Author Archives: lschell
SMOTHERED BY A STORY: PETER STAMM’S AGNES, TRANSLATED BY MICHAEL HOFMANN
Reviewed by Daniel Kennedy Although Agnes is the sixth of Peter Stamm’s books to be published in the US by Other Press in Michael Hofmann’s translation, it is in fact his debut novel. With this slim volume, first published in 1998, Peter Stamm established himself as one of the most promising Swiss writers of his […]
“island under our skin”: tasks by Víctor Rodríguez Núñez, translated by Katherine M. Hedeen
Reviewed by Kelsi Vanada I often find myself explaining my desire to translate by expressing that it is an inherently collaborative project, one in which my voice gets to support another’s. tasks, which was longlisted for the 2017 Best Translated Book Award, is the most recent, luminous product of years of collaboration between poet Víctor […]
Dream Brothers: Two New Novels from QC Fiction
Brothers by David Clerson, translated by Katia Grubisic, and Listening for Jupiter by Pierre-Luc Landry, translated by Arielle Aaronson and Madeleine Stratford Reviewed by Alex Andriesse American readers can be counted on to name at least three or four Canadian writers: Alice Munro, Margaret Atwood, and Michael Ondaatje come immediately to mind. Munro is from […]
Kernel of the Future: Hirato Renkichi’s Spiral Staircase, Translated by Sho Sugita
Reviewed by Jordan A. Y. Smith Spiral Staircase, an engaging collection of poems and works by the dynamo of Japanese futurism, Hirato Renkichi, ably fulfills the translator and editor’s declared mission: “providing English-language readers a focused survey of Hirato’s life-long literary output” (8). Considering the brevity of his life (1893-1922), Hirato accomplished much, experimenting with […]
Close Encounters in the Capital of Yiddishland: Vilna My Vilna by Abraham Karpinowitz, translated from the Yiddish by Helen Mintz
Reviewed by Ellen Cassedy Prostitutes, thieves, racketeers, and gangsters populate the short stories of Abraham Karpinowitz. But as translator Helen Mintz points out, the main character in his work is the city itself. “Vilna” to the Jews, “Wilno” to the Poles, “Vilnius” to the Lithuanians, it was a polyglot city, the site of multiple “crossings” […]
“Many Days of Slights and Oversights”: Zama by Antonio di Benedetto, Translated by Esther Allen
Reviewed by Andrea Shah Originally published in 1956, Zama took over 60 years to appear in English (as translated by Esther Allen), despite having been deemed a masterwork by literary luminaries such as Juan José Saer. Zama is the first and best-known novel written by Antonio di Benedetto, then a young Argentine journalist who had […]
Forrest Gander on editing untranslatable poet Yoshimasu Gozo
Yoshimasu Gozo is a one-of-a-kind artist. While he’s usually referred to as a poet, such a categorization almost always comes with some sort of qualification. His work is often called “unconventional” or “unorthodox.” Others stress that his poetry draws heavily from performance, music, and/or multimedia art. In a word, he writes the sort of poetry that’s […]
Suspended Existence: Yusuf Atilgan’s Motherland Hotel, Translated by Fred Stark
Reviewed by Amanda Sarasien Zeberjet Kechiji is lonely. As manager of Motherland Hotel, an ancient, familial manor cum lodging house, remote in both time and place, he meticulously records the name of every guest in the hotel register but remains distant, outside, glimpsing an entire life as if through a keyhole. And there is one […]
Narration Between Species: Yoko Tawada’s Memoirs of a Polar Bear, Translated by Susan Bernofsky
Reviewed by Jordan A. Y. Smith [Tawada’s Memoirs of a Polar is one of those novels that makes one loathe to reveal not only the ending but the beginning, so I will open with my clichéd but earnest recommendation that you trust me—and Tawada’s stellar and well-earned reputation—go read the novel, then continue reading this […]
Invisible Currents: Kyn Taniya’s Radio, Translated by David Shook
Reviewed by Brian McLaughlin As Arthur C. Clarke famously stated, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,” a claim which has obviously assumed the status of proverb, not only in science fiction but also in any vein of cultural criticism. Yet, as early as 1924, Mexican poet Kyn Taniya was already demonstrating the truth […]
Burnt Generation: Alireza Taheri Araghi’s anthology of Seven Younger Iranian Poets
Reviewed by Fatemeh Madani Sarbarani At first I was reluctant to read I Am a Face Sympathizing with Your Grief, an anthology of seven younger Iranian poets edited and translated by Alireza Taheri Araghi, thinking that the book, like many others, would be a dark representation of Iran or the Middle East. This representation seems […]
Truths Juxtaposed: Kim Kyung Ju’s I Am a Season That Does Not Exist in the World, Translated by Jake Levine
Reviewed by Heather Lang I Am a Season That Does Not Exist in the World by Kim Kyung Ju, as translated from the Korean by Jake Levine, is a raucous and surrealist read. Yet, this poetry collection remains anchored in the natural world. Our physical world is, for the most part, unyielding, and oftentimes its concreteness feels […]
Intimate Wanderings: Oddný Eir’s Land of Love and Ruins, Translated by Philip Roughton
Reviewed by Christiana Hills Before traveling to a foreign place, we go into it thinking we have some idea of what the experience will be like. But it always turns out differently, and when we return home and our friends and family ask us how the trip went, this disconnection between our expectations and the […]
Within the Lines: Basma Abdel Aziz’s The Queue, Translated by Elisabeth Jaquette
Reviewed by Andrea Shah Basma Abdel Aziz’s début novel, The Queue, was written in the span of two fevered months, after the author came upon a line of people waiting outside a closed government office in her native Egypt: “The gate to the building would certainly open shortly, I thought to myself; after all, it […]
Michele Hutchison on Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer’s La Superba, expat writers and translators
Celebrated Dutch author Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer’s autobiographical novel La Superba, titled after the nickname for Genoa, where he has lived for the past six years, is the story of a writer named Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer and the group of expats—legal and illegal—he befriends, as they try to assimilate into the labyrinthine city. I met up […]