Louisa Ermelino听is the author of three novels; Joey Dee Gets Wise; The Black Madonna听(Simon and Schuster); The Sisters Mallone (St. Martin糖心传媒檚 Press) and a story collection, Malafemmina (Sarabande). She听writes a column, Open Book, for Publishers Weekly, about noteworthy forthcoming books, interviewing authors, editors, and agents

by Olga Tokarczuk, translated from the Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones (Riverhead)

I love a long shot, and underdog, but clearly Olga Tokarczuk is no underdog.

Her novel Flights won the International Man Booker International Prize and was a finalist for the National Book award in translation. She糖心传媒檚 published in the US by Riverhead/Penguin Random House. You might even call her a literary darling although she糖心传媒檚 been a serious, international award-winning, controversial feminist writer in her native Poland and Flights was her tenth book.

But enough about Olga Tokarczuk the celebrity. I want to tell you why her novel, 2019糖心传媒檚 Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead should win the Best Translated Book Award. To start with, it糖心传媒檚 pure poetry. I didn糖心传媒檛 want to mark up the hardback copy I was reading (Catholic schoolgirl that I am . . . I can make a perfect book jacket from a paper bag) so I decided to mark passages with Post-its. I ran out of Post-its by page 50.

It糖心传媒檚 winter in the isolated Polish village where people from Warsaw summer and Janina is the cranky woman who watches their houses, studies astrology, and translates Blake with her former student Dizzy. She also has an affinity for animals and the first murder that takes place is that of Janina糖心传媒檚 neighbor, Big Foot, who mistreats his dog and sets cruel snares to trap the deer, hares, badgers and such who live in the forest surrounding the town.

Listen to the opening sentence: 糖心传媒淚 am already at an age and additionally in a state where I must always wash my feet thoroughly before bed, in the event of having to be removed by an ambulance in the Night.糖心传媒�

Do you not want to know this woman? You will not be disappointed. Every declaration sets you thinking. Janina is called upon by her neighbor, Oddball糖心传媒�(she 诲辞别蝉苍糖心传媒檛 believe in given names and hates her own so she gives people names that suit them, hence, Big Foot and OddBall糖心传媒攖o deal with Big Foot糖心传媒檚 corpse. In response, she says: 糖心传媒淚t made me feel sad, horrified, for even someone as foul as he was did not deserve death. Who on earth does?糖心传媒�

The murders continue; Janina is both dismissed and suspected by the local police and the wonderful mystery plot unfolds but it糖心传媒檚 Janina who steals the show with her observations. Of one of the houses she watches over she says: 糖心传媒淭he house itself was old, in bad shape, and looked as if it wanted to be left in peace to carry on decomposing.糖心传媒�

Lloyd-Jones糖心传媒� translation is pitch perfect, creative and touching. Janina sits in the doctor糖心传媒檚 office: 糖心传媒淟ast year the sun had burned me again.糖心传媒�

And at the police station: 糖心传媒淚n law-abiding fashion, we presented ourselves for questioning糖心传媒μ切拇綕

Tokarczuk糖心传媒檚 book is original and wise and beautifully written and beautifully translated. It is a quiet wonder. I end with Janina糖心传媒檚 comment on The Writer, whose house she watches over: 糖心传媒淚n a way, people like her, those who wield a pen, can be dangerous. At once a suspicion of fakery springs to mind糖心传媒攖hat such a Person is not him or herself, but an eye that糖心传媒檚 constantly watching, and whatever it sees it changes into sentences; in the process it strips reality of its most essential quality糖心传媒攊ts inexpressibility.糖心传媒�

Indeed . . .

Last Thursday, the Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to two white Europeans: Olga Tokarczuk (one of the odds-on favorites going into the announcement) for 2018 (aka the “Year that the Sexual Abuse Scandal Killed the Nobel”) and Peter Handke for 2019.

I never wanted to write a Nobel Prize post糖心传媒攖hese posts are meant to be about baseball and the process of reading. About using different outlooks (like Big Data and sabermetrics) to come up with fun, weird ways to provoke people to think about books and publishing in a more nuanced, different way. Do they succeed? Probably not! But I’ll be back soon with a “normal” post about reading Saer’s The Regal Lemon Tree听(forthcoming from Open Letter in winter 2020) without any recollection of what the book was about and being totally knocked sideways on several occasions, wishing someone else听was in charge of writing jacket copy so that I could get a handle on what this book was听about.听

But for today? Let’s talk about fascism, two moments in history, and whether the Nobel Prize is totally bankrupt or not.

*

Scene: Thursday Morning. 4:30am. I wake up in an excited panic. There was speculation that Can Xue or Dubravka Ugresic could win the Nobel Prize. The committee had stated, publicly糖心传媒攁lthough, as we came to find out, facetiously糖心传媒攖hat they had been too Eurocentric and would be looking to other parts of the globe for their big honor. So, Can Xue? Or Murakami? Probably Murakami. And probably Olga Tokarczuk糖心传媒攖he committee will want to be “of the moment,” and given the way the English-speaking world serves as the de facto force behind what is popular and trendy (both of the recent titles from Tokarczuk to come out in English translation are from 2007 and 2009, but we’ll come back to that in her section), it felt like a foregone conclusion.

Text conversation with Will Evans after his Braves went down 10-0 in the top of the 1st inning.

In the midst of a Cardinals blow out in game 5 of the NLDS (which is pretty much the pinnacle of hope and joy for me) I had a dream moment . . . a second where I thought, “what if?” I mean, a Swedish (!!) press had contacted us about Can Xue’s rights earlier in the week糖心传媒攋ust as her odds shifted. Is that’s a coincidence? A conspiracy? A reason for hope? A prank??

But deep down, I knew. I听knew. Would it be great to sell more copies in a week than we have in all eleven years of our notable, but financially suspect existence? Fuck and yes it would! But, you, know, there are only like 50 other living authors equally deserving of a million dollar literary award and a place in history . . . it all feels like a coin flip, and there are three things I don’t think exist in today’s world: true democracy, anything resembling meritocracy, and good luck for anything Chad W. Post is involved in.

It took until 4:36am to figure out what the time it was in Sweden糖心传媒攏ot time for the announcement!糖心传媒攁nd then it took until 6ish to finally fall asleep, cautiously hoping that I’d wake up and the world would be a different place.

Fast-forward to 7:15am. 贬补苍诲办别!听贬补苍诲办别!听Sure, he’s an Important European Author, but听贬补苍诲办别!听This guy was friends with Slobodan Milo拧evi膰, who, if you’re too young to know the history of the Yugoslav War and his attempts at genocide, well, let’s just say he’s one of history’s greatest monsters. Full stop. Don’t @ me with equivocations. If you encourage people to slaughter others based on their nationality, you are 100% a piece of shit.

Are Handke’s books good? I haven’t read all of the recent ones, but the early ones are, yes. Really good. But 搁别辫别迟颈迟颈辞苍听is boring and solipsistic, and the second-half of his career feels like someone so intent on loving themselves that they don’t realize how far up their own ass they are.

From Wikipedia, which I’m quoting because . . . well, you’ll see:

My Year in the No-Man’s-Bay听(:听Mein Jahr in der Niemandsbucht) is a 1994 novel by the Austrian writer听. It follows a writer’s attempt to describe a metamorphosis he went through two decades earlier, when he stopped being confrontative and instead became a passive observer. The task proves to be difficult and most of the book is instead concerned with the lives of the narrator, his family and the people in the Paris suburb where he lives. The book is 1066 pages long in its original German. It was published in English in 1998, translated by听.

When the English translation was published in 1998,听‘s critic wrote: “Despite attaining moments of stylistic lucidity worthy of听, the narrator more often comes across as gloomy and hostile. Nonetheless, numerous trenchant moments of insight make this work intriguing and provocative.”听听reviewed the book for听. He described it as “one carefully observed image after another expanding into a cinematically eternal present tense”, which according to Siegel means that “in a sense, then, Handke’s novel is an argument for the superiority of film to the novel”. The critic continued: “Though at times intellectually bracing, this can make for pretty arid reading. And Handke’s attempts at elevating his epic of self-regarding banality often make matters worse. Rejecting character, plot and psychology as mere fictions, he relies on an ostentatious thematic framework that winds up being more implausible than any old-fashioned novelistic trick.” Publishers Weekly听called the English translation “impeccable”, while Siegel called it “clumsy and overliteral”.

Yeah, I’m good. I’ve read this sort of man for many many years. And I really, really liked it. But then again, there are a million dudes writing in this same way, who may not get the international play (why do some writers succeed and not others? definitely not because of talent, I’ll guarantee you that), none of whom told Bosnian Muslims that the was faked and said “You can stick your corpses up your arse!” when called out on his wild claims. Christ. This guy. Really. A 尘颈濒濒颈辞苍听dollars.

And that’s just the start of it! Here are the screen caps I frantically took at a red light, driving my son to school, 蝉迟耻苍苍别诲听that anyone who’s openly friends with war criminals听won the Nobel Prize for Literature:

I know it’s long, but听read this. And听read it here.听Why? Because it’s been completely deleted from Wikipedia. Not bits and pieces糖心传媒攖he whole thing. .

The victors write history. Which is why “Never Forget” is not a phrase, but a warning.

*

While at that same red light, I whipped off an ill-conceived tweet (when are my tweets听苍辞迟听ill-conceived) and got听so worked up听about the podcast Tom Roberge and I were about to record. It’s called “Don’t Give a Million Dollars to a Fascist” and it is FIRE.

It also earned me the designation糖心传媒攐n Twitter, the home of all intellectual thought?糖心传媒攁s the “most insufferable man in publishing.” Which is AMAZING. I added this to my bio and will be riding it to the grave.

Chad W. Post, the “most insufferable man in publishing” died on XX in the year XXXX. He is known for: a) being blocked by Roxane Gay because of a drunken Super Bowl exchange regarding a half-time show, shitty referees, and nonsense (which he regretted all his years), b) complaining on Three Percent that no one liked his books (making it easier not to like his books), and c) the fact that he was very, very short, with a nasty balding situation.

I get the ire. The backlash to the “Handke doesn’t听deserve it” backlash. I really do. There are authors I/we like that are not good people. And the work and the human who makes the work are two separate things糖心传媒攚hen you’re talking just about books. When you’re talking about giving someone a million dollars and a permanent spot in history? . . . I’m not so sure that argument holds. Or maybe it would’ve held, if the committee hadn’t had said anything. Instead of expanding their scope to, I don’t know, anyone in Latin America? Asia? Africa? Last I checked, Poland and Austria were very, very European. (And don’t pull this “Eastern Europe” shit. The center of Europe moved East very fast with Brexit.) And very, very, very white.

The thing is, you can claim that the Nobel is only about an author糖心传媒檚 work, that the work is not the same as the person, but for an award of this stature that糖心传媒檚 given out once a year to an author and their corpus, it comes to function as an award for the author themselves糖心传媒攁t least in the minds of tens of thousands of people around the world. So whether you feel like the Nobel Prize for Literature should 糖心传媒渙nly be about the work糖心传媒� or not, it functions as something larger within culture, and as a result, the Swedish Academy needs to keep that in mind.

I think someone subtweeted about me, claiming that my Handke outrage was linked to the fact that Dubravka Ugresic didn糖心传媒檛 win. This isn糖心传媒檛 entirely true. Am I upset that Dubravka didn糖心传媒檛 receive the prize? Not exactly. Once you糖心传媒檝e been a bridesmaid for so long, it糖心传媒檚 impossible to get angry when you miss the bouquet once again. But I am irritated on her behalf, since anyone who suffered through the Yugoslav War will 100% have their PTSD triggered when a genocide apologist who supported war criminals is awarded a million dollars. Especially women who suffered horribly through this conflict. It糖心传媒檚 really cool that some white Austrian can take a shit on a region, and still be rewarded for it. Bully for him. It’s like telling Trump that “it’s OK, at least you’re trying.”

Dubravka was literally threatened by nationalists of the Handke sort. She was doxed in the national paper. People thought it was their patriotic duty to threaten her physically. Her work is still discriminated against because she糖心传媒檚 not on board with ugly nationalist sentiments. She糖心传媒檚 written more about border crossings, immigration, the impact of violence in the Balkans, the power of art, creation and the culture industry, than any living writer.

So, sure, Handke is a very talented Classic Male European Writer, but given the Academy糖心传媒檚 statements, the scandal last year, the fact that most people think of them as a joke糖心传媒攁 group of old white men selecting the buddies and idols they糖心传媒檇 like to hang out with糖心传媒攖hat the impact of their decision far exceeds what it rationally should, that it would糖心传媒檝e been easy to choose anyone else . . . That糖心传媒檚 why people say #EatShitHandke and #GivetheNobeltoDubravka. (No one actually says that, but they could and should. Hell, add #BoycottTheNobel to that.)

Again, white middle-aged literary guys糖心传媒擨糖心传媒檓 one of you. I糖心传媒檓 all about Art First. About complicated prose that糖心传媒檚 contemplative and very wedded to History and Ideas. I糖心传媒檓 all of those things, and I know why you糖心传媒檙e pissed at the backlash against Handke, who embodies this very particular viewpoint more than anyone else I can name. (Just look at his pictures and you know what his books are like.) But you糖心传媒檙e wrong this time. This isn糖心传媒檛 the moment to try and stand for that argument. We live in the worst possible timeline, with everything completely falling apart糖心传媒攖o pour fuel on that fire in order to defend your rights to choose whichever White Euro Male you want to receive Alfred Nobel糖心传媒檚 money? That糖心传媒檚 just plain irresponsible.

Dubravka and Can Xue and Everyone Else has to wait another year. And next fall, we糖心传媒檒l all be disappointed again. It’s an impossible situation. And, man, if an author Open Letter published won? The “we don’t even know who this is” think-pieces would lead me to suicide or heart attack. (THAT IS NOT A JOKE.) Instead of stumping for Dubravka, I think what we should argue for is the complete dissolution of the Swedish Academy. They糖心传媒檝e outlived their usefulness, are a pathetic group of trolls, and can糖心传媒檛 even explain their decisions in English.

Seriously, this is your defense of Handke?

for an influential work that with linguistic ingenuity has explored the periphery and the specificity of human experience.

You know what that sounds like? Senility.

Even a random word generator can do better.

*

On the flip side糖心传媒攁nd there are think pieces to be written about this, about the two sides to the Nobel coin糖心传媒擮lga Tokarczuk is great! I’ve met her in person, and she’s really fun. Besides, she has dreads, and her books are good. Her first translator, Antonia Lloyd-Jones, is one of my favorite people to see at book parties. Jennifer Croft糖心传媒攚ho did Flights糖心传媒攁nd is working on The Books of Jacob听(which would make a good Two Month Review book?) translates from Polish听and听Spanish, and received a for her memoir, Homesick.听These are talented, deserving artists糖心传媒攃ongrats to all of you! (And all of Olga’s other translators. I don’t know who they are, but it should be noted that these books are available in more languages than just Polish and English.)

Without neglecting any of the current players in Olga Tokarczuk’s current English-language moment糖心传媒擱iverhead, Fitzcarraldo糖心传媒擨 want to go back in time. To 2002. To when the world first discovered Olga’s writing.

2002 was the year that Tokarczuk’s fifth book,听House of Day, House of Night听came out from Granta UK in Antonia Lloyd-Jones’s translation. One year later, it was available stateside from Northwestern University Press as part of their “” series, which, if you don’t already know and you like Euro-lit, get thee to a library and/or used book store.

I have two personal comments about this series, one that could get me in a lot of trouble if powerful people ever read this blog: 1) This series changed my reading life, and 2) It’s the reason Sessalee Hensley at Barnes & Noble doesn’t really carry our books. (“Translations don’t sell. I carried Northwestern for years.” That’s verbatim.)

贵谤辞尘听The Guardian‘s review of听House of Day, House of Night:

Olga Torkarczuk claims her place among the greats of Polish letters with House of Day, House of Night

What other nation can boast two living Nobel laureates – Wislawa Szymborska and Czeslaw Milosz – and, in the late Zbigniew Herbert, a poet at least their equal? Add to these Ryszard Kapuscinski, Slawomir Mrozek and Pawel Huelle and the debt we owe to Polish letters becomes clear. It’s a distinctive list that draws on a powerful collective faith and an irony that often seems the only sane approach to the cruel joke of Polish history.

With House of Day, House of Night, her first full-length work here,听听can rightfully take her place among these writers. It is not so much a novel as a collection of linked short narratives, found stories, hagiography and incidental observations and is a delight to read – wonderfully inventive and by turns comic, tragic and wise.

That’s some strong praise from a听惫别谤测听well-respected source!

How did the Northwestern edition do?

From the Northwestern book page (which has the same reviews as Amazon.com):

When I whinge and whinge about how American book culture is stupid . . . yes, I’m being a pompous, insufferable dick. But, c’mon. That’s it? Nothing on听Publishers Weekly . . .听who LOVED her new books.

Is History nothing but a Tale of Good Timing? Or something more sinister? A way of making sure power stays in power? Or a cruel joke? It’s easy to lean into any of these interpretations糖心传媒攅specially if you read this book (in 2003!) and pursued Olga for years, but have been denied for one person’s opinion or another’s. (What is it like to be self-confident?)

Let’s flash ahead to Olga’s best book:听, which was translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones as well and published by the incomparable Twisted Spoon. (So many good books! So little attention from American booksellers/reviewers/readers. Personal recommendation: 听by Hermann Ungar.)

As you can see from ,听Primeval听got听way way way听more play than House of Day, House of Night. Although, again, no听PW, but there is听Booklist.听No听New York Times, but a听Words Without Borders review. The听Review of Contemporary Fiction reviewed it (probably why I knew of this particular book) and World Lit Today, but, let’s be honest: today’s tastemakers don’t care about RCF or The Modern Novel, although check this blurb from Malvern Books (!!):

This is Primeval: an enclosed snow globe, a world in itself, which it may or may not be possible to ever leave. Outside, wars rise and then break like waves, disgorging soldiers and refugees through the border of Primeval, whose residents are swept up in the flood without always being entirely certain whether the outside world really exists. [. . .] History, in this novel that spans the bulk of the twentieth century, is a thing that happens elsewhere, a dream that, like Goya糖心传媒檚 Sleep of Reason, gives birth to monsters.

No other indie bookstores have mentioned this title to me over the past nine years. But I did buy my copy from City Lights way back when.

*

What is history if not for its forgotten players?

Olga’s Nobel is going to be about Riverhead and Fitzcarraldo because, well, memory is short and immediate. And good for them! That tracks, makes sense, and will keep two admirable publishers publishing good books for decades to come. But if she’s such an obvious Nobel Prize candidate, why do her four English translations have these pub dates: 2002, 2010, 2018, 2019? Four books in 17 years? Here’s her bibliography (arranged as if by a madman on the “infallible” Wikipedia):

What are we even doing here? Is there a meaning or message behind the awarding of the Nobel Prize? Is it just random? Is it about trends and popularity and Man Booker Awards and glorification of those who got there at the right moment? Is History written not by the victors, but by the people with the best timing?

*

This is actually supposed to be a post about Susan Harris, editorial director of Words Without Borders, former editor-in-chief of Northwestern University Press, and publisher of three听Nobel Prize winners糖心传媒攁ll of which came after her tenure at NUP ended.

In addition to doing Olga Tokarczuk in 2003, she published听two听Herta Mueller books糖心传媒�Land of Green Plums, which she acquired paperback rights to from a commercial house, and Traveling on One Leg, which was hers alone糖心传媒攁nd a couple Imre Kertesz titles糖心传媒�Fateless听she inherited, but Kaddish for an Unborn Child, she acquired. And, because she was “let go” in March 2002, just months before Kertesz won the Nobel Prize, her editorial contributions were erased from history. She got none of the profile pieces, none of the glory or recognition.

*

Except among us.

Thank you, Susan, and I can’t imagine how weird it must be to “win” three times, and yet . . . But then again, is there an organization focused on international literature that’s more respected than Words Without Borders? The Grandmother of All Websites, WWB is legit AF. They’re the听Grand Street听of post-millennium publishing. Wait, you don’t know 飞丑补迟听Grand Street is?

听by Olga Tokarczuk, translated from the Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones (Riverhead)

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead may well be the most anticipated translation of the season. Olga Tokarczuk糖心传媒檚 second novel in as many years is a mystery novel that never declares itself as such. Despite all the deaths that litter it糖心传媒攖he book starts off with Big Foot糖心传媒檚 demise choking on a bone from a deer that he had poached糖心传媒攖he novel is more of a character study of its quite quirky narrator, Janina Duszejko, who valiantly tries to convince the police that all four deaths are the result of animals taking revenge against hunters.

The lack of detailed investigations, the absence of a plucky detective putting the pieces together is one of the book糖心传媒檚 great charms. It redirects the focus from the typical concern for justice and human lives, and instead allows Janina to unfurl her life story糖心传媒攁s an engineer of bridges turned schoolteacher turned caretaker of summer houses, vegetarian, astrologist, co-translator of Blake糖心传媒檚 poetry, and devoted animal lover糖心传媒攁nd her dislike for hunters of all stripe, especially one particular5 group of poachers, whose connections to the local law enforcement and politicians takes on a conspiratorial air.

There are actually two mysteries in the novel, neither of which are hard to solve: the deaths of the four hunters, and the mystery of what happened to Janina糖心传媒檚 糖心传媒淟ittle Girls,糖心传媒� her dogs that are absent for unexplained (although quite easy to surmise) reasons. I don糖心传媒檛 want to give away any spoilers (although if there糖心传媒檚 a true weak point to this book, it糖心传媒檚 that the answers to the mysteries are pretty obvious, right from the start), but these two mysteries are intertwined.

Although the deaths are the engine behind the novel糖心传媒檚 plot, the book really runs off of Janina糖心传媒檚 voice. The success of this is a true testament to Antonia Lloyd-Jones糖心传媒檚 skill as a translator. In one of what could be a half-dozen or more qualifiers, I will admit that I糖心传媒檓 friends with Antonia, have known her for years, and am working with her on a few books. I糖心传媒檝e also read a number of her translations, and I was very impressed how this book 诲辞别蝉苍糖心传媒檛 sound like Antonia. This is a problem that perceptive readers can pick up on, and something that translators have to grow their way out of as their careers progress. Even if you let the original text guide you, there are turns of phrase, certain rhythms, subtle tics that show up in most renderings. It糖心传媒檚 not intentional, it糖心传媒檚 not even conscious, but it糖心传媒檚 something I see in my students糖心传媒� work that糖心传媒檚 100% absent here. Which is maybe my way of saying something meaningless like 糖心传媒渁 smooth translation糖心传媒� but isn糖心传媒檛, really.

*

Plow is a fast read, an enjoyable book, one that has a strong, compelling voice and enough plot points to keep you engaged. (Although I糖心传媒檓 not sure about the overall pacing, with the ending revelation feeling both obvious and too abrupt all at once.) But why, exactly, is it the 糖心传媒渕ost anticipated translation of the year糖心传媒� as I postulated above? Did you even pause on that and think, 糖心传媒淣o way! XXXXXXX is the most anticipated!糖心传媒� I糖心传媒檓 willing to bet that most everyone just passed right over that statement, or took it as 糖心传媒淚nternet Objective.糖心传媒� (Those statements online that are clearly hyperbolic, but an acceptable level of hyperbole because it糖心传媒檚 2019 and we can糖心传媒檛 exaggerate enough to get a reaction anymore.)

Given the number of reviews of Plow already up on BookMarks . . . I might actually be right. But why is that the case? Listed below are ## reasons why people are looking forward to this particular book, along with my personal assessment (on a scale of 1 to 10) as to how meaningful these aspects really are:

An Audience That糖心传媒檚 Been Reading Olga Since Primeval and Other Times (2/10)

I absolutely loved this book when Twisted Spoon brought it out. (This blog post from 2011 is so lame! And the opening sentence should be “were” not “was.”) At that time (2010), I was reading all of their titles, each one unique, dark, adventurous. But they were based in Prague, with pretty shitty U.S. distribution, so I was probably one of a dozen people who read this. (Although I distinctly remember a very well-respected book critic telling me that this book was not very good and that they couldn糖心传媒檛 understand why I liked it. The things the brain remembers糖心传媒攖he dramatic, the negative, the moments of self-doubt.) It糖心传媒檚 exactly why I got samples of both Flights (called 糖心传媒淩unners糖心传媒� at that time) and Drive Your Plow and desperately wanted to publish them. Alas, over the course of many years, multiple authors who were on our editorial board fought against this possibility, so we never even got to the point of making an offer. We could糖心传媒檝e been Fitzcarraldo!

But the point isn糖心传媒檛 to lament yet another on the long list of misses that I糖心传媒檝e had in my life (see: The Savage Detectives reader糖心传媒檚 report I commissioned in 2001), but to say that not one single review mentioned Primeval or House of Day, House of Night, which was published by Northwestern University Press. There was no long-term growth of Tokarczuk糖心传媒檚 English-reading audience; her readership materialized instantly and for other reasons.

The Astrology Parts of Drive Your Plow (3/10)

I read some article recently about how millennials have replaced religion with astrology. Which I have no problem with! I know lots of my friends like to punk on all beliefs (I used to be friends with someone whose whole brand was based around not believing in anything and taking a sarcastic, ironic, caustic approach to everything someone might incorporate into their life), but that sort of 糖心传媒渟cientific rationality糖心传媒� is not for me. Hidden patterns? Forces that are just beyond our understanding? Things that can糖心传媒檛 be explained in school-board approved textbooks? SIGN ME UP.

In a natal Horoscope the date of birth determines the date of death as well. That糖心传媒檚 obvious糖心传媒攁nyone who has been born is going to die. There are many places in the Horoscope that point us toward the time and nature of death糖心传媒攐ne simply needs to know how to spot and connect them. For example, one has to check the transitory aspects of Saturn to the hyleg, and what糖心传媒檚 going on in the eighth house. Also to cast and eye of the relative position of the Lights糖心传媒攎eaning the Sun and Moon.

I糖心传媒檓 trying to find out if this sort of approach糖心传媒斕切拇綔transitory aspects of Saturn to the hyleg糖心传媒� and 糖心传媒渆ighth house糖心传媒澨切拇綌is normal astrology speak or nonsense, and hoping that it糖心传媒檚 nonsense. Not because I糖心传媒檓 anti-astrology (again, hidden patterns, academics being wrong, all that appeals), but because I want to imagine that Janina糖心传媒檚 mental instabilities are evident in this糖心传媒攊f you know the language.

While trying to find this quote, I found one other paragraph that I love, and that might not deserve its own header, but is why I would recommend you read this book:

I grew up in a beautiful era, now sadly in the past. In it there was great readiness for change, and a talent for creating revolutionary visions. Nowadays no one still has the courage to think up anything new. All they ever talk about, round the clock, is how things already are, they just keep rolling out the same old ideas. Reality has grown old and gone senile; after all, it is definitely subject to the same laws as every living organism糖心传媒攊t ages.

听

听The Controversy over The Books of Jacob (6/10)

Now we糖心传媒檙e talking. One of the first times most people heard of Tokarczuk was when this 1,000 page book won the Nike Award and was attacked by Polish nationalists who, because we live in one of the worst possible worlds, are incredibly anti-Semitic and assholes. (Just what the world needs now, more assholes who believe they糖心传媒檙e more special than others. Every day it feels like there are more white nationalist and fewer glaciers, which will, literally, be the death of us all.)

Although this book has yet to appear in English translation (Jennifer Croft糖心传媒攔ead her memoir, Homesick糖心传媒攊s working on it), the death threats and controversy registered in the international press and all of a sudden, Olga Tokarczuk was an author 糖心传媒渨orth looking into糖心传媒� by many editors.

The Movie Version of Drive Your Plow which Is Called Spoor (3/10)

Nah. I糖心传媒檓 not even sure most English readers are aware that this exists. (1,377 YouTube views. Or more, depending on how many people are reading these words and clicking this video.) Here糖心传媒檚 a trailer in case you糖心传媒檙e interested:

It糖心传媒檚 from Riverhead (9/10)

So, I糖心传媒檓 working on a book about baseball sabermetrics (not the actual sabermetrics, but the ideas that drive how to evaluate talent and success), behavioral economics (mostly decision making and prospect theory), and publishing (because I know nothing else), and am working on a section about whether or not publishing is a zero-sum game. There are elements by which it is (limited shelf space, limited reviews, static amount of money spent on books for a good number of years), and yet, there糖心传媒檙e no real limits in which for every book that 糖心传媒渨ins,糖心传媒� one 糖心传媒渓oses.糖心传媒�

Maybe.

When you糖心传媒檙e Open Letter and not Riverhead, it feels like a zero-sum game. Indie bookstores have a limited amount of money, and have to spend that money on the books that are most likely to sell. And a massive corporate press, with a legit marketing budget and multiple employees pimping a given title (versus a few employees doing multiple jobs) is much more likely to 糖心传媒渨in.糖心传媒� And if you assume it糖心传媒檚 going to win, then you buy more copies of that book and fewer of the one from Open Letter and, well, Drive Your Plow sells better. It糖心传媒檚 tautological in a way. It will always sell more because more copies are readily available. Amazon hasn糖心传媒檛 altered that dynamic. The most popular books sell via all retailers. Size and power matter.

The Cover (8/10)

Covers are the number one influence on whether or not someone buys a book. But this cover? It糖心传媒檚 fine. (ADMISSION: I think most everything is fine. I have a whole post about this pre-written for when I start my 糖心传媒淓valuation of Books with No Metadata糖心传媒� series, but in short, most all of the books I read are between a 5 and a 10. Which is a weird sort of self-involved bragging, but also a way of saying that a book that I think is a 7 is fine to me, but also a really good book! Numbers are relative and shit.) It糖心传媒檚 kind of an Open Letter cover (see Landscape in Concrete), and is mod in a way that I like, but that isn糖心传媒檛 spectacular. Riverhead糖心传媒檚 Flights cover isn糖心传媒檛 necessarily my thing either.

But I糖心传媒檓 not most people, and I糖心传媒檒l be this stands out really well on a front table at both an indie store and B&N.

The Man Booker International for Flights (10/10)

This is the one, right? If Flights 诲辞别蝉苍糖心传媒檛 win the Man Booker . . . Check that: If Flights isn糖心传媒檛 longlisted for the Man Booker, no one gives any fucks about Drive Your Plow. Full stop. Even if it is a finalist for the 2019 Man Booker International. (Which it is, and, frankly, biasedly, I hope it wins. Go Antonia!)

Is there any other award in the world that matters as much to translation as this one? No.

That People Decided to Give Olga a Chance (7/10)

This is hard to articulate, but I糖心传媒檓 going to try.

For years, the translation community has both acknowledged and fought against the idea that readers are 糖心传媒渟cared糖心传媒� of translations. When it served our purpose, we were quick to point out that readers tend to choose books by Americans over those by 糖心传媒渇oreigners.糖心传媒� And at the same time, when we were lobbying publishers to do more international books, we could easily trot out the argument that 糖心传媒渞eaders love good books糖心传媒攖ranslated or not! Just look at Ferrante!糖心传媒�

What if it糖心传媒檚 all a lot simpler than that? There are certain books that the community of readers is open to giving a chance, and certain books they aren糖心传媒檛. There糖心传媒檚 not necessarily a rhyme or reason to why book X and not book Y, but there are books that everyone糖心传媒檚 like, 糖心传媒淥K, let糖心传媒檚 accept this and read it before we pass judgement糖心传媒� and other times that the reading community is like, 糖心传媒渘ice that it exists, but not my thing.糖心传媒� The reasons why the masses react the way they do糖心传媒攂ecause it糖心传媒檚 never as individual a decision as we wish it were糖心传媒攊s the Holy Grail of book marketing. Is Drive Your Plow the best book in translation to come out in 2019? I personally don糖心传媒檛 think so, and would be surprised if more than 50% of readers thought it was. But it糖心传媒檚 one of a very small handful of titles in translation that a significant audience will give a chance.

I糖心传媒檓 not in a mental space糖心传媒攔ight now糖心传媒攖o explain the intricacies of this, I can think of all the books that the public 飞辞苍糖心传媒檛 give a chance, books by Asian women that haven糖心传媒檛 won awards, most everything (well, probably everything) from the Baltics, any translation with a stodgy university press cover, books set in places with too many diacritics. In many ways, Olga is the exception that proves the rule. How many other Polish female authors can you name? (There are fourteen糖心传媒�14?!糖心传媒攊n the Translation Database.)

*

I糖心传媒檝e been really struggling with the idea of these posts for the past week or two. I know that I have a fraction of the readership that BookRiot or LitHub has, and that, at the same time, I糖心传媒檓 wicked militant about not changing my approach糖心传媒擨 don糖心传媒檛 want to write fluff, but want to mix together a lot of ideas about math and society and unseen influences in a way that糖心传媒檚 both illuminating and (on my best day) entertaining.

The big problem I struggle with is that my analysis of behavior comes off as dismissive or reductive糖心传媒攁t least as regards the book in question.

That糖心传媒檚 a flaw in my writing ability, not my beliefs. All the books I write about糖心传媒攅ven if I crap on them partially in jest, partially because I糖心传媒檓 a curmudgeon who is about to turn mid-40s, partially because I糖心传媒檓 chasing that dragon of unfettered joy that you can experience when you read a masterwork for the first time ever糖心传媒攁re good! Buy them. And buy an Open Letter book while you糖心传媒檙e at it. We have a ton of books as good as Drive Your Plow. That糖心传媒檚 not to dismiss this particular book! It糖心传媒檚 just that there are so many great books, but we as readers only give a handful a chance. Which is a missed opportunity. So many missed opportunities.

Will we do a Two Month Review on The Books of Jacob? We will. For sure. We糖心传媒檒l read it, bait Polish nationalists, get death threats. And support Olga糖心传媒攁 very talented, uncompromising author. Whose Primeval and Other Tales is also worth getting ahold of.

Next Wednesday, May 25th, as part of the ongoing there will be a discussion of Primeval and Other Times at the New York Institute for the Humanities at Cooper Square. All the details—including how to register—can be found by The Polish Cultural Institute also put together which has more info about the book itself.

Olga Tokarczuk糖心传媒檚 novel, Primeval and Other Times, first published in Poland in 1996, now available in an English version after having been translated into several other languages, is already regarded as a classic of East European post-Communist fiction, winning many prizes and becoming required reading for high school students in Poland. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, when the Polish literary market was flooded with long censored works and translations of formerly forbidden literature from the US and Western Europe, and writers no longer had the Communist regime to push against, Tokarczuk represented a genuinely fresh current in Polish literature, taking a self-consciously woman-centered perspective and moving away from the old politics to consider the relation between cultural archetypes and the events of history. Young Poles in the 1990s read Tokarczuk eagerly in the way that Americans read novelists like Toni Morrison and Gabriel Garcia M谩rquez during the previous decade.

The novel is set in the mythical village of Primeval in the very heart of Poland, which is populated by eccentric folk characters. The village, a microcosm of Europe, is guarded by four archangels, from whose perspective the novel chronicles the lives of Primeval糖心传媒檚 inhabitants over the course of the 20th century. In prose that is forceful and direct, the narrative follows Poland糖心传媒檚 tortured political history from 1914 to the contemporary era and the episodic brutality that is visited on ordinary village life.

Yet Primeval and Other Times is a novel of universal dimension that does not dwell on the parochial. A stylized fable as well as epic allegory about the inexorable grind of time, the clash between modernity (the masculine) and nature (the feminine), it has been translated into most European languages.

Tokarczuk has said of the novel: I always wanted to write a book such as this. One that creates and describes a world. It is the story of a world that, like all things living, is born, develops, and then dies. Kitchens, bedrooms, childhood memories, dreams and insomnia, reminiscences, and amnesia 糖心传媒� these are part of the existential and acoustic spaces from which the voices of Tokarczuk糖心传媒榮 tale come.

However, the literary mainstream is made up of authors who follow Witold Gombrowicz, who teaches distance from those models of Polish identity. Janusz Rudnicki, Marcin Swietlicki, Micha艂 Witkowski and Jerzy Pilch are writers who find their own ironic ways of dealing with our literary tradition. The most important writer of this group is Pilch 糖心传媒� not only because of his novels, but also because of his position as the country’s leading columnist. In view of the vanishing significance of literary criticism, which is now found only in niche magazines, and 糖心传媒� I must admit with a heavy heart 糖心传媒� the claustrophobia that affects newspapers’ cultural pages, Pilch is considered an authority on literature.

Dorota Mas艂owska owes him a lot. Her White and Red was the most important debut to appear in the first 20 years after independence. It is seemingly a realist novel about the dregs of society, but in fact the broken language of its heroes, full of references to pop culture and different subcultures, perfectly reflects the chaotic consciousness of all Poles living through those days of political and social transformation. Her second novel, The Queen’s Peacock, won the Nike, Poland’s most important literary award. It’s worth stressing here that awards are another substitute for literary criticism, though this is by no means an exclusively Polish phenomenon. The list of Nike laureates gives quite a reliable insight into the most important trends and names in Polish literature. Take poetry, which competes on equal terms with novels and essays for the title of the best book of the year. It is significant that the last two Nobel prizes for literature won by Poles went to poets: Czes艂aw Mi艂osz (1981) and Wis艂awa Szymborska (1996).

There’s also a nice bit in here about Reportage:

This genre-busting nature of Polish reportage is also the source of many misunderstandings. When a biography of Poland’s most eminent reporter (and the best-known Polish writer worldwide), Ryszard Kapuscinski, came out last year (Kapuscinski Non-fiction by Artur Domos艂awski), it provoked many arguments, including about the reporter’s competence. To what degree should a reporter be just a witness, and to what degree an author who includes his or her own outlook, interpretations and literary style? Where does journalism (non-fiction) end, and literary fiction begin? This dispute remains unsettled, just like many other arguments provoked by Domos艂awski’s book, such as the controversy over the attitudes that journalists and writers adopted during the communist years, or the extent to which a biographer can explore the personal life of his or her subject.

Regardless of the gravity of the charges against the so-called Polish School of Reportage, of which Kapuscinski was the most prominent representative, it is in good condition. Though it is ever rarer in the Polish press, it transfers relatively well to books. Successors of Kapuscinski 糖心传媒� Mariusz Szczygie艂, Jacek Hugo-Bader, Wojciech Tochman 糖心传媒� appear near the top of the bestseller lists, and their works have been translated into all of the major European languages. So reportage is still a Polish speciality, although reporters tend now to wander the world and through history in their search for interesting subjects. Szczygie艂 devoted his book Gottland (winner of the 2009 European Book prize) to the conflicting attitudes that Czechs adopt towards communism; Hugo-Bader has travelled through a drink-sodden post-Soviet Russia (White Heat); while Tochman has analysed the consequences of the genocide in Rwanda (We Will Portray Death Today). Young writers are following their lead: in Murderer from the Apricot City, Witold Szab艂owski reports on the cultural clashes and conflicts that divide contemporary Turkey as it attempts to join the European Union.

It’s interesting and encouraging that a decent number of Polish books are being translated into English and published in the U.S. According to our Translation Database (update coming later this week—promise), 23 works of Polish fiction and poetry have come out here since January 2009. That’s not bad given Poland’s size. And this number doesn’t include all the works of reportage that have come out over that period. (Such as Tochman’s Like Eating a Stone: Surviving the Past in Bosnia.)

Of course, I think Pilch is one of the best. (BTW, we just received the translation of My First Suicide & Other Stories, due out in 2012.) Additionally, I’d personally recommend Olga Tokarczuk’s and Wies艂aw My艣liwski’s both of which are brilliant and sweepingly ambitious in their own way.

This year’s festival is called “Haunting the Present,” and here’s a brief intro from the site:

Today糖心传媒檚 Europe is a fascinating convergence of old and new, with high speed trains roaring past thousand-year-old towns. The past and present are never far away from each other, and this year糖心传媒檚 New Literature from Europe festival explores this proximity by presenting some of the most powerful recent works of fiction by eight of the most important contemporary European authors. In Haunting the Present, the festival糖心传媒檚 seventh annual series, the overriding theme is the continued sway of history on contemporary life. Readers will witness the changes over a century in one house in Bucharest and in another house on a lake outside Berlin as its residents flee each successive regime. They will be transported from the mythical Polish village of Primeval to a small, bucolic French town shortly after World War II, and beyond.

In this year糖心传媒檚 New Literature from Europe, eight cultural institutes have teamed up to present a series of discussions and readings featuring eight critically acclaimed European writers: Philippe Claudel (France), Kirmen Uribe (Spain), Jenny Erpenbeck (Germany), Gerhard Roth (Austria), Radka Denemarkov谩 (Czech Republic), Olga Tokarczuk (Poland), Gabriela Adame艧teanu (Romania), and Antonia Arslan (Italy). Moderators will include distinguished writer Andr茅 Aciman, chair of Comparative Literature and director of the Writers’ Institute at the CUNY Graduate Center and Susan Bernofsky, Guest Professor of Creative Writing and Literary Translation at Queens College (CUNY).

That’s a pretty sweet lineup of authors and translators, and the four events that make up this festival all sound well-crafted and interesting. Here’s a bit of info on all the goings on:

Tuesday, November 16th, 7pm

Wednesday, November 17th, 3-5pm

Wednesday, November 17th, 6:30 pm & 7:45 pm

Thursday, November 18th, 7pm

“Runners” tells the story of people you have met while travelling: in air terminals, stations, in foreign towns. You are like a medium, who brings together these stories in a coherent form.

I often feel like that. The role suits me: an ear and an eye, someone undefined, without gender, without an age. Someone who is not too distinct, and that’s why the world trusts them. When you withdraw from your own “I”, you start to see and hear more. When you are too distinct, you see the world through your own filters, which is not bad either, just different.