François Mauriac: La Pharisienne (A Woman of the Pharisees)
The latest addition to my website is
The contemporary Mexican novel
In the twentieth century, as far as I was concerned, the most interesting novel writing was coming from the United States. This is not to say that there was not a lot of interesting novels been written elsewhere – of course there was – but that, overall, the US had the most interesting, innovative writers. … Read more
Kossi Efoui: La fabrique de cérémonies [The Ceremony Factory]
The latest addition to my website is Kossi Efoui‘s La fabrique de cérémonies [The Ceremony Factory], the first Togolese novel on my website. It tells the story of Edgar Fall, a Togolese translator, who had studied in the Soviet Union but lost his scholarship when the Soviet Union collapsed and now lives in a small … Read more
Jim Crace: Harvest
The latest addition to my website is Jim Crace‘s Harvest. Crace has said that this is his final novel. It is an excellent novel, telling the story of an unnamed (not only by the author but by the characters) village somewhere in England, at the time of the enclosure of the common land. At the … Read more
Candidates for the 2014 Neustadt International Prize for Literature
The Candidates for the Neustadt International Prize for Literature are always an interesting collection and I was glad to note that I have four of them on my site: César Aira, Mia Couto, Duong Thu Huong and Haruki Murakami. I know nothing about the three poets nominated – Edouard Maunick, Ilya Kaminsky and Ghassan Zaqtan, … Read more
Xiaolu Guo: 20 Fragments of a Ravenous Youth
The latest addition to my website is Xiaolu Guo‘s 20 Fragments of a Ravenous Youth. Though nominally written in English, it was in fact her first novel published in Chinese. However, when it was translated into English, she decided to rewrite the English so it is a sort of newish novel. It tells the story … Read more
Reviving the dead in literature
I have to confess that we read the Telegraph at the weekend, primarily for the crossword, a Saturday morning treat, Helen Yemm‘s gardening column and, of course, to get a perspective on what the old colonels are thinking this week. We even visited Helen Yemm’s garden when she had an open day a few weeks … Read more
Iván Thays: La disciplina de la vanidad [The Discipline of Vanity]
The latest addition to my website is Iván Thays‘ La disciplina de la vanidad [The Discipline of Vanity], a superb Peruvian post-modern novel about writers and writing. The nominal plot is a conference organised by the Spanish Centre for Young Writers. They have invited young authors from all over the Spanish-speaking world to a conference … Read more
Jim Crace: The Pesthouse
The latest addition to my website is Jim Crace‘s The Pesthouse. I have long held the view that the United States, a country which has passed from barbarism to decadence without passing through the intervening stage of civilisation (the original quote is attributed to numerous people), will, eventually, when resources run out, collapse into a … Read more
Indriði G. Þorsteinsson: Norðan við stríð (North of War)
The latest addition to my website is Indriði G. Þorsteinsson/Indridii G Thorsteinsson‘s Norðan við stríð (North of War). This novel is based on a little-known episode of World War II, when British troops occupied Iceland in May 1940, to forestall a German invasion. The Icelandic government reluctantly accepted the invasion though maintained their neutrality. The … Read more