Translated from Serbian into French by Jean Descat, and into English by Lovett Fielding EdwardsPublished by Éditions L'Age d'Homme, 1975, 84 pages. English version published by Longship Press, 1980, 83 pages. Original version published in 1974. Although this book exists in English (as The Mouth Full of Earth), it is out of print. But I …
Continue reading La bouche pleine de terre: Branimir Šćepanović
Translated from Turkish by Ekin OklapPublished by Faber & Faber, 2017, 272 pages. Orhan Pamuk’s latest novel is about obsession, guilt and the destructive relations between fathers and sons. The novel is narrated by Cem, looking back on himself as a 16-year-old boy. His father, a pharmacist and a communist, is often absent—he is either …
Translated from Norwegian by Diane OatleyPublished by Scrivener UK / Simon & Schuster, 2017, 352 pages. Original version published in 2015. We are in the midst of the sixth extinction and are losing species at an alarming rate. But we seem to have trouble recognizing the scale of the loss. How many of us associate …
Translated from Arabic by Emily DanbyPublished by Arabia Books, 2013, 124 pages. Original version published in 2008. A woman in Damascus wakes in the night, sees a triangle of light where a door is left ajar and walks in. She finds her maid in bed with her husband. She throws the maid out, and immediately …
Translated from French by Norman DennyPublished by Penguin, 1976 (this translation), 1232 pages. Original version first published in 1862. This is probably one of Victor Hugo’s best-known books, popularized by the musical starring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe and Anne Hathaway. But since a two-hour film can only provide a brief summary, I decided to read …
Translated from Hebrew by Nicholas de LangePublished by Chatto & Windus / Vintage, 2016, 288 pages. “Here is a story from the winter days of the end of 1959 and the beginning of 1960. It is a story of error and desire, of unrequited love, and of a religious question that remains unresolved. Some of …
Translated from Norwegian by Don BartlettPublished by Hogarth, 2018, 624 pages. Original version published in 2018. A town in Scotland where the sun never breaks through the clouds, pollution hangs heavy, unemployment is high and people are in thrall to a potent drug called the brew, manufactured and sold by the drug lord, Hecate. This …
Translated from Japanese by Philip GabrielPublished by Vintage, 2005, 505 pages. Original version published in 2002. A man talks to cats, fish and leeches rain down from the sky, a man dressed like Johnny Walker (of whisky fame) is making a flute from cats’ souls, and a stone opens the door to another world. Welcome …
Review by Sadhana Ramchander Book translated from German by Gita WolfPublished by Tara Books, 2018, 192 pages. Original version published in 2018. Frida Folk celebrates, in an unusual manner, the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, and her many ‘avatars’. This is indeed a fascinating book! It documents an unbelievable variety of interpretations of Frida—the woman and …
Translated from German by Michael HofmannPublished by Granta, 2017, 140 pages. Original version published in 2016. What happens when a man walks out of his seemingly perfect life? Thomas and Astrid live in a village in northern Switzerland. Thomas has a steady job, they have two children, a nice house and a marriage that seems …
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