Category: shadow IFFP 2012

Dream of ding village by Yan Lianke

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Dream of Ding Village by Yan Lianke

Chinese fiction

Translator Cindy Carter

Yan Lianke Is a chinese writer now based in Beijing he has a degree in literature he grew up in the Henan province  of  China that this book is set ,this book has been long  listed for the independent foreign fiction prize and was also earlier this year shortlisted for the Man asian prize ,unfortunately I didn’t get to it on my man asian shadow group but had been kindly sent a copy by mark and was happy when it appeared on the IFFP list .I first heard a brief interview with the writer last year on a podcast and was struck by the story which I hadn’t heard much of in the uk press at the time  .

The dream of ding village is maybe a misleading title maybe the nightmare would be a better title for the book .Ding village is a village  of just three streets in the Henan province a region in the central china .This book follows the village after the plasma economy that happened in the region between 91-95 this is where people were asked to give blood for money ,over 40% of the people who gave blood due to poor hygiene conditions ended up getting aids ,it is estimate by 2003 1.2 million people had died in the region due to this .This book is a small part of that story told through the eyes of a young boy as he sees the begin during and end of his village whilst they gave blood and what happened as the village then started dying .I was struck when I first heard this story why it hadn’t reached the headlines here in the uk so many people suffering and dying was horrific .

The silence is intense .Yet even in absence of voices or sound .Ding Village lives on ,choked by death ,it will not die .

these few words on the first page struck me hard .

Xiao the young boy who is the main narrator in the book .his family encapsulates what happened in the village and may have caused what happen.  His grandfather is the most respect man in the village ,he is involved in the local school he is keen for the locals to all give blood raise money for the village and themselves ,His son Xiao ‘s father is the man who deals with the blood for the people involved in the plasma collection for the Government he is the bloodhead and is fueled by greed  .So as the villages gets sick they seek revenge as the story of how this strange disease came into their village ,they need a scape goat and this is our young narrator he is poisoned .by the rest of the village .

Grandpa knew everything now .it was as if everything now .It was as if everything my dad had done laid out before his eyes .While my dad was leaving the village ,Grandpa was hurrying back .

The patriarch the grandpa learns what his greedy son did .

The story shows the problems in modern china ,the drive from arable farm culture to a new modern world cost so many there lives .This book in the way it confronted a disease tearing a community apart remind me of Camus plague ,I read it many years ago but the feeling of how people move on after something like this happens and the reaction of people during a crisis like this .A local village near me is famous for losing most of it population due to a plague Eyam also a basis of a novel by Geraldine Brooks ,like Eyam where one person was to blame for the out break , in Ding village it is one family to blame for the outbreak in many in  the village eyes .It shows how families can be torn apart by money and misguided loyalty .Yan lianke has brought this shocking incident to our eyes without being over dramatic ,showing  the rural life of china torn apart by aids ,a disease which china had denied the had in the 80’s .I m not really got hang of chinese fiction but this book is another step towards opening the door to the fiction that is only going to grow in coming years .

Have you read this book?

Professor Andersen’s night by Dag Solstad

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Professor Andersen’s night by Dag Solstad

Norwegian fiction

translator – Agnes Scott Langeland

Dag Solstad is a Norwegian writer he has published over thirty books in Norway ,from novel ,short stories and plays  .His debut short story collection spiral came out in 1965.  he has won a number of prizes including the prestigious Nordic council literature prize .he is also known for writing books round every world cup he has written them on the last five world cups .In his early days he was a Maoist communist  this was reflected in his early fiction his more recent books have all been more to do with existentialism and philosophy ,that he has written in recent years  .This is his third book to be translated to English the previous two have both made the IFFP long lists in 2009 and 2007 .Although this is translated by a different translator Agnes Scott Langeland  than the earlier two .

Professor Anderson night is a short novella about an academic  in his fifties ,who whilst putting his decorations for Christmas .When he looks  out of his window he sees a murder  by a young man on a women .Now when I saw that  on the fly-leaf  I like you all ,my mind jumped to the great Hitchcock film “rear window” in which James Stewart see one of his neighbours kill his wife ,well  that part is the same but this story goes off on a different  tangent Professor Andersen is a man in his fifties an academic ,he initially seems dazzled by the crime he is frozen about what to do and he doesn’t report it to the police.

“It is odd that I don’t call the police ” He tought it was still not too late .Even if they won’t believe me , claim that I am drunk or whatever they may say .

professor Andersen is in inactive after the murder he has seen .

so as the festive season happens we see the professor starting to unpick his and his friends lives apart as he wonders how they all got where they were .we  see him at dinner parties were the concerns are what wine is served with which meat  and if so is it the right wine,also the ebb and flow of academia as his friends are mostly academics like himself  .This book is an insight into men in the fifties the insecurities  ,lost dreams Professor Andersen is a lonely man who is how he caught the murder like James Stewart character in rear window a man driven to boredom and loneliness this made him want to glimpse into windows around him and see people living a normal life   . This book is a perfect piece of existentialism like Kierkegaard said” what am I to do ” this is what happens to the professor how did he not do nothing that is the main question in his head .

They had rakfisk as a starter and the main course was grouse .beer a chaser of Aquavit were served with the rakfisk ; a spanish red , a good Rioja with the grouse .

this made my mouth water and I learnt that Rakfisk is a fermented fish

But like all good questions ,it is brought into sharp  focus, when he is faced with the man he saw doing the murder in a sushi bar he happened to wander into due to boredom.They stirke up a conversation with this younger man ,maybe this is a another point from existentialism as Professor Andersen has this man’s freedom in his hand .

This book falls in the Nordic tradition of writers like Knut Hamsun and Jostein Gaarder in bring philosophy into literature .This book examines what a man is and does in later life and all that  in less than 200 pages punchy dryly funny .I found this book one of those you’ll tell people about when they ask for something short but meaningful .Also those interested in why we do what we do in life ? This is another of my shadow iffp reads

Have you read this did you like it ?

Next World Novella by Matthias Politycki

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Next world novella by Matthias Politycki

German fiction

Translator – Anthea Bell

Matthias Politycki is one of the most succesful German writers of recent years having published twenty novels and some poetry collections .Shocking this is his first book in English !!.born in Karlsruhe he has won numerous awards ,recently on board ship as a writer in residence on a cruise ship .he is also a huge real ale fan .

Now I quickly tweet with Matthias last year when the book came out I then read the book,but got stuck on reviewing it always intending to get round to it but some how it fell from my review pile ,then when the IFFP longlist was announce I remembered I need to review it .Well my main problem first time round was how to describe the book but like every good book coming back and glancing through it months later you go oh yes and oh that .So what is next world novella about it is a story of a couple on is alive the other has just died although you could say in hind sight she maybe died before that .the couple Hinrich schepp a sinologist ,now we discover he recently had an eye operation and as his sight improved his eyes reopened on the world .Doro his wife another academic working on manuscripts .She is the one that has died and now we Hinrich who has found her looking through this manuscript .

Schepp almost reached towards the manuscript to put it some where dry then only to embrace Doro ,warm her perhaps put her to bed .

this manuscript will change his life .

Well as he reads he sees something different the notes his wife had been writing in the margins form another story that as it unfolds he sees it  is his story ,his wife knew what he was up too (don’t they always my Amanda knows me better than me ) .This shocks him there in later  middle life .He had an affair with a younger women a waitress in a bar he went to after his eye operation .This man like Hinrich has had bright hopes but hasn’t seen them through and it turns out the Doro an equally talent women gave up her chances academic stardom to be with Hinrich .

As you see this is a book where the point of view shifts what was real at the time wasn’t what is thought hidden wasn’t and Hinrch had missed it all but I must admit as a man we do sometimes miss simple things(although I ve never had an affair I tend to miss things I done that upset Amanda don’t we all ?) .I think that is why I struggled to review this first off although Hinrich life isn’t like mine at all I can see faults he has and faults .I maybe found that hard to deal with first off sign of a good book .This book also has a number of motifs a painting of a lake and the after life as Doro was obsessed with the afterlife when she was alive maybe she is living it via Hinrich reading .I was also reminded of the film Last year in Marianbad a bit that film is about a man who thinks he met a women the summer before but the women says she hasn’t that is a bit like the fact that Hinrich saw his life one way but in Doro’s eyes it was different  This book would make A great book for a male book group and might I say as I know Matthias like his ale this would be on to discuss and have a drink other at the same time .I’m pleased this of all the year of man Peirene press books made the longlist of IFFP .A very gentle translation of a book that is subtle and clever by the wonderful Anthea Bell .

Have you read this book ?

First SHADOW I.F.F.P REVIEW

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I posted everyone’s reviews before the list had come out Thursday .Now we have our first review and it is from mark – Blooms of Darkness by Aharon Applefeld 

A holocaust novel as his previous works have been he was in a concentration camp during the war ,this theme  has cropped up in his other books .

Now I didn’t give my reaction to the longlist the other day ,well on the whole I m happy there were 98 books to choose from and the 15 selected I’d read six and had a six others on my wish list ,a couple including the one mark has just reviewed were new to me but I always say you can’t keep track of every book in translation and I can’t ,hence the I.F.F.P being such a good prize .Ones that I thought may have been there well down rabbit hole or all the lights by the new publisher and other stories I had hope to see on the list .Another book I had hope but due to the writer being dead was ineligible was Purgatory by Tomas Eloy Martinez .Rob pointed out the lack of a book from MachLehose press this is very sad as they publish some great books The foxes in the night by Cees Nooteboom is one that I really enjoyed last year .So I hope to have my first review in a couple of days and keep them coming .

Shadow IFFP PRIZE jury 2012

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After my reading for last years Independant foreign fiction prize and my involment with the shadow man Asian prize this year run by lisa .I ve decide to run a shadow jury for the IFFP 2012 .I ve asked a number of bloggers who like me love literature in translation to help to easier pressure of reading them all so if we all cover some at least every book will have a miniunum of two reviews and the fact that on this years list are three books over 600 pages means it is easier for us as it is a lot to read in the time frame of the prize , my fellow judges are –

Simon of inside books – Simon is a huge fan of world lit and has been blogging for a long time as his impressive list of writers show .a hidden gem of blogging and a really nice chap .

Mark of Eleutherophobia blog – mark is a huge fan of world lit he has so far covered from this years long listand is currently reading blooms of darkness .

scenes from a village

Please look after mother

Dreams of Ding Village

Gary of Parrish Lantern -Gary is a huge german and Japanese lit fan one of guys I look to for J lit .He is currently reading the Sjon novel .

Rob of robaroundbooks – Rob is the best on translation I know he read the shortlist the last two years .he is also the jellybiblophile keeper

Kinna of kinna reads another person with more depth on translation than me .

Lisa of ANZ lit lovers –lisa has read three books already and may read some if she can get them she is fast becoming a fan of world lit and ran the shadow man asian this year .

Iq84 all three but actually book one and two have made longlist .

Dreams of ding Village

Please look after mother

then there is me Stu the chair ,world lit fan I ve reviewed four titles so far –

Seven houses in france

Please look after mother

Parallel stories

New finnish grammar

So you see we have already reviewed six of the titles between us I hope to have Dreams of ding village and the next world novella up in the next week myself .

here is the longlist for 2012

1Q84 Books 1 and 2 Haruki Murakami Jay Rubin Harvill Secker Japanese
Alice Judith Hermann Margot Bettauer Dembo The Clerkenwell Press German
Blooms of Darkness Aharon Appelfeld Jeffrey M. Green Alma Books Hebrew
Dream of Ding Village Yan Lianke Cindy Carter Constable and Robinson Chinese
From the Mouth of the Whale Sjón Victoria Cribb Telegram Books Icelandic
Hate: A Romance Tristan Garcia Marion Duvert and Lorin Stein Faber & Faber French


New Finnish Grammar Diego Marani Judith Landry Dedalus Italian
Next World Novella Matthias Politycki Anthea Bell Peirene Press German


Parrallel Stories Peter Nadas Imre Goldstein Jonathan Cape Hungarian
Please Look After Mother Kyung-sook Shin Chi-Young Kim Weidenfeld & Nicolson Korean
Professor Andersen’s Night Dag Solstad Agnes Scott Langeland Harvill Secker Norwegian
Scenes From Village Life Amos Oz Nicholas De Lange Chatto & Windus Hebrew


Seven Houses in France Bernardo Atxaga Margaret Jull Costa Harvill Secker Spanish
The Emperor of Lies Steve Sem-Sandberg Sarah Death Faber & Faber Swedish
The Prague Cemetery Umberto Eco Richard Dixon Harvill Secker Italian

what books have you read ?

Seven houses in france by Bernardo Atxaga

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Seven houses in france by Bernardo Atxaga

Basque fiction

Translator Magaret Jull Costa

Bernardo Atxaga is one of my favourite writers I ve read a couple of his other books the Accordionist’s son and Obabakoak both of these were set in small villages in the basque region that he comes from ,he also writes some of his books in basque and is an ambassador for Basque culture .Now this his latest novel to be translated into english sees him shift to Africa and also a historic story set in the Belgian Congo .

I ve been looking forward to this novel as I had enjoyed his other books as he has a real knack of quirky characters and unusual situations but was a bit weary after I read Jackies review she found this book very savage .Now the bases of the story is a a garrison deep in the Congo in 1903 .A group of solders and I suppose this is where this book will be compared to Conrad’s heart of darkness and it has a lot in common with that book the garrison is rather like the station that Kurtz lives at in that book a place of decay and loose morals . But I also find this book maybe is a bit like Buzzati’s Tartar steppes as the men in the Garrison have so little to do so have gone rogue and like the main character in that book Biran has dreams of a different way via his poems and now the fact King Leopold is on the verge of visiting it has come to light .also a new arrival sets up the story .

Together the walked back towards the village and Donatien gave him a brief rundown on the garrison .In Yagambi there was a total of seventeen white officers,twenty black non commissioned officers ,and one hundred and fifty Askari – volunteer black soldiers – all of whom were under the command of captainn Lalande Biran a highly cultivated man ,well-known in belgium as a poet , an excellent soldier ,and most gifted of all the officers who had passed through Yangambi .

The new officer Chrysostome arrives and soon finds out all is not as it seems .

Chrysostome arrival is a catalyst as it turns out he is a moral man in this slowly if not completely immoral garrison we discover how each of the white officers has gone rogue raping locals ,tie up and shoot animals also enslave the locals as they destroy the local area to bring the riches of the land to Belgium .Chrysostome seems uninterested in the local women and the raping of them that his fellow officers do, this leads to him becoming a target for his fellow officers as he may be gay or to religious to be there he wears a cross .I see what Jackie hated about this book it is barbaric ,but I feel this book maybe like a holocaust novel needs to show the horrors of empire. We all have ideas of what happened during Empire but sometimes, we need a reminder of the horror society can be driven to when they have no real barriers .This is a situation I ve seen examined before in the film The exterminating Angels by the Spanish filmmaker Luis Bunuel which shows how a group of dinner party guest end up as savages as there trapped and this is part of what happened here these 17 now 18 white officers are trapped in the dark side of the Congo jungle have gone savage even more so than the locals .

Chrysothome had never forgotten the words he heard as a child from the parish priest in Britancourt .

“cleanliness is the greatest of the virtues ” the priest told the children after their chance meeting with a syphilitic man who lived in one of the caves near the village .”If a christian keeps himself clean inside and out ,he will develop an iron exterior that no enemy sword can penetrate .

An insight into the new man at the garrison and why he is at odds to the rest .

For those you aware and having read his works you won’t be disappointed as there is the usual assortment of odd characters and a midget as there seems to be in his other books .The title is a reference to mthe fact that the Garrison captain wife a beautiful women in france now has seven houses in france one for every year he has been in the Congo .Margaret Jull Costa has again showed why she is on the top table of spanish language translators ,as it has warmth and humour kept from the original which was in Basque then translated into spanish by Atxaga and Asun Garikano ,then into English .When compared with other books done like this say the Kadare’s which have been via french translation this works so much better than they did .

New Finnish Gammar Diego Marani

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New Finnsh Grammar by Diego Marani

Italian fiction

Translator Judith Landry

Diego Marani is a translator and newspaper columnist ,he worked for the council of europe as a translator at this time he invented a language called europanto a joke language poking fun at the euro in workings .This is his first novel to be translated into english and has taken a number of years to translate .This book was suggested as a book I should read at the IFFP by Nick Lezard of the guardian and I wish I d picked it up sooner as it is one of the truly great books in translations this year .

Doctor Friari’s eyes were the first living thing I saw emerging out of nothingness.

Sampo wakes .

Now on the surface this book can be compared to Ondaatje’s English patient as the kernel that the story is from is similar a man is found in this case on a beach in italy his personnel effects leads to the belief he is Finnish ,although he can’t talk and has had some horrific injuries ,now this is where the similarities with English patient end as the English patient spins of to a death and love story ,this story spins of in another direction .That direction is language and citizenship ,does how you are make you what you are ? Is this man finnish ? as these questions are answered you discover that Finnish is a hard language to learn but also to relearn in the case of Sampo as the man becomes known due to a name on a jacket ,and that it’s a Finnish name .He is helped in Italy where he is found ,by a Finnish doctor Friari who helps him recover and relearn or learn Finnish ,we are not sure who this man is as he is not sure who he is .The book springs the idea that in some ways in the chaos of war we can be reborn as someone else .

fire ! iron and fire ! These are the only things that count in war ! You whose name is Sampo – did you know that you are born of fire ? Sampo is a sacred word for the Finns ; the whole of the Kalevala revolves around it .

Sampo learns about his name and a Finnish epic .

As for Finland which Sampo returns to we learn about its national treasure a long poem called Kalevala this work is central to Finnish identity as it was used in the breakaway from Russia in 1917 ,which also counters the current time when Sampo is in Finland as the war nears its end , when they are trying to stop Russia overrunning them again .We also see the doctor return and to try to find out what happened to his patient .Now this book is complex and is one of those books that you never want to end as you are drawn into the world and feel Sampo struggles with who he is and really want to find via his quest who he is or who he was .I also found this book is maybe like being a baby and with a clean slate how do you learn a language is it there in you or is it taught the old nature versus nurture debate ,can a brain be wired to learn a complex language from the start or is the wiring laid as we learn ? .The book is a masterpiece and unique ,since it was published Marani has written five more novels I for one am now waiting to see what this wonderful writer has written next .He deserves to sit amongst the greats of modern Italian literature Eco and Calvino .

Parallel stories by Peter Nadas

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Parallel stories by Peter Nadas

Hungarian fiction

Translator Imre Goldstein

When I was asked earlier in the year to review Parallel stories I said yes, no problem and when it fell on the doorstep all 1100 plus pages of this modern epic I thought have I made a mistake ,but no I decide to set aside a couple of weeks to work my way through this modern masterpiece ,I finished it a few weeks ago but struggled with how to review it how to pay justice to Nadas vision and scope this book is deep and so multi layered it is hard to sum up with out drifting of into the individual and multiple story lines in this book so I then had to think of a different way of conveying the book and then it struck me the other day when I said in my thoughts how do you cover a master piece then it hit me describe the book as thou it was a piece of art using loose ideas and AI d be able to catch the spirit of the book .

Scene –

Well Nadas has sat down and drawn time from the centre point this is 1956 and 1961 two turning points in Hungary’s modern history in the context of this book the first the revolution that the russians so violently crushed ,the other is set in the bathhouse in Budapest where the three main characters that feature in the book talk about the city all have shady pasts and form the main body of the book .Nadas expands the lines out to recent history be it in Hungary or Germany and back to pre world war two and how this effect the Hungary on the fifties and sixties in this way showing how the events that happened in these two years happened and how the affected the future like a newtons cradle as what happened in 38 or 44 having a knock on effect via these two years to the modern world .

 

Sketches-

the sketches are the outlines of the three main characters there are a number of others but the three main ones are Hans von Wolkstein his mother was german and had a dark link to the Nazis regime in the war ,Agost from a connected Hungarian family his father served in a number of posts for different governments in Hungary and the last and maybe the darkest character is Andras Rott he is a spy and has very dark ideas .Like a spider’s web these three characters connect to most if not all of the people involved in the stories whether it is there parents stories or the lovers or lovers families all the little vignettes that make the most part of parallel stories connect to the three main stars of the narrative .

For a moment she thought Agost has gone mad .That he’d really lost his mind …..

and she would have loved tp love – no, worship his ankles ,his wrists hi every part ,his cock and every little bone in his body ,even impalpable things like the curve of the arches of his feet ,she adored him .

Agost future with about him .

 

Style

Well this is a post modern book and like a classic post modern art the rule book of writing has been thrown out ,we drift from crime ,through highly erotic prose and into political drama oh and if you want any indication as to when people are talking forget it Nadas isn’t a fan of quotation marks but it is no harder than Ulysses in that regard .This book is like a collage of different styles that may on the surface seem chaotic , but as you work your way through they all seem to drop into place and in some ways the jarring styles works and yes it jumps from sex to the political but hey doesn’t real life a lot of the time ?

Subject

well when I first thought of the way to describe the book like art ,two things came to mind and that was Goya’s spanish french war pieces those horrific torture sketches and the art of Francis bacon ,like bacon Nadas takes the formal eastern european history especially hungarian history , which is the frame of the book like Bacon used the pope image or the crucifix but like Bacon Nadas has taken a personal view of these matters and yes here it is sex, sex and even more sex .This book is littered with sex ,good ,bad and downright vile sex but this is the flip people with no real freedom they find freedom in sex so that is what Nadas describes the end of book one is a novella length chapter that follows one grandiose act of sex between Agost and his future wife .So like the bacon at first you are a little scarred of the images but you then look beyond the picture to the painter and the same is said of Parallel stories Nadas describes the act of sex so well in places he must have had some practice whilst writing the book also the lexicon of rude parts is used to the max her bodily parts are described and over described at times .The connection to the Goya is politics how it plays a part war and conflict, from the nazi regime and the aftermath of that to communism and its faults .The Budapest revolution and lost freedom but how that one event affect the three main characters .

His black shirt and black pants ,wet with other mens urine and filthy with their sperm ,stuck to his back ,chest ,bottom and thighs they clung to him ,adhered to him like a skin ,white-hot with shame .

a scene from book two to give you an idea of the sex content of the book .

 

 

The final painting –

Well Parallel stories isn’t going to be to every ones taste to say the least it is not an easy read it needs time having read 2666 and Don Quixote in the last couple of years does it stack up against them yes long books tend to drift and diverge and this does maybe more than 2666 but not as much as Don Quixote .Is it gonna stand the test of time yes in my opinion it seems to lift the veils on the personnel lives of post war eastern Europeans more than any other book I ve read has this takes you in the bedroom even into the toilet more than you may want to know but sometimes you need a little uncomfortable in your reading not everything is comfortable in the world and nadas reminds you of this time and time again .It took Nadas eighteen years to write this book and Imre Goldstein a further five to translate her work on this book has made it accessible to the English reader Hungarian is a very hard language to translate from and she has done a sterling job here ,this is a strong IFFP contender and helps Nadas Nobel claims even more .

Have you a favourite Hungarian writer ?

Do you like post modern fiction ?