In The Observer Dalya Alberge reports that British readers lost in translations as foreign literature sales boom.
Sounds good -- boom ! -- but I'd be more convinced if more of the numbers flung about were of actual UK sales figures: the fact that Jo Nesbø "has sold more than 23 million copies internationally", that: "In Norway alone, the volume [of Knausgaard's autobiographical novel-series] has sold 450,000 copies", that Stieg Larsson's: "Millennium books have sold more than 75 million copies in 50 countries" doesn't really say anything about how well fiction in translation is doing in the UK.
There are some local statistics -- including the good-sounding:
I am very eager to see this:
Certainly very good to hear that:
Sounds good -- boom ! -- but I'd be more convinced if more of the numbers flung about were of actual UK sales figures: the fact that Jo Nesbø "has sold more than 23 million copies internationally", that: "In Norway alone, the volume [of Knausgaard's autobiographical novel-series] has sold 450,000 copies", that Stieg Larsson's: "Millennium books have sold more than 75 million copies in 50 countries" doesn't really say anything about how well fiction in translation is doing in the UK.
There are some local statistics -- including the good-sounding:
The Collini Case, a legal thriller by Ferdinand von Schirach, one of Germany's top authors, which has sold 29,385 copies -- "more than the last John Grisham" -- eclipsing some homegrown novels that barely sell a few hundred.(But: when the writer feels compelled to throw in the gratuitous and pointless observation about: "some homegrown novels that barely sell a few hundred" ... I get mighty suspicious.)
I am very eager to see this:
Next month, Literature Across Frontiers will publish a report analysing market data. Its director, Alexandra Büchler, said that literary translations have grown by some 18% over 20 years.(Lots of context needed there -- including how much the comparable non-translated market has grown, and the market as a whole. I'm very curious about the details of this report -- and note that, in most areas, 18% growth over 20 years would at best be called anemic; of course, in the sad 'business' that is publishing anything resembling 'growth' of any sort and by any stretch must be celebrated.)
Certainly very good to hear that:
Adam Freudenheim of Pushkin Press, a small publisher that specialises in translated literature, said: "There has been an increase. Pushkin Press's sales doubled last year and are on track to double or even triple this year."But I'm still not convinced about the bigger market picture -- anecdotally, it seems a lot better than a decade ago, but the early 2000s seemed a particularly low low-point for literature in translation in the US and UK -- things weren't so bad in some of the preceding decades, and we may just be returning to prior (also low) levels .....