" target="_blank">went to</a> Alexandra Lange, with none of the three finalists a literary critic.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hq2</guid> </item> <item> <title>Conclaves</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hq3</link><description><![CDATA[ It's <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/taglist.chiesa-e-religioni.Vaticano.Conclave.html" target="_blank">Conclave-time</a> in the Vatican ! <br> They're voting for a new pope !<br><br> To get in the mood, check out the two novels under review at the <font color="#a52a2a"><i>complete review</i></font> titled ... <i>Conclave</i>: <a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/harrisr/conclave.htm" target="_blank">Robert Harris</a>' (which the recently-released movie is based on) and <a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/italia/pazzir.htm" target="_blank">Roberto Pazzi</a>'s.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hq3</guid> </item> <item> <title>NEA grants</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hq4</link><description><![CDATA[ As widely reported, the (American) <a href="https://www.arts.gov/" target="_blank">National Endowment for the Arts</a> started rescinding and terminating already-awarded grants on Friday, including many to publishers. See also, for example, Sophia Stewart's report in <i>Publishers Weekly</i>, <a href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/97702-nea-literary-grants-staff-cut-as-trump-proposes-eliminating-the-agency.html" target="_blank">NEA Literary Grants, Staff Cut as Trump Proposes Eliminating the Agency</a>. <br> This follows this administration's similar actions regarding grants in other areas. Regardless of whether or not one thinks what the NEA does is something the federal government should be doing, it is, at the very least, very bad form to pull these grants after they have been awarded. With many of the organizations receiving funds planning ahead with the expectation of being able to rely on these funds, this sudden pulling-of-the-plug is devastating. (It also doesn't save a great amount of money.) ]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hq4</guid> </item> <item> <title>OCM Bocas Prize</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hp9</link><description><![CDATA[ They've <a href="https://www.bocaslitfest.com/2025/05/03/haitian-myriam-j-a-chancy-wins-2025-ocm-bocas-prize/" target="_blank">announced</a> the winner of this year's OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, and it is <i>Village Weavers</i>, by Myriam J.A. Chancy.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hp9</guid> </item> <item> <title>People's Choice Literature review</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hq1</link><description><![CDATA[ The most recent addition to the <font color="#a52a2a"><i>complete review</i></font> is my review of the two-in-one of <i>The Most Wanted and Unwanted Novels</i> by Tom Comitta, <a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/usx/comittat.htm" target="_blank">People's Choice Literature</a>, forthcoming from Columbia University Press.<br><br> I am curious to see how much attention this one gets; certainly an interesting exercise.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hq1</guid> </item> <item> <title>Q & A: Margaret Drabble</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hp6</link><description><![CDATA[ This week's 'The books of my life'-column in <i>The Guardian</i> features <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/may/02/margaret-drabble-our-family-had-a-passion-for-georgette-heyer" target="_blank">Margaret Drabble: ‘Our family had a passion for Georgette Heyer’</a>. <br> She was won over by the works of <a href="https://www.complete-review.com/authors/perec.htm" target="_blank">Georges Perec</a> -- and admits: <blockquote><font size="-1"><b>My comfort read</b><br>Anything by Lee Child. I love Jack Reacher.</font></blockquote>]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hp6</guid> </item> <item> <title>Q & A: Amitav Ghosh</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hp7</link><description><![CDATA[ At Scroll.in Ashutosh Kumar Thakur has a Q & A with the author, in <a href="https://scroll.in/article/1081798/it-would-be-a-mistake-to-think-that-hyper-technological-people-dont-live-by-stories-amitav-ghosh" target="_blank">‘It would be a mistake to think that hyper-technological people don’t live by stories’: Amitav Ghosh</a> -- mainly about his latest book, <i>Wild Fictions</i>. <br> He notes: "Kalidasa's <i>Meghaduta</i> [<a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/sanskrit/k1meghad.htm" target="_blank">The Cloud-Messenger</a>] is not just a poem; it is a conversation between the cloud and the earth"]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hp7</guid> </item> <item> <title>'Redefining Arabic literature'</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hp8</link><description><![CDATA[ In <i>The National</i> Saeed Saeed reports on how: 'Authors are blurring genres and experimenting with narrative techniques', in <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/books/2025/05/03/50-most-important-arabic-novels-21st-century/" target="_blank">From blogs to book prizes: How a new generation is redefining Arabic literature</a>.<br><br> They apparently also have a new list of the <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/2025/05/01/top-best-arabic-books-literature-fiction/" target="_blank">50 Most Important Arabic Novels of the 21st Century</a>, but it's behind the paywall.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hp8</guid> </item> <item> <title>Carol Shields Prize</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hp3</link><description><![CDATA[ They've <a href="https://carolshieldsprizeforfiction.com/2025-winner" target="_blank">announced</a> the winner of this year's Carol Shields Prize for Fiction, a US$150,000 prize which celebrates: "creativity and excellence in fiction by women and non-binary writers in Canada and the United States", and it is <i>Code Noir</i> by Canisia Lubrin. <br> See also the publicity pages from <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/669724/code-noir-by-canisia-lubrin/9780735282216" target="_blank">Vintage Canada</a> and <a href="https://softskull.com/books/code-noir/" target="_blank">Soft Skull Press</a>, or get your copy at <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/159376796X/ref=nosim/completereview" target="_blank">Amazon.com</a>, <a href="https://bookshop.org/a/81962/9781593767969" target="_blank">Bookshop.org</a>, or <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0735282234/ref=nosim/completereview07" target="_blank">Amazon.co.uk</a>. ]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hp3</guid> </item> <item> <title>Edgar Allan Poe Awards</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hp4</link><description><![CDATA[ The Mystery Writers of America have <a href="https://mysterywriters.org/mystery-writers-of-america-announces-the-2025-edgar-award-winners/" target="_blank">announced</a> the winners of this year's Edgar Allan Poe Awards. ]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hp4</guid> </item> <item> <title>Reading in ... Germany</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hp5</link><description><![CDATA[ In <i>Die Zeit</i> Anant Agarwala and Martin Spiewak apparently <a href="https://www.zeit.de/2025/18/lesekompetenz-lange-texte-universitaeten-lehre" target="_blank">report</a> <font size="-1">(paywalled)</font> on German university students' diminishing reading skills and interest; at Börsenblatt they <a href="https://www.boersenblatt.net/news/literaturszene/selbst-studierende-der-literaturwissenschaft-lesen-weniger-373487" target="_blank">sum it up</a>, noting also the shocking statistic that the percentage of students who read books daily declined from 43 per cent in 2003 to 17 per cent in 2024.<br> That is .... not good.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hp5</guid> </item> <item> <title>New World Literature Today</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hp1</link><description><![CDATA[ The <a href="https://worldliteraturetoday.org/2025/may" target="_blank">May/June issue</a> of <i>World Literature Today</i> is now out -- 'The City Issue: Delhi | In the Anthroposcene'. <br> Lots to keep you covered for the weekend -- including the extensive <a href="https://worldliteraturetoday.org/book-review/2025/May" target="_blank">book review</a> section.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hp1</guid> </item> <item> <title>Joyce Carol Oates Prizes</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hp2</link><description><![CDATA[ The New Literary Project has <a href="https://www.newliteraryproject.org/whats-new/jennine-cap-crucet-amp-willy-vlautin-winnbsp2025-joyce-carol-oates-prizes" target="_blank">announced</a> the winners of this year's Joyce Carol Oates Prize, which: "honors mid-career authors of fiction who advance the vision and mission of NewLit -- to drive social change and unleash artistic power across the generations and the nation" -- two winners this year, Jennine Capó Crucet and Willy Vlautin. ]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#hp2</guid> </item> <item> <title>V.Y.Mudimbe (1941-2025)</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#ho7</link><description><![CDATA[ African author and scholar V.Y.Mudimbe has passed away; see, for example, the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/27/world/africa/valentin-yves-mudimbe-dead.html" target="_blank">obituary</a> <font size="-1">(presumably paywalled)</font> in <i>The New York Times</i>. <br><br> Several of his novels have been translated into English, though it's mainly the non-fiction that seems to be in print (e.g. <i>The Invention of Africa</i> (<a href="https://iupress.org/9780253204684/the-invention-of-africa/" target="_blank">Indiana University Press</a>), <i>The Mudimbe Reader</i> (<a href="https://www.upress.virginia.edu/title/4717/" target="_blank">University of Virginia Press</a>), <i>Africa and the Disciplines</i> (<a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/A/bo3684072.html" target="_blank"> University of Chicago Press</a>)). ]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#ho7</guid> </item> <item> <title>EBRD Literature Prize finalists</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#ho8</link><description><![CDATA[ The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has <a href="https://www.ebrd.com/home/news-and-events/news/2025/ebrd-literature-prize-2025-finalists-announced.html" target="_blank">announced</a> the three finalists for this year's EBRD Literature Prize, awarded for a: 'book of translated literary fiction translated into English and written originally in any language of a country where the EBRD currently invests by an author who is (or has been) a citizen of one of these countries': <ul> <li><a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/polska/tokarczuk3.htm" target="_blank">The Empusium</a>, by Olga Tokarczuk <li><a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/ukraine/maljartschukt2.htm" target="_blank">Forgottenness</a>, by Tanja Maljartschuk <li><i>Sons, Daughters</i>, by Ivana Bodrožić</ul> The winner will be announced 24 June.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#ho8</guid> </item> <item> <title>Bonjour Tristesse movie</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#ho9</link><description><![CDATA[ Françoise Sagan's <a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/popfr/saganf2.htm" target="_blank">Bonjour Tristesse</a> was made into a film in 1958, directed by Otto Preminger and starring Jean Seberg, David Niven, and Deborah Kerr -- and now there's a new version out, directed by Durga Chew-Bose and starring Chloë Sevigny, Lily McInerny, and Claes Bang, which is coming to US cinemas tomorrow; see, for example, the Greenwich Entertainment <a href="https://greenwichentertainment.com/film/bonjour-tristesse/" target="_blank">publicity page</a>.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202505a.htm#ho9</guid> </item> <item> <title>Jane Gardam (1928-2025)</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202504c.htm#ho2</link><description><![CDATA[ English author Jane Gardam has passed away; see, for example, the obituaries in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/apr/29/jane-gardam-author-of-old-filth-and-the-hollow-land-dies-aged-96" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> (by Lucy Knight) and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/29/books/jane-gardam-dead.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> <font size="-1">(presumably paywalled)</font> (by Helen T. Verongos).<br><br> She was a wonderful author, and several of her books are under review at the <font color="#a52a2a"><i>complete review</i></font>: <ul> <li><a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/gardamj/god.htm" target="_blank">God on the Rocks</a> <li><a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/gardamj/last.htm" target="_blank">Last Friends</a> <li><a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/gardamj/long_way.htm" target="_blank">A Long Way From Verona</a> <li><a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/gardamj/maninwh.htm" target="_blank">The Man in the Wooden Hat</a> <li><a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/gardamj/oldfilth.htm" target="_blank">Old Filth</a></ul> She's one of those authors where I try to hold some unread titles in reserve, for times when I got bogged down in or frustrated by what I'm reading, knowing that I can rely on whatever I pick of hers to satisfy me. (Other authors in this category are the very different Iris Murdoch, as well as Georges Simenon (though of course he published so much that there seems no danger of ever running out of works to fall back on).) ]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202504c.htm#ho2</guid> </item> <item> <title>René Char conference</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202504c.htm#ho3</link><description><![CDATA[ At Princeton they're holding a two-day conference, <a href="https://humanities.princeton.edu/event/resistance-and-its-futures-translating-the-untranslatable-wartime-poetry-of-rene-char/" target="_blank">Resistance and its Futures: Translating the (Untranslatable) Wartime Poetry of René Char</a> starting tomorrow.<br> An impressive-looking programme.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202504c.htm#ho3</guid> </item> <item> <title>Deutscher Sachbuchpreis finalists</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202504c.htm#ho4</link><description><![CDATA[ They've <a href="https://www.deutscher-sachbuchpreis.de/en/news/detail/nominees-2025" target="_blank">announced</a> the eight finalists for this year's German Non-Fiction Prize, selected from 234 titles.<br> The winner will be announced 17 June.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202504c.htm#ho4</guid> </item> <item> <title>NSW Literary Awards shortlists</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202504c.htm#ho5</link><description><![CDATA[ They've announced the shortlists for this year's <a href="https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/awards/nsw-literary-awards" target="_blank">NSW Literary Awards</a>, "the richest and longest running state-based literary awards in Australia" -- unfortunately not in one single, simple, convenient list; ridiculously, you have to click on each category to see the finalists. <br> The winners will be announced 19 May.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202504c.htm#ho5</guid> </item> <item> <title>The Innocent Libertine review</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202504c.htm#ho6</link><description><![CDATA[ The most recent addition to the <font color="#a52a2a"><i>complete review</i></font> is my review of a new translation of Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette's <a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/ancienf/colette.htm" target="_blank">The Innocent Libertine</a> -- a 1909 'melding' of two of her earlier novellas --, just out from Dedalus.<br><br> This is the third translation of this work -- suggesting also its continuing appeal. I've generally had trouble with Colette -- and this is the first of her works under review here -- but found this one quite winning.<br><br> See also the <a href="https://www.bibliorare.com/wp-content/uploads/catalogue/346/334.jpg" target="_blank">manuscript</a> of the first part, <i>Minne</i>; more <a href="https://www.bibliorare.com/lot/105948/" target="_blank">here</a>. ]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202504c.htm#ho6</guid> </item> <item> <title>RSL Ondaatje Prize shortlist</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202504c.htm#hn9</link><description><![CDATA[ The Royal Society of Literature has announced the shortlist for this year's <a href="https://rsliterature.org/rsl-ondaatje-prize/" target="_blank">RSL Ondaatje Prize</a>, awarded: "for a distinguished work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry, evoking the spirit of a place".<br> The winner will be announced 15 May.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202504c.htm#hn9</guid> </item> <item> <title>Salome at the Met</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202504c.htm#ho1</link><description><![CDATA[ A new <a href="https://www.metopera.org/season/2024-25-season/salome/" target="_blank">production</a> of Richard Strauss' opera, <i>Salome</i>, premieres at the Metropolitan Opera in New York tonight, with additional performances throughout May -- noteworthy also because it will receive a much larger audience than most recent <i>Salome</i>-productions, as there will also be a: 'Met Live in HD'-<a href="https://www.metopera.org/season/in-cinemas/2024-25-season/salome/" target="_blank">broadcast</a> on 17 May, at thousands of venues. <br> As always, if you're preparing for anything Salome (Strauss, Willde, or any of the many others ...), I'd suggest my novel, <a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/mao/salome_in_graz.htm" target="_blank">Salome in Graz</a> has a lot to offer ..... <br> My protagonists would certainly be interested in this production, and I'm sure they'll be catching it at their local Met Opera in HD venue ....<br> The Met production is directed by Claus Guth. Apparently, they've: "updated the action to the Victorian era" -- and this <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/28/arts/music/claus-guth-salome-met-opera.html" target="_blank">preview profile</a> <font size="-1">(presumably paywalled)</font> by Javier C. Hernández in <i>The New York Times</i> suggests: <blockquote><font size="-1">Inspired partly by Stanley Kubrick’s film <i>Eyes Wide Shut</i>, Guth has infused the opera, an adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s decadent retelling of the biblical story, with elements of a psychological thriller.</font></blockquote> And: <blockquote><font size="-1">For his <i>Salome</i>, Guth said, he wanted to give the title character a sense of agency — to show that she’s “not just the puppet and product of her education.”<br><br>“It’s the biography of Salome — the development of a young person,” he said. “I was looking for something that everybody could connect to.”</font></blockquote> As to the take on the most problematic bit (so the main disputant in my novel) in the opera: <blockquote><font size="-1">The Dance of the Seven Veils, one of the opera’s defining scenes, is often portrayed as a striptease. But in Guth’s version, the dance is a moment of reckoning, as seven versions of Salome, including van den Heever, portray the horrors of her upbringing.</font></blockquote> There's also a short but rather unrevealing video preview: <br><br><iframe width="420" height="236" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mwhjzrL98Ds?si=WLtJWuFeKPq3lzFn" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe><br><br> Jay Goodwin's preview-article at the Met site, <a href="https://www.metopera.org/discover/articles/gone-girl/" target="_blank">Gone Girl</a>, has a few more photographs, and offers additional background, including the explanation that: <blockquote><font size="-1">“This girl was raised like a puppet, completely in terror of the moods of her stepfather,” Guth says. “There are many indications that she was sexually abused by him, and when Herod says, ‘Dance for me,’ we sense that it is something he has said to her many times before.”</font></blockquote> So also then, regarding the Dance of the Seven Veils: <blockquote><font size="-1">Using a sequence of progressively older Salome doubles that enter in turn, each veil becomes Salome at a different stage of childhood, being taught—or groomed—by Herod as she dances for him. It is an accusation of terrible force, made in front of her mother (sung by mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung), which makes clear that Herodias has enabled this all along by willfully looking away. </font></blockquote> (My novel's Marguerite would strongly disagree with much of this, holding that, in the Wilde and Strauss versions (and quite a few others), mom has been the guiding, controlling manipulator all along. Still, while she probably means it very differently, she'd probably go along with Guth's conclusion: <blockquote><font size="-1">“Ultimately, <i>Salome</i> is a story of finding your own values,” he says. “It’s a proposal to be radical in the way you discover who you are, and this is only possible if you communicate with your dreams, with your fears, with the things underneath the rational daytime world. So this is something we should all be interested in.”</font></blockquote> <br> Yannick Nézet-Séguin will be conducting, and Elza van den Heever plays the title role; see also the official <a href="https://www.metopera.org/globalassets/season/2024-25/salome/programs/042925-salome.pdf" target="_blank">programme</a> <font size="-1">(warning ! dreaded pdf format !)</font>, with additional notes. <br> And at Vulture Jason P. Frank has the behind-the-scenes story of how they made the prop-head, in <a href="https://www.vulture.com/article/metropolitan-opera-met-salome-severed-head-process.html" target="_blank">The Metropolitan Opera Brings <i>Salome</i> a New Head</a>.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202504c.htm#ho1</guid> </item> <item> <title>Hsu-Tang Library</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202504c.htm#hn7</link><description><![CDATA[ I've mentioned the <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/content/series/h/the-hsu-tang-library-of-classical-chinese-literature-htlcl" target="_blank">Hsu-Tang Library of Classical Chinese Literature</a> -- and four titles from it are <a href="https://www.complete-review.com/maindex/imprints.htm#hsu_tang" target="_blank">under review</a> at the <font color="#a52a2a"><i>complete review</i></font> -- and it's good to see more coverage of it, as Maddalena Poli profiles it, in: <a href="https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/premodern-chinese-literature-can-be-trendy-too/" target="_blank">Premodern Chinese Literature Can Be Trendy Too</a> at the <i>Los Angeles Review of Books</i> -- noting that: <blockquote><font size="-1">the biggest conundrum that the series faces, I would say, is not one of editing but one of marketing and participation. Having “smartly scholarly and eminently readable” editions is a good start, but it remains just that if the work is not forcefully advertised.</font></blockquote> I'm not sure about advertising -- in whatever sense -- but, as I've <a href="https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202503a.htm#gz9" target="_blank">mentioned</a>, I am surprised this series hasn't gotten more attention and coverage (yet). But Poli is on the right track suggesting: <blockquote><font size="-1">To the same end, the Hsu-Tang Library should invest into turning these hardcover editions into affordable paperbacks with running translations for those not acquainted with classical Chinese language and flood <i>public</i> libraries (and maybe even bookstores) with them to increase the chances that readers come across these texts serendipitously. </font></blockquote> Though I note that the hardcover editions are not outrageously expensive -- US$34.95, which is in the same range as the Loeb editions ($30.00 apiece). Still, these volumes certainly should be more readily ... discoverable. (And, yes, more bookstores should be stocking some of these as well -- surely some readers would pick them up and take a chance on them.)]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202504c.htm#hn7</guid> </item> <item> <title>The Ways of Paradise review</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202504c.htm#hn8</link><description><![CDATA[ The most recent addition to the <font color="#a52a2a"><i>complete review</i></font> is my review of <i>Notes from a Lost Manuscript</i>, Peter Cornell's 1987 work, <a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/sverige/cornellp.htm" target="_blank">The Ways of Paradise</a>, recently out in English from Fitzcarraldo Editions.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202504c.htm#hn8</guid> </item> <item> <title>LA Times Book Prizes</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202504c.htm#hn6</link><description><![CDATA[ They've <a href="https://www.latimes.com/about/pressreleases/story/2025-04-25/los-angeles-times-announces-winners-of-45th-annual-book-prizes" target="_blank">announced</a> the winners of this year's Los Angeles Times Book Prizes -- with winners in thirteen catgories.<br> <i>Say Hello to My Little Friend</i> by Jennine Capó Crucet won the Fiction category.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202504c.htm#hn6</guid> </item> <item> <title>New members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202504c.htm#hn4</link><description><![CDATA[ The American Academy of Arts and Sciences has <a href="https://www.amacad.org/news/new-member-announcement-2025" target="_blank">announced</a> its new members -- nearly <a href="https://www.amacad.org/new-members-2025" target="_blank">250</a> in a wide variety of fields ("grouped in the thirty-one sections, organized within five classes"). ]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202504c.htm#hn4</guid> </item> <item> <title>Khosrow and Shirin review</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202504c.htm#hn5</link><description><![CDATA[ The most recent addition to the <font color="#a52a2a"><i>complete review</i></font> is my review of Nezami Ganjavi's <a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/nizami/khosrow_and_shirin.htm" target="_blank">Khosrow and Shirin</a>, now out in a Penguin Classics edition (though apparently only in August in the UK) -- apparently the first translation of the work into English.<br><br> That's four of five in Nizami's <i>Khamseh</i> (quintet) under review -- only one more to go.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202504c.htm#hn5</guid> </item> <item> <title>IPAF</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202504c.htm#hm9</link><description><![CDATA[ They've announced the winner of this year's <a href="https://en.arabicfiction.org/" target="_blank">International Prize for Arabic Fiction</a> and it is صلاة القلق, by Mohamed Samir Nada; see, for example, Lauren Brown's <a href="https://www.thebookseller.com/news/mohamed-samir-nada-wins-international-prize-for-arabic-fiction-for-outstandingly-beautiful-novel" target="_blank">report</a> in <i>The Bookseller</i>.<br> There were 124 submissions for this, the leading Arabic-language novel prize.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202504c.htm#hm9</guid> </item> <item> <title>Rheingau Literatur Preis</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202504c.htm#hn1</link><description><![CDATA[ They've announced the winner of this year's <a href="https://www.rheingau-musik-festival.de/festival/preise-und-auszeichnungen/rheingau-literatur-preis" target="_blank">Rheingau Literatur Preis</a>, and it is <i>Verzauberte Vorbestimmung</i> by <a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/suisse/luscherj.htm" target="_blank">Kraft</a>-author Jonas Lüscher; see also the Hanser <a href="https://www.hanser-literaturverlage.de/en/buch/jonas-luescher-verzauberte-vorbestimmung-9783446283046-t-5563" target="_blank">foreign rights page</a>.<br> This prize is noteworthy because beside award money -- €11,100 -- the winner gets 111 bottles of wine.<br><br> (Previous winners include Thomas Lehr's <a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/lehrt/nskatze.htm" target="_blank">Nabokovs Katze</a> (1999) and Peter Stamm's <a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/stammp/agnes.htm" target="_blank">Agnes</a> (2000).)]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202504c.htm#hn1</guid> </item> <item> <title>Literary takedowns</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202504c.htm#hn2</link><description><![CDATA[ At Pioneer Works 'Lauren Oyler and Brandon Taylor talk to hannah baer about the dark art of literary takedowns', in <a href="https://pioneerworks.org/broadcast/lauren-oyler-brandon-taylor-hannah-baer-press-play-literary-takedowns" target="_blank">I'd Like to Report a Murder</a>. <br> Always a fun subject.]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202504c.htm#hn2</guid> </item> <item> <title>Andrey Kurkov Q & A</title> <link>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202504c.htm#hn3</link><description><![CDATA[ At Georgia Today they have a Q & A with <a href="https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/postsu/kurkova6.htm" target="_blank">Grey Bees</a>-author <a href="https://georgiatoday.ge/andrey-kurkov-putin-has-reached-the-upper-limit-of-geopolitical-machismo-and-he-will-remain-there-until-he-dies/" target="_blank">Andrey Kurkov: “Putin has reached the upper limit of geopolitical machismo, and he will remain there until he dies”</a>.<br> Among his responses: <blockquote><font size="-1"><b>If you were granted an audience with Trump, would you have any pusuasive arguments to convince him not to stop aid to Ukraine ?</b><br><br>Trump is not a man of arguments, and I don’t think that any meeting of mine with him could be even minimally productive. I think that only good psychologists and psychoanalysts can calculate who from the Ukrainian side he needs to meet with and how to prepare that person so that they implant their ideas into Trump’s head and mouth. Because that’s exactly how it happens. An economic advisor implanted tariff war ideas into Trump. If someone from Ukraine can skillfully put reasonable words into Trump’s head that aid to Ukraine should not be stopped, then everything will work out.</font></blockquote>]]></description> <guid>https://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/202504c.htm#hn3</guid> </item> </channel></rss> If you would like to create a banner that links to this page (i.e. this validation result), do the following:
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