The 2015 Best Translated Book Award was just announced a few days ago but we are, after all, already five full months into the new year, so maybe it's time to start considering what might be in the running for the 2016 BTBA (for best translation of a previously untranslated work of fiction published or distributed in the US in 2015).
(Hey, The Mookse and the Gripes Forum got started on BTBA 2016: Speculation a while back already .....)
I have to admit that I am a bit surprised not to have come across more obvious contenders yet. There's lots that impresses -- but little, so far, that really stands out.
Of the books I've seen (admittedly a limited number), I think the only ones that I'd rate very likely to make the longlist are:
- Well, we'll have fourth volumes in series by Elena Ferrante and Karl Ove Knausgaard, both of which should be somewhere in the discussion-mix; I haven't seen the Ferrante yet, but as the final volume in a series that has been very much to the BTBA judges' liking this is certainly one to look out for; I suspect Knausgaard may have to wait until that series is finished off (with volume six).
- We have a couple of Nobel laureates with books out: Oe Kenzaburo's Death by Water (Grove; see their publicity page) and a whole pile of Patrick Modiano, with The Occupation Trilogy looking like the most promising contender (Bloomsbury; see their publicity page); I haven't seen any of these yet, but they should get a closer look. (Mario Vargas Llosa's The Discreet Hero -- even in an Edith Grossman translation -- and Dario Fo's The Pope's Daughter (Europa; see their publicity page) look less likely to be in the final running.)
- This year's Murakami is a twofer of (ineligible) re-translations (Knopf; see their publicity page) but a couple of other big names also have new books, notably Michel Houellebecq -- Submission (FSG; see their publicity page) -- and Milan Kundera -- The Festival of Insignificance (Harper; see their publicity page). (I haven't seen these, but they'll certainly get the judges' attention.)
Books that should have a decent shot at the longlist include:
- Early Georges Perec might not be his best, but Portrait of a Man Known as Il Condottiere (University of Chicago Press; see their publicity page) comes translated by David Bellos, so that will certainly get a closer look.
- As far a genre (or genre-esque) fiction goes, not much has struck me yet -- except a previously untranslated Simenon, The Mahé Circle, which would seem to have a longlist-chance
- Both Dalkey Archive Press and Seagull have piles of impressive offerings; it would be surprising if they didn't place several on the longlist; I barely know where to start here with their possible contenders
Finally, there's one much-anticipated title which I would have pegged as a contender sight unseen but where circumstances leave me currently a bit more confused, The Big Green Tent by Ludmila Ulitskaya (FSG; see their publicity page). This was originally due out in April, in Bela Shayevich's translation. It is now appearing in November -- in Polly Gannon's translation.
Something clearly went very wrong somewhere here: originally listed in the FSG catalogue as a translation by Bela Shayevich, it is now listed as by Gannon (though the cover image (hey ! translator's name on the cover ! yay !) and the Amazon-listing still name Shayevich). In fact, this title was reviewed in Publishers Weekly in October 2014 (!) -- presumably from a galley-copy of Shayevich's translation. But FSG apparently took the pretty radical (and costly) step of commissioning a new translation -- I hope we eventually learn why. (Gannon is the better-known translator (including of personal but not BTBA favorite last year, The Symmetry Teacher), but Shayevich did, for example, translate an Ulitskaya-story that appeared in The New Yorker .....)
(Also: will Publishers Weekly review the title again, this time in the translation that's actually being published ?)
I have to admit that I am a bit surprised not to have come across more obvious contenders yet. There's lots that impresses -- but little, so far, that really stands out.
Of the books I've seen (admittedly a limited number), I think the only ones that I'd rate very likely to make the longlist are:
- Sphinx by Anne Garréta -- which looks like the closest thing to a sure-thing
- The Physics of Sorrow by Georgi Gospodinov
- The Meursault Investigation by Kamel Daoud -- which will surely be the most-discussed/reviewed translation of the summer, if not the whole year
- Nowhere to Be Found by Bae Suah -- very slim -- and an AmazonCrossing title ! -- but everyone who has read seems to be bowled over by it
- Well, we'll have fourth volumes in series by Elena Ferrante and Karl Ove Knausgaard, both of which should be somewhere in the discussion-mix; I haven't seen the Ferrante yet, but as the final volume in a series that has been very much to the BTBA judges' liking this is certainly one to look out for; I suspect Knausgaard may have to wait until that series is finished off (with volume six).
- We have a couple of Nobel laureates with books out: Oe Kenzaburo's Death by Water (Grove; see their publicity page) and a whole pile of Patrick Modiano, with The Occupation Trilogy looking like the most promising contender (Bloomsbury; see their publicity page); I haven't seen any of these yet, but they should get a closer look. (Mario Vargas Llosa's The Discreet Hero -- even in an Edith Grossman translation -- and Dario Fo's The Pope's Daughter (Europa; see their publicity page) look less likely to be in the final running.)
- This year's Murakami is a twofer of (ineligible) re-translations (Knopf; see their publicity page) but a couple of other big names also have new books, notably Michel Houellebecq -- Submission (FSG; see their publicity page) -- and Milan Kundera -- The Festival of Insignificance (Harper; see their publicity page). (I haven't seen these, but they'll certainly get the judges' attention.)
Books that should have a decent shot at the longlist include:
- Before & During by Vladimir Sharov (Dedalus; see their publicity page) -- this just won the Read Russia prize for translation from the Russian, and Sharov is certaily an author we should be hearing more of and from soon
- Story collections by Silvina Ocampo (Thus Were Their Faces; NYRB; see their publicity page) and Clarice Lispector (The Complete Stories; New Directions; see their publicity page) both look very impressive.
(I almost always have some trouble with story collections, but these look like they have good chances at longlisting -- as might Sait Faik Abasıyanık's A Useless Man and Alejandro Zambra's My Documents.)
- The Heart by Maylis de Kerangal (FSG; see their publicity page); I was very impressed by Birth of a Bridge, and this is definitely a book to look out for
- Rock, Paper, Scissors by Naja Marie Aidt (Open Letter; see their publicity page); her Baboon was longlisted this year
- Divine Punishment by Sergio Ramírez, who never seems to get the (English-language) recognition he deserves)
- Tram 83 by Fiston Mwanza Mujila (Deep Vellum; see the Pontas Agency information page), which looks very promising
- Early Georges Perec might not be his best, but Portrait of a Man Known as Il Condottiere (University of Chicago Press; see their publicity page) comes translated by David Bellos, so that will certainly get a closer look.
- As far a genre (or genre-esque) fiction goes, not much has struck me yet -- except a previously untranslated Simenon, The Mahé Circle, which would seem to have a longlist-chance
- Both Dalkey Archive Press and Seagull have piles of impressive offerings; it would be surprising if they didn't place several on the longlist; I barely know where to start here with their possible contenders
Finally, there's one much-anticipated title which I would have pegged as a contender sight unseen but where circumstances leave me currently a bit more confused, The Big Green Tent by Ludmila Ulitskaya (FSG; see their publicity page). This was originally due out in April, in Bela Shayevich's translation. It is now appearing in November -- in Polly Gannon's translation.
Something clearly went very wrong somewhere here: originally listed in the FSG catalogue as a translation by Bela Shayevich, it is now listed as by Gannon (though the cover image (hey ! translator's name on the cover ! yay !) and the Amazon-listing still name Shayevich). In fact, this title was reviewed in Publishers Weekly in October 2014 (!) -- presumably from a galley-copy of Shayevich's translation. But FSG apparently took the pretty radical (and costly) step of commissioning a new translation -- I hope we eventually learn why. (Gannon is the better-known translator (including of personal but not BTBA favorite last year, The Symmetry Teacher), but Shayevich did, for example, translate an Ulitskaya-story that appeared in The New Yorker .....)
(Also: will Publishers Weekly review the title again, this time in the translation that's actually being published ?)