International Foreign Fiction Prize
After much Anticipated waiting.... the IFFP books have now ALL been despatched to you lucky readers!
We have been sent 2 of the books to read and review - so now comes the hard part... Getting into the books and thinking about what we have read!
Here are some questions to get your minds moving whilst you read
What is it about? Who are the characters? What are the main themes? Is there a message/moral/point? What movements/genres does it belong to? What makes it international? Is the book worth reading - why or why not?
What makes this book international or foreign and in what ways does this matter? Does the book enhance your understanding of the author’s or book’s cultural background?
Are you aware that you are reading a translation or not? Why do you think you notice the “translationness” of the book?
Do you consider whether a novel is translated or not when choosing a book? If so, does this make reading the book appealing or challenging?
What we also want to look at is
Who is the author? Where is s/he from and what time period did/does s/he live in? Did the author have other jobs as well as being a writer? What is the social/political situation? Are there issues of censorship or other constraints to be aware of? How might this have hindered/challenged/helped the writing of this text?
Who is the translator? Where is s/he from? Does that influence the translation? What is his/her background? What education does s/he have? What languages does s/he work with? What other texts/authors has s/he translated? How has his/her translation work been reviewed/judged/critiqued?
When your thoughts start coming together - get them down on paper! We need 200 words about the books to really get a good review going, so once you are ready - email through to me @ sweet_reads@yahoo.com and your words will be put up here!
I look forward to hearing all your thoughts about the books and the experience of being involved in the IFFP
Don't for get to check out http://readinggroups.org/news/meet-more-of-our-iffp-reading-groups.html to see your faces are out there!
Reviews are in!
Courtesy of Dorothee Henry
The fall of the Stone City – Ismael Kadare
The destiny of a city, and of a man who seems is most important inhabitant from the 1943 to 1963. Kadare talks about the madness of war but in a city which is just occupied, so he could point the weakness of the nation, of people, the selfishness of all individuals which became the selfishness of all.
Everybody is obsessed by the dinner the big doctor Gurameto gave to the Nazi officer: at first he’s a hero, than a traitor, from the point of view. Kadare has lived under the communism order, so he could point the suspicion which changes a diner to save live in a plot to kill Staline… He ridicules the investigators, the order, he show how people let things go to prevent themselves.
Governments pass, but people remain the same. This situation could have taken place in any city of an occupied country, and the oppressors could be any oppressors of any dictatorship. I think it’s why Kadare is not really specific about characters (they are few, and it’s only in the last part of the book that they are more humans – feelings which command acts…). It worth reading because there is a testimony of a time, and a universal testimony (as I fell people will always remain the same, and adapt instead of fight).
I really like this in the light of the “Antic Tragedy” of the big doctor story: I think Kadare has the antic model in mind while writing because there are a lot of elements which remind me of Sophocles* & Co:
• The story from the childhood which is like a malediction (if you hear it, you leave it) or an omen.
• The doctor who is a hero (despite himself, he did nothing in fact) and his friend who is the dead man from the omen
• The events which are written in marble, you can’t escape your destiny
• The blind man & his song who are like the oracle
• The city itself, which is passive but testify, like the choir*.
Interesting things :
Kadare succeeds in make me doubt about the genre of the book, it could be a lot of different thing, testimony, pastiche, historical but also supernatural, as I keep doubts at the end about the dinner: reality or dream of people. Even one of the doctors disappears, legend & reality mix (maybe people prefer not to remember their bad actions and cowardice)
For this one, I don’t notice the translation (but I maybe not the most ideal person for this question) whereas, in the Spanish book I’ve noticed some strange “ways of speaking”, I think the translator has try to keep the “Spanishness” of the book, as it is at the centre of the story.
Dublinesque – Enrique Vila-Matas
I’m maybe more “touch” by this one because this character, Riba, is a publisher and a literary person, I love the way that he just lives in function of literature. I think the painting of this old former-alcoholic is true, you really feel in from of a human being.
There is not much of a story. It’s the difficult time of a retired man who doesn’t know what to do now with his life, all the more because of his inner life which forces him to ask himself a lot of question. He wants a change, and wants something foreign. So what is more foreign to a Spanish man than Ireland ?
Even if the “Spanish” and “Irish” are really strong, it’s international, because everybody (I think) as experienced this need of being a foreigner, detached and a witness more than an actor.
Everybody as also too much interrogations in mind, doesn’t understand its friends & acquaintances on some occasions…
And for me, an author who uses a publisher as a main character is quite interesting (personal remark: I want to do it, but he’ll be the victim, not the main character :p ). I think it’s less main street than the Kadare because there is lot of literary & art references. And in the same time, it’s a testimony of the exact opposite of Kadare: the testimony of A life opposite to the life of a city (I expect you get what I mean…)
I never consider if a book is a translation or not, it’s the story which interests me first. But, personally, from British to French, I could feel a bad translation (happens with Kerouac and drive me mad… still mad 10 years after), it’s upset me a lot!
I don’t feel the translation in those books, I obviously don’t speak Albanese, but I feel the person who does the translation does a great job, and you could still feel the cultural background of the Albanese society. I speak a little Spanish and there is some turns of phrases which I feel Spanish, or at least not British, but it’s not a problem in the story
