Are There Books You Are Waiting To Be Translated? (11/20/22)

[Marc]

Any books for which you are eagerly awaiting a translation (or for which you've been waiting a long time for one)? Let us know which ones.

[Robert]

A couple:

Kristien Hemmerechts - Margot and the Angels

Jose Carlos Somoza - Lady Number Thirteen

Joost Zwagermann - Gimmick!

Plus there are some Maltese titles which would benefit from an English translation for wider distribution. Namely Alex Vella Gera's Is-Sriep Reġgħu Saru Velenużi and Nadia Mifsud's Żifna f’xifer irdum

[LindaJ^]

I have been told there are a couple of Jenny Erpenbeck books not yet translated to English.

[Alwynne]

LindaJ^ wrote: "I have been told there are a couple of Jenny Erpenbeck books not yet translated to English."

There's a new one coming out in translation next year Kairos but there are quite a few German women authors I've read about that I'd like to see available in English, as well as some more Japanese authors.

[Vesna]

Five books from László Krasznahorkai's list of 8 recommended books. Among his recommendations, only 2 writers (from Romania and Poland) were translated and one is by Pynchon (The Crying of Lot 49).

Péter Hajnóczy, A fűtő/ The Heater (Hungary)
Sándor Tar, A 6714-es személy/ The Train Nr.6714 (Hungary)
Ákos Győrffy, A ​hegyi füzet/ Notebook on the Hill (Hungary)
Miloš Crnjanski, Dnevnik o Čarnojeviću/ Čarnojevićs Diary (Serbia)
Miklós Mészöly, Sutting ezredes tündöklése / Rise of Colonel Sutting (Hungary)

More here:
https://lithub.com/we-didnt-ask-but-l...

[Marc]

Has Krasznahorkai ever recommended a female writer? I feel like every interview I have ever read has him recommending or reading men. Not necessarily a gripe on my part… It just seems a little myopic.

[Hugh]

Anything else by Magda Szabo, Dasa Drndic and Olga Tokarczuk. Szabo's The Fawn is due soon.

[Ruben]

I am currently reading Le mage du Kremlin and can highly recommend it for those who are in the mood for a political novel. A fictionalised portrait of Putin's spin doctor that just came second in this year's Goncourt. It is smart, interesting and very readable.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/07/30/...

[Vesna]

Marc wrote: "Has Krasznahorkai ever recommended a female writer? "

No idea. I recognized several names on his list (and two marvelous classics) and was surprised these novels are not available for a wider English-language readership. The more writers we know the better, no matter their gender, race, nationality...

[Marc]

I agree about the more writers we know being a good thing and I'm a big fan of Krasznahorkai's books, Vesna.

The Szabo and Charco's upcoming 2023 Piñeiro translations are on my radar.

[Janet]

I’m just starting Victoria Mas’s Un miracle
which I predict will be translated. Her first novel, Le bal des folles The mad women’s ball, was translated into English by Frank Wynne, and into many European languages and Turkish. It was adapted into a graphic novel and a film, and won the Prix Renaudot des lycéens in 2019. I really enjoyed listening and reading Le bal des folles in French. The GR reviews were good to very good, which looks similar to Un Miracle.

Another book I have my eye on is Brazilian, Torto Arado It’s been translated into Dutch, Italian, German, Bulgarian but not English. If you look at the GR ratings, they are extremely high. People seem to love this book. You can throw the description into Google translate to get a sense of the story, and then read the English reviews.

And yes to Claudia Piñeiro! I’ve read several of her crime novels, still need to get to Elena Knows, love her razor-sharp take on Argentine society.

[Ruben]

Janet wrote: "Another book I have my eye on is Brazilian, Torto Arado ."

Torto Arado sounds very good indeed, thanks for putting it on my radar!

It reminds me of another one that is a big success in Spain: the Romanian (or Moldovan?) El verano en que mi madre tuvo los ojos verdes - (The Summer my mother had green eyes) by Tatiana Țîbuleac

[Janet]

Ruben,
going back to Le mage du Kremlin, one of my podcasts I subscribe to is La Grande Librairie, based on the tv program ( which I’m not sure I can watch here in the States, although I do watch YouTube clips). I don’t listen to every episode but this week’s program includes an interview with Giuliano da Empoli, because the theme of the program is about power. So for me it’s one of those situations where I never heard of the book until you mentioned it and now I run across it again in this podcast. I’m not sure the book is for me at this point in time but I can see where a political novel would be of great interest to a lot of readers, especially one that gets inside Putin’s inner circle. Hope it gets translated into English.