Alta Ifland's Blog: Notes on Books - Posts Tagged "2013"
Le Salon Du Livre [Book fair], Paris, March 22-25
A dispatch about the first day of the fair, March 22, was published in Words without Borders
http://wordswithoutborders.org/dispat...
On Saturday (March 23rd), the Salon was so crowded one had to push one’s way through the crowd. As chance would have it, at some point I took a break and, as I was about to exit, I ran into two outlandish characters dressed in some sort of nineteenth-century gothic attire. I recognized immediately the famous, eccentric, Belgian-born novelist, Amelie Nothomb, accompanied, as usual, by a bodyguard. All in black, she was wearing a long dress with coattails on top, and a very tall, felt hat. The “gentleman” was equally in coattails, a similar hat, and carried a walking stick. Where was my camera when I needed it? I didn’t stay to witness the commotion her appearance must have caused, but in the past I’ve seen fans kiss her hand and kneel before her.
It was only on Sunday (March 24th), the third day of the book fair, that I spotted in darkest corner, at the smallest stand in the pavilion, a familiar star-studded fabric covering half of the stand: the American flag. Of the fifty participant countries, only three other countries had their flags up, besides the US: Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Iran. I approached the stand and saw behind the flag a handful of books in gaudy colors that seemed to have been pulled in a hurry from a teenager’s bookshelves. Of all the authors, I recognized one: Joan Didion. I turned toward the woman who, I was told, represented the American embassy and, after I introduced myself as an American writer, I expressed my surprise at such a poor display. She explained, rather annoyed, that this was the first time in fifteen years that the US even had a stand, and we had to be hopeful. I countered, saying that it was hard to be hopeful when the “most powerful country in the world” had the weakest stand of the fair, and, as I was asking who was responsible for the choice of the authors, she interrupted me with a brusque “Good-bye, now. I’m busy,” and turned her back on me.
I remembered how indignant American writers had been when the Nobel jury had declared that Americans don’t participate in the world’s cultural exchange. What the Nobel jury was referring to was not the American writers, but American cultural institutions (publishers who are not interested in publishing foreign authors, or an embassy that couldn’t care less about American writers, never mind about foreign ones). “Coincidentally,” the Iranian stand had, like the American one, only a handful of books too. Once again, it turns out that we have more in common with Iran than we might think. Let the others share books, we will proudly display our flags!
http://wordswithoutborders.org/dispat...
On Saturday (March 23rd), the Salon was so crowded one had to push one’s way through the crowd. As chance would have it, at some point I took a break and, as I was about to exit, I ran into two outlandish characters dressed in some sort of nineteenth-century gothic attire. I recognized immediately the famous, eccentric, Belgian-born novelist, Amelie Nothomb, accompanied, as usual, by a bodyguard. All in black, she was wearing a long dress with coattails on top, and a very tall, felt hat. The “gentleman” was equally in coattails, a similar hat, and carried a walking stick. Where was my camera when I needed it? I didn’t stay to witness the commotion her appearance must have caused, but in the past I’ve seen fans kiss her hand and kneel before her.
It was only on Sunday (March 24th), the third day of the book fair, that I spotted in darkest corner, at the smallest stand in the pavilion, a familiar star-studded fabric covering half of the stand: the American flag. Of the fifty participant countries, only three other countries had their flags up, besides the US: Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Iran. I approached the stand and saw behind the flag a handful of books in gaudy colors that seemed to have been pulled in a hurry from a teenager’s bookshelves. Of all the authors, I recognized one: Joan Didion. I turned toward the woman who, I was told, represented the American embassy and, after I introduced myself as an American writer, I expressed my surprise at such a poor display. She explained, rather annoyed, that this was the first time in fifteen years that the US even had a stand, and we had to be hopeful. I countered, saying that it was hard to be hopeful when the “most powerful country in the world” had the weakest stand of the fair, and, as I was asking who was responsible for the choice of the authors, she interrupted me with a brusque “Good-bye, now. I’m busy,” and turned her back on me.
I remembered how indignant American writers had been when the Nobel jury had declared that Americans don’t participate in the world’s cultural exchange. What the Nobel jury was referring to was not the American writers, but American cultural institutions (publishers who are not interested in publishing foreign authors, or an embassy that couldn’t care less about American writers, never mind about foreign ones). “Coincidentally,” the Iranian stand had, like the American one, only a handful of books too. Once again, it turns out that we have more in common with Iran than we might think. Let the others share books, we will proudly display our flags!
My Top Ten Fiction Books for 2013
(These are books I read in 2013; they were not necessarily published this year.)
1. The Golden Calf by Ilya Ilf and Yevgeni Petrov (Russians)
2. The Singapore Grip by J. G. Farrell (British)
3. The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante (Italian)
4. There Once Lived a Girl Who Seduced Her Sister s Husband and He Hanged Himself by Ludmila Petrushevskaya (Russian)
5. The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim (British)
6. The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson (British)
7. The Canvas by Benjamin Stein (German)
8. The New York Stories by John O'Hara (American)
9. The Door by Magda Szabó (Hungarian)
10. Almost Never by Daniel Sada (Mexican)
]
1. The Golden Calf by Ilya Ilf and Yevgeni Petrov (Russians)
2. The Singapore Grip by J. G. Farrell (British)
3. The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante (Italian)
4. There Once Lived a Girl Who Seduced Her Sister s Husband and He Hanged Himself by Ludmila Petrushevskaya (Russian)
5. The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim (British)
6. The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson (British)
7. The Canvas by Benjamin Stein (German)
8. The New York Stories by John O'Hara (American)
9. The Door by Magda Szabó (Hungarian)
10. Almost Never by Daniel Sada (Mexican)
]
Notes on Books
Book reviews and occasional notes and thoughts on world literature and writers by an American writer of Eastern European origin.
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