Category: EUROPEAN FICTION

The milkman in the night by Andrey Kurkov

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The milkman in the night by Andrey Kurkov

Ukrainian fiction

Translator – Amanda Love Darragh

Andrey Kurkov the ukrainian writer is probably best know for the first of his Penguin books death and the penguin which I reviewed a while ago here  ,he has written 13 novels and a number of children’s books in his time .He is well known for his dark humour and satire .

This his latest book in translation ,is yet again set in and around the capital  of Ukraine Kiev .Yet again like in death and the penguin the main character is a middle-aged man .Semyon a body-guard by day , he is married but has starterd to sleep walk every night ,and appear with his clothes in a mess every morning ,his wife doesn’t believe he is sleep walking so he asks his friend to prove this is the case and he find as out he visits a women every night  .Elsewhere Irina a single mother sells her breast milk to a strange variety of characters .We also have a politician Gennady a man who is on the rise with influence post orange revolution ,his is a double edge character thou good and generous but also easily cuts people off .Elsewhere the is Dima an airport security guard at Borysil airport with his sniffer dog , who finds and then  steals a case contain a mysterious drug ,the maker of the drugs we also meet at the start as he is murdered ,oh and then there is fluffy the cat as well .

 ”  Fluffy ! Fluffy ! ” Dima heard the voice of his wife ,Valaya .He had been trying to sleep .”fluffy ! where are you ? ”

Just the he heard from outside the familiar unpleasant snarling of the neighbour’s bull terrier ,which went by the name of king .Dog and owner were equally objectionable .Instead of taking the dog for a walk its owner would sometimes just let it out in his front yard ,whereupon it would make a beeline for Dima and Valay’s front yard and do its business and chase their cat Fluffy if he should happen to be nearby -before retreating to its own territory .

Dima’s home life early on in  the book .

Now as you see this book has a number of smaller stories making it up into a whole the stories do cross at points during the book ,its like the film short cuts or Magnolia  where we dash in and out of the lives of people as we view a cross-section of Kiev from the rich to the poor single parent ,families and even the pets make appearances  here .Kurkov,s talent is keeping you interested in the vastness of the work with out making you feel you have to take notes to keep up , every twist and turn the stories of their lives gets more comic ,in some ways this could be fraiser (us tv show) as scripted by Anton Chekov  it has the feel sometime like Frasier the characters get caught up in a comic moment from one action .This will appeal if you liked death and the penguin, but the again  if you though death and the penguin a little to surreal to read maybe this one will appeal  more, it is tinged with surrealism but not as much .This book made me laugh and made me cringe at times .The translator is different from his earlier books I prefer This translator to the earlier one for some reason can’t put my finger on it just seemed more straight forward .

Kurkov has done a podcast for Vintage I ve not listen to it yet but here is the link 

winstons post – the event of the decade

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Rarely do I get really excited about a book and a writer but this book and its writer deserve to be shouted about ,this is the latest book from the hungarian writer Peter Nadas ,it took him 18 years to write the three volumes that make up parallel stories and it has taken the translator Imre Goldstein 5 years to bring the book to english .It is 1152 pages long so is one of the longest books in translation .The book covers post war eastern europe from end of war the Budapest uprising in 1956 to the fall of the berlin war .I think this book is probably going be the best insight into living behind the iron curtain in fiction .Its told through a number of characters from Germany , Hungary,with its main focus on two families one German ,one Hungarian there is a in-depth interview with him about the book here .The book is due out in November I will be reviewing it then over three days as three books that make the complete book .I feel this is a strong contender for the 2012 Independent foreign fiction prize as a book of this scale rarely comes round .  I think it’ll take a month for me to  get through the book .

What do you think ? 

Cees Nooteboom talks to winstonsdad

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I ve been lucky enough  to Ask The best Known Living Dutch writer Cees Nooteboom ,the prize winning writer is often mentioned as a Nobel prize winner for his body of Work so to tie in with his newest collection of stories being released in English and Iris of Iris on book Dutch literature month some questions About his books and Translation-.


  1. You are a travel writer ,art critic ,poet and literary writer – of these which is closest to your heart ?

The combination. My prose would not be the way it is without my interest, both as a writer and a reader, in poetry. Poetry goes to the heart of things, finds new ways for words, forces one to be precise,and at the same time implies an enormous freedom of thought and expression.

  1. How do you manage to find the time to write so prolifically ?                           Time is always there, it depends what you want to do with it. Couperus, who was more prolific than I am, always claimed that he was lazy.
  2. In this latest collection of stories to be translated  into English ,which came first The theme or The stories  ?                                                                                        The theme belongs to my age. Friends separate, colleague’s die, people disappear in all kinds of ways, and one finds time to reflect on all that, which belongs the work of memory.
  3. In the Foxes Come at Night how much of your own life has been invested into the stories ?                                                                                                                              This question was often asked of Marcel Proust. After all, the protagonist of his 4000 page book was called Marcel, like the author, and many people wanted to recognize themselves and others in his book. But he was adamant and said it was all fiction, including the author in the book with whom he shared a first name.

He was right, if only for the simple fact that Proust is dead, and the other Marcel is still very much alive in all these pages.

  1. How closely do you work with your translators ?                                                    Very close, especcially when they need me.
  2. How  important are champions of literature in translation such as publishers lik MacLehose Press ?                                                                                                         They are the salt of literary life, a last bulwark against the ever increasing commercialism of the international booktrade.
  3. I’m doing this as part of Iris on books Dutch Literature month – What is special about Dutch literature for the readers that may not have been introduced to it before ?                                                                                                        The Dutch are a rather special tribe, like the english, but smaller. On the other hand,Holland is not an island. It has taken the world a long time to recognize that there are some interesting writers out there, like Hermans, Mulisch, Claus, Mortier, van Dis, Grunberg, and many others. And of course it does not help that we know much more about English writers than English readers know about dutch literature. A small language can be a prison. Translation is liberation.
  4. Why do you think the English sometimes do not understand Dutch literature ?                                                                                                                                                      For the reason I have just indicated. Dutch literature may be an acquired taste, we are a metropolitan country, very densely populated, forced by size, inclination and the necessity of trade to be international, though lately rather inward looking. There is not enough land to serve as a counterweight to the cities. That makes for a rather special society. The language is spoken by 21 milion sometimes conceited citizens, with opinions about practically everything, in an eternal dialogue with each other.
  5. Do you have a favourite book (If yes please name it )?                           Remembrace of Things past, by Marcel Proust. Ala Recherchedu Temps Perdu.
  6. Which of your own books stands out for you ?                                                           The Knight has died ( De Ridder is gestorven, 1963), which has not been published in theUK. It is maybe not my best book , but it was very important in my writing life, since in it I understood for the first time what writing really was about. It was published in english long ago byLouisianaStateUniversityPress, and as I noticed recently inAustraliaandIndia, some of my fans have been able to find it in the ever expanding labyrinth of the internet where nothing is ever lost.

Cees new collection is out now by Maclehose press ,my review will follow shortly ,Many thanks to Nicci at Maclehose who help me get chance to ask Cees these questions .

Laura Watkinson Translator talks to winstonsdad

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I manage to ask Dutch translator some questions via e mail ,she has translated the new Peirene book tomorrow Pamplona ,she has her own site here .She is also doing a blog tour for Peirene at moment with Jan the writer of tomorrow Pamplona ,so you may want look at the other questions she has been asked .also may one to check Iris  on books blog for more tips on Dutch literature as she is hosting Dutch literature month

1 How did you get into translating?

I’ve always been interested in languages, literature and different cultures. At school, I leaned strongly in that direction and I went on to study medieval and modern languages and literature at university. I’ve since lived in Germany and Italy and moved to the Netherlands in 2003.

With that background, translation’s a very tempting career. It allows you to work with the languages you’ve studied, to maintain contact with the countries you’re interested in and, from a practical point of view, it’s the perfect portable career. You can translate anywhere you can use a laptop.

I’ve been translating since I left university, combined with other language-related jobs, but my first serious move towards a career in literary translation was in 2001, when I took the postgraduate certificate in literary translation from Dutch into English at University College London, a year-long introduction into the world of publishing and translating. That was a great foundation and gave me the confidence to approach publishers. The Dutch Foundation for Literature and the Expertisecentrum Literair Vertalen in Utrecht are also very helpful in providing training and networking opportunities for both new and experienced translators.

2 How long does the average translation take?

This is an interesting question, but there’s really no such thing as an average translation. Something that looks straightforward can turn out to be tricky, while other pieces may seem to flow from your fingertips! I have heard 2000 words a day given as a rough guideline for literary translation, but I’m not quite sure how that was calculated.

Of course, the process isn’t only about the actual translation. I’ve just checked my emails and see that my first communication with Peirene Press about Tomorrow Pamplona was way back in January 2010. First we mailed backwards and forwards and agreed to go ahead with the project together. Then I translated the book and took it through various drafts before sending it to the Peirene copy-editor. Meike from Peirene also read the following version and made some comments, which I reacted to. We discussed a few points and then the book went to a proof-reader and to Jan before I gave it a final check. So, from negotiation to publication, it’s been almost a year and a half for this book.

3 How much contact do you have with writers?

That depends very much on the project. Jan was great to work with, as he made it clear that he was available for queries and then let me get on with it. Some authors like to be closely involved in the translation, while others aren’t that bothered. Translating from Dutch can be an interesting process though, as so many Dutch authors have excellent English. They often come up with really good suggestions and are generally happy to talk things through, while respecting your role as a translator and a native speaker of English. I’ve sometimes even collaborated with authors on translations of their work, which can be great fun. It’s good for the lonesome translator to get out there and talk to other people sometimes!
4 In Tomorrow Pamplona you manage to keep the maleness of Jan’s words. Was this hard?
Thanks, Stu. That’s good to hear. Jan has a very strong voice as an author and I knew that I needed to keep that force and bluntness in the language. Danny’s a boxer, after all, and he’s a real bloke, a man’s man. During the editing process, one of our debates was about the swearing in the book. We discussed toning it down a little, but I didn’t want Danny – or Robert – to mince their words, so the swearing stayed.

Interestingly, although there are plenty of male literary translators, the German, French and English translations of Tomorrow Pamplona are all by women. I’m not sure that gender matters too much as long as you focus on the individual characters and the distinctive voice of the author.

 

5 What is your favourite book you’ve translated?

Tomorrow Pamplona! Next question? 😉

Seriously, this has been a great project to work on, not only because of the book, the author and the Peirene team, but also because there’s been so much involvement from the internet community of bloggers and tweeters. It’s great to have that thoughtful feedback and direct contact with readers.

6 Is there a book you would like to translate from Dutch?

Hmm. Well, I’m currently translating Berlin by Cees Nooteboom for MacLehose Press, which is something of a dream project, as it combines one of my favourite Dutch writers, one of my favourite cities and a great publishing house.

An author I’ve enjoyed working with in the past is Karlijn Stoffels. I translated her young adult novel Heartsinger for Arthur A. Levine at Scholastic. She has a fantastic, dry wit and writes with a beautifully lyrical touch. She’s recently written a novel for adults, Zuiderzeeballade, and that’s one title I’d be very interested in working on.

Other than that, there’s a classic Dutch children’s epic adventure of knights and chivalric exploits, De brief voor de koning by Tonke Dragt, which is a real favourite in the Netherlands. It’s been made into a film and was voted the best Dutch children’s book ever. Although some foreign publishers have shown interest, no one has picked it up for translation yet. I still have my fingers crossed!
7 Why is so little Dutch lit read in the UK you think? Will books like Tomorrow Pamplona help this?

An interesting question. Firstly, there’s the fact that publishers in the English-speaking world are notoriously reluctant to produce books in translation. After all, there are so many authors out there already writing in English, which means that the publishers get to read the entire book before they decide to buy, as there’s no language barrier. I can see why having to go to the trouble of getting the book translated and then perhaps finding that you don’t like the book or translation would be an obstacle. Then there’s the issue of the bookshops and what they decide to stock. Some more literary texts may only be available in the larger bookshops or online.
However, I am largely optimistic, perhaps because I’m attuned to the number of Dutch books published in English. More would always be welcome, of course, but there are some wonderful titles out there, such as Marieke van der Pol’s Bride Flight, translated by Colleen Higgins, or The Twin by Gerbrand Bakker, translated by David Colmer, which won the 2010 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Even Dutch classics are getting a look in, such as Louis Couperus’s 1889 novel Eline Vere, translated recently by Ina Rilke. So I think there’s quite a lot of Dutch literature out there in English. It’s just a question of hunting it down! I certainly hope that Tomorrow Pamplona will play a part in helping to bring more Dutch literature to English-speaking readers.

 

 

8 What do you say to readers that are nervous of translations?

I know that a lot of people aren’t keen on reading books in translation, but I’d say that if you’ve had a bad experience in the past, maybe it’s time to give it another go, as there’s so much high-quality translated literature available now from all over the world. You could start by choosing a book that’s set in a location you know well and focusing first on the place and the atmosphere – if it’s a good read, the writing and the characters should draw you in before long.

 

I’d also like to suggest that readers, including myself, should try to be a little gentle with literature in translation. Sometimes I feel that if we’re aware that a work has been translated we tend to approach it with that in mind, looking for evidence that it’s not the original text, hunting down any slightly awkward phrases so that we can dismiss the writing as ‘just a translation’. I suspect that a lot of perceived literary infelicities in translations would be overlooked or forgiven if they appeared in an original work. So, my advice to any readers who are nervous of translations would be to try to switch off that hyper-sensitive ‘translationese’ alarm for the first few pages and to allow the narrative to carry you along. There’s a whole world of great stories and characters out there in translation and it’d be a shame to miss out on them

Nostromo by Joseph Conrad

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Joseph Conrad or to give him his proper name Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski ,was a polish born writer he had a varied life ,working as a sailor ,where the kernel for this book came after a visit to latin america ,he settle in england in his twenties but still travelled he didn’t learn english til his twenties .

Nostromo is a reread for me I read it in my late teens about twenty years ago and like it but didn’t love the book ,but when I read the secret history of costaguna a book based on this book I was advised to reread this by Frank Wynne on twitter and I am pleased I choose to do so ,as the book seemed to have grown in 20 years I think as I m older and more cynical and less idealistic nowadays the book appeals more .So what is the book about well about a silver mine ,a revolution ,a mine owner and Nostromo the man who could save the day .The book shows what a melting pot small harbours where at these  times in latin America where at this time a mix of expatriates ,natives and sailors on shore leave add to a heavy brew the ownership of mine a coup in the air and a pile of silver ,the book moves at a rip-roaring pace you meet a myriad of interesting characters a lot you feel Conrad would have met on his travels when sailing .Nostromo is like some of the great figures from south american history a european that becomes drawn into the struggle for freedom .

In the time of Spanish rule ,and for many years afterwards ,the town of Sulaco – the luxuriant beauty of orange gardens bears witness to its antiquity – had never been commercially anything more important than a coasting port with a fairly large local trade in ox hides and indigo .

The opening lines of Nostromo describe the town of Sulaco .

The story is so modern I felt if you crossed the names and replaced with arabic names you could have the current situation in the arabic world or with african names it could be cotes d ivoire ,at thew heart of the book is greed and money who owns it for silver you could have oil or cocoa in its place .My edition was from Oxford world classics thanks to Kirsty and had a great appendix with loads of facts and explanations on words and sources for the story .As for th story of the silver mine I was reminded of a programme from the early nineties where the radio dj Andy Kershaw and singer Billy Bragg followed the south american silver trail ,at one point we were told there was enough silver mined in the 1800’s to build a silver bridge from south america to Spain .The book shows what greed and colonialism had done to south america using an imagined country was a good idea from Conrad as it could be any of the countries in South America over the late 1800’s to early 1900’s as they all became republics .This book made me think I should read some more classic books than I do .

Have you read this book ?

Have you reread a book and found it better with age on rereading ?

The Italian Job

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These are books for my Italian week which I ll be starting to read next week and posting week after and for the year-long books in Italy challenge Have a couple of other Italian Noir novels on way from Library so looking forward to spend time in Italy this month well at least in Books .The two I’m most nervous about are Foucault’s pendulum and if on a winter’s night a traveller .These two are meant to be challenging to say the least .I will also be doing an Italian cooking post about the food and wine I love from Italy .Also at end be talking about the translators and what they brought to the books .

So have you read any of these ?

What yopur favourite Italian dish ?

Thousand reviews and hundred countries challenge

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After a day soul searching .I had long think before yesterday post ,but somethings people said struck me this is my own record of what I read ,maybe my challenges were to easy and doing them was good but until today and thought of not having a challenge and how that might stop me reading as much as I have been this year so I ve decided to raise the bar so ridiculously high that I ll spend many years trying to reach it .I want read books from a 100 countries now ,this is going be tough and also reach a thousand books reviewed .this should see me too well I don’t know .A clear head made me realise what fool I am ,I d be losing something I love doingwith all heart and be a fool for doing that plus sure Winston would miss being a star of the blog ! .

So sorry for yest

erday .

THREE SECONDS BY ROSLUND AND HELLSTORM

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Source – review copy from Quercus .

Three seconds is the fifth novel by the Swedish crime writing partnership of  Anders Roslund ,a tv journalist who set up a well-known Swedish art show (culture news ) .His partner is Borge Hellstrom work with the Swedish drug rehabilitation services and found an organisation to help criminal back in to society .

The book centres on two main characters Piet Hoffmann ,a complex man a company owner ,happily married yet on the flip side he is police informant and  face of the polish mafia ,the other main character that appears mainly in second half of the book is Evert Grens a swedish police detective in his late fifties a troubled man from an incident in the past he is first introduce solving a murder in Stockholm .The men collide in a complex plan that involves Hoffman getting caught and sent to a maximum security prison  the most dangerous in Sweden ,there is a killing and Gren is sent to find the killer unaware of Hoffmann’s really purpose he is a there is a lot twists and turns to you reach the climax of the book .

He left Vasagatan and then got caught in a traffic Jam by Slussen .It was nearly five o’clock and he should have been at the kindergarten an hour ago .

Piet Hoffmann sat in the car and desperately tried to fend off the stress and heat and irritation caused by the afternoon traffic ,which he could do nothing about .Three lanes at a standstill as far down the tunnel as he could see .To combat this battle with the city ,he often though about the soft skin on Zofia’s face when he stroked it or Hugo eyes when he managed to cycle on his own ,or Ramus’s hair splashed with carrot soup .

Hoffmann in his normal life as a married man fetching his kids .

Now this won the Swedish crime novel of the year and is bound to be compared to Steig Larsson ,with the fact it is published by the same Publisher Quercus and one of its writers is a Journalist like Larsson ,But to compare them is doing this a disservice .Three seconds is a complex well researched novel it is like a snowman being built very slow it starts to roll out of control as it grows .The detail in the first few hundred pages serve well for the climax of the book  .Grens and Hoffmann  are well penned as characters .This novel is highly original I ve never read such a intriguing thriller .the translation is spot on by Kari Dickson A tutor in scandinvian language at Edinburgh university .

 

FROM A BOY TO THE MAN FROM EAST TO WEST

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settlement

TITLE – SETTLEMENT BY CHRISTOPH HEIN

SOURCE – LIBRARY

Christoph Hein is considered on of germanys foremost writers ,he is a former chairman of German PEN ,he has written 20 plus novels and won numerous awards since the early eighties ,he lived originally in east germany .

The book follows the life of Bernard Haber who is resettled as a small boy with his family to the East German town of GuldenBerg,the story is told through five narrators all that where close to Bernard at various times through his life ,the inital struggle and problems being the new family in town with a father that has injuries through the second world war we find his struggles at school told by one of his young school friends that tries to help Bernhard after his dog dies ,then we met his first girlfriend,a school friend from Bernhard’s later school years that joins him in smuggling people out of the old east germany ,then his rather nasty sister-in-law and finally through reunification with his business partner of later years ,  Bernard’s rise in the towns society mainly due to his own stubbornness .

Eighteen months after resettling in our town ,Carpenter Haber went to the Rathaus (town hall ) to apply for a trade license .he present whatever documents he had managed to save along with two affidavits in lieu of papers he could not provide from lower Silesia .over the next two summers he continued to help with the harvest and worked in Grissels fields ,as he and his family couldn’t live off the little he earned doing woodwork .

Bernhard father struggles to provide for his son after being unable to trade as a full carpenter in Guldenberg .

I really enjoyed this book as I had an earlier HeinI d read , there is a seamless quality to the narrator he seems to jump from teens to women and men with much ease ,the story is more a story for the whole of east germany post ww2 and the people from east germany that on a certain level have struggled to cope with reunification ,we see the danger and corruption via the smuggling Bernhard does and also the fact at one point he is blackmailed ,the mess of post war germany is touched families spilt removed from the areas of Poland they had settled in forced back to germany like Bernhard yet view by the locals as unworthy .the translation is very good but it has been listed for a couple of prizes like IMPAC already so must be good .Tom at a common reader also reviewed this book a while ago here is his view .

WINSTONS SCORE

 

The  berlin wall is ultimate simple of the east german regime an eyesore and barrier at the same time ,although Joseph Beuys once said it would fit in better if raised by so much as it suit skyline better !! .

King of Tuzla by Arnold Jansen Op De Haar

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Arnold is in his late forties and served as an officer in the Dutch army which took him to the former Yugoslavia during and after the wars there ,after he left the army he became a poet ,Journalist and novelist ,King of Tuzla is his second book and was published in 1999 in Netherlands ,but republished now by Holland Park Press a new publisher that publish the books both in dutch and english translation editions .THE king of Tuzla ,well when I first heard about this book I went to myself Tuzla? I know that name well after a few pages of Tijmen story the main character in the book a serving officer in the dutch army and he is based in Tuzla air base in Bosnia as part of the U.N peace keeping force ,I went yes ,it is amazing how quickly a name that was in the news nearly every day for a few years can have been forgotten by myself .Know those of you who reads my blog regularly will know I have an interest in this area of europe and in the people after spend time working with refugees in early nineties in a factory in Germany .Any way back to the book we join Tijmen on the base on patrol at what at the time the book is set just after the Balkan wars is a very fractured and tense country ,we get to view the day-to-day life of a peacekeeper ,What Arnold has wonderfully done is included little stories from the locals about their lives and the effect the wars have had on them . Tijmen struggles at times coping but manages to do so but is a changed man due to the experencies .The later parts of the book are told by Tijmen via diary entries looking back on his time as king of Tuzla

The house next to Galib’s place stood empty for a year .His former neighbour had fled to Germany .For thirty years Dragan had dropped by every evening after work ,and eaten with the family .Dragan was more than a neighbour ,he was a friend Dragan ,who played his harmonica for them Dragan with whom he went fishing in the river every saturday ,His household effects had been divided up among the villagers .

a neighbour lament his neighbour who left due to the war .

The book is a cracking read and I flew through it in a couple of days. Arnold is obviously written this book from the heart and at times feels like a memoir more than a novel the local characters that are written about as well as the troops seem based in part on real people that he obviously meet over his time as a peacekeeper .The translator on this book is Paul Vincent a well-known Dutch translator who has previously won the David Reid poetry translation prize for translating Hendrik Marsmans poems .Arnold also writes a weekly colunm for the holland park press that is worth reading . I look forward at some point to reading more book by Arnold

Cafe Europa life after communism by Slavenka Drakulic

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Slavenka Drakulic

Notes – Slavenka lives in Sweden and is married to a swedish national ,she is one of the most respected Croatia writers and journalist ,she lived in Croatia til the early 1990’s .She has published a number of novels and other books of non fictions .she worked on a newspaper and magazine in Zagreb from 1982 to 1992 .

The book –

The book is a collection of short essays on the Balkans mainly they range from historic to personal and tell how Croatia mainly but also the other Balkan country’s cope post communism the book was written in 1996 ,the story slavenka tells are wonderful ,the first follows the changes of names in Croatia post communism how things change to Europa instead of the communist names ,elsewhere there are story’s interconnect about the period in the second world war when Croatia side with the germans her father a Croat joining Tito partizans the effect this had on him ,a interview with a former camp commandant from that period who still felt he’d done nothing wrong .and Slavenkas trip to Israel and the fact she was one of the few Croats to travel there but also the questions of Croatia’s role in second world war .there are some funny tales like running round wien (vienna) trying to buy a vacuum cleaner and get the shop to give them a receipt for 99 dollars as that is the max they could take in with out duty .There is also the tale of Tito ‘s wife that still lives in Serbia but doesn’t have id ,pension and lives of state charity the accept she is there but don’t acknowledge the fact .and my favourite is a tale set in london where Paddy Ashdown is in a conversation with the Croat president of the time Tudjman where he ask Tudjman about the future of the region and is drawn a map of what Tudjman see’s and what in the end did happen .

Since her husband’s death ,Tito’s wife Jovanka Broz has lived in a villa in Dedinje surrounded by bodyguards .With their permission she goes out on rare occasions she doesn’t not own the villa ,but she doesn’t pay rent for it ,either .How could she when she doesn’t even get her husbands pension? Jovanka Broz enjoys Serbia’s state “charity”,although it is forced upon her .

from story Who’s afraid of Tito’s wife .

My view –

I so enjoyed this book ,i ve always had an interest in the Balkan’s ,since i worked in a factory in germany in early nineties with Serbs,Croats ,Bosnians and kosvions the tale’s the told made my hair stand on end and also made me think ,this book does the same and brought back memories of that time some of the oddities of the communist world and the strong nationalism of the time ,this book is like a fly caught in amber ,it has wonderfully caught a period of great changer in the Balkans ,it makes you laugh ,cry and think in equal measures which is no mean feat .

le bal by Irene nemirovosky

~ winstonsdad ~ 8 Comments
 

LE BAL

Notes – 

These two short novellas le bal and snow in autumn where wrote in 1930 and 1931 .Irene Neimovosky was born in Kiev ,here family fled russia due to the revolution they settle in france where Irene wrote til the german invasion ,she was Jewish and died in Auschwitz in 1942 ,spent a number of years in obscurity til 2005 and suite Francaise came out ,this vol was published by vintage in 2007 ,Persephone has just published another collection of her short stories . 

The book – 

the two stories in the book are both about 50 pages long ,the first le bal follows a mother and daughter relationship the Kampf  ,the mother is a women who has made good ,but become a little stuck up along the way ,the daughter grew up use to money and his the perks of the money like an english governess  and finds her mother a little annoying at times  ,her mother is organizing a huge ball to finally announce their arrival in the upper echelon of paris society ,she tells her daughter Antoinette who is 14 years old  she can’t come to the ball . leading to a very cruel twist ! 

Madame Kampf said nothing about the previous nights argument to Antoinette ,but all through lunch she let her daughter know she was in a bad mood by barking out the kind of curt reprimands at which she excelled when she was angry . 

  

the second story follow a family as they escape the revolution in russia going via Odessa they are followed by the devoted servant Tatiana  the family Karine arrive in Paris but not everyone finds it so easy to adjust to Parisan life as the family adjusts to a new society and a drop in class .this story is shorter than the first but does seem like in invoke Irene’s own life . 

How could they all live like this shut up in these dark houses? when would the snow come ? 

Tatiana lamenting the small apartment in paris . 

My view –  

I read suite francaise ,liked but didn’t love it ,but these two stores were amazing she had a real talent as a shorter story writer ,le bal you were thrown in to the world of the Kampf’s and within a few pages could immediately visualise this family ,snow in autumn seemed as thou it was written from her own personnel experiences ,these are worthy to sit next to Chekhov and Maupassant ,the translation is great from Sandra Smith from the original french ,i will know look forward to the new collection on Persephone books . 

Links – 

the definitive Irene Nemirovky site

LIFE A USER’S MANUAL ART AND WRITING

~ winstonsdad ~ 5 Comments

 

a pair of life a users's manual

I was in Sheffield a couple of months ago when they where setting up this exhibition which takes its title from the book so i m going to review the book and connect it to what i saw in the exhibition .the book follows a painter as he takes a tour of a french apartment through the rooms every item is detailed the people who live there are described ,the idea came from the knight’s tour of a chessboard where it is possible to move a knight and touch every square on the board Perec was known for his clever word play and one of the leading lights of modernist writings .along the tour we meet a mirade of characters of all ages and classes ,Bartlebooth and Moreau having two of the biggest apartments in the building ,Bartlebooth is aged and has a team of servants .We even see the inner workings of the building  the lifts and stairs .Perec gives wonderful descriptions of the object in the apartments such as book paintings and postcards we also learn a little bit of history about some of these objects  and this is one of the first connections i can make to the exhibition –

susan hiller

 

This is a collection of 305 postcards from unknown artist brought together by Susan Hiller ,the postcards all deal with high tides and waves crashing into seaside towns round the uk .one of the themes in the objects in the book is detectives plays books about them and suppose the book itself is like a giant investigation . The book also interconnects the characters past and present it ends up like being a fragile spiders web of connections and it is not til the end of it you see the full picture .there was also a series of paintings connected like the book –

This work is called spirit of Uhyst by Katerina Seda it follows a piece of paper as it was passed round a small german village ,copied each time after you see the finished work develop a bit like the book you don’t see the full picture until the end .I enjoyed this book so much it is very different to anything else and could be the springboard to so many other spin of stories .it reminded me of a 3D chess game i once played engrossing and challenging but in the end deeply rewarding .

katerina seda

Madame Moreau hated Paris

In 1940 after her husband’s death ,she took over the factory .It was a very small family business which he had inherited after the 1914-18 war which he’d run in relaxed prosperity with three cheerful woodworkers at his side whilst she kept the books in a big black -cloth-bound registers with ruled paper and pages she had numbered in violet ink …..

finding out about madame moreau  .

a must read book that’s my reccomendation a book that i will reread a few times over the years .

Young Hitler by Claus Peter Hant with James Trivers and Alan Roche

~ winstonsdad ~ 8 Comments

  

 

  

Young Hitler Claus Hant

NOTES- 

Claus Peter Hant is a tv writer from Germany that worked for many years on der bulle von Tolz a german police series set in bad Tolz the clips i watched were a bit like pie in the sky .He has had access to the most complete collection of material relating to the life of hitler in the institut fur zeitgwschitche in Munich  and has used a number of years research to compile the material for this book ,which he has written with the help of two english writers (James Triver and Alan Roche)  in english ,as he would struggle to get it published in germany . 

The book – 

We start of with the young hitler in wien (vienna) as a struggling artist ,with what would seem an opened mind but as we progress we see his standpoint become narrower and narrower as things happen to him and he starts to fail as an artist and not be taken seriously ,also you hear about the idea for a supreme Reich of german speakers the tattooing of the arms of gypsies is mentioned ,then one day he just disappears and sells his books ,next time we meet him is on the eve of the first world war he is in the army and is a lance corporal he has to do some menial jobs like paint the officers mess and is disgusted by his fellow solders loose morals and the way pets are being eaten ,he then wins an iron cross for his bravery ,which he thinks is tainted by how it was awarded .The last time we catch up with hitler is post first world war in a mental hospital for his nerves and extreme views that seem to have wildly change ,he is released and travels to munchen (Munich) which is utter chaos with warring on the streets as political movements struggle ,he joins a group devote to honouring the old northern european tribes that happen to have a swastika as their symbol . 

Dolferi was fixated on this “Reich” the fantasy Reich instilled in his mind by his favourite history teacher in school ;an empire that would unite germanic Austria with Germany . 

“tattooing a number on the forearm of gypsies “said elephant “would make it far easier identify them as with automobiles “. 

two quotes from the first part of young hitler in pre world war one vienna the ideas that made nazi party were being planted . 

  

My view – 

This book worried me when i first got it ,but was heavily compelled to read it to see what turned hitler in to the monster he became ,i also saw it as a wonderful bookend to the film downfall which i enjoyed almost completing the circle of a life .Hants writing is wonderfully clever and transports you to pre war vienna ,through the war and the horror of the trenches to the chaos of post war Munich .There is a wonderful insight in to the time and the making of a monster its like a huge jigsaw puzzle you can see the parts slipping into place ,the appendices and research for this book are vast you can see the time taken to make this as realistic as possible a truly special be of narrative non fiction writing . 

Links – 

quartet site  

young hitler page