Claudio Magris received the Portley Rattes-Grinzana International Literary Award
Claudio Magris recently won the Premio Internazionale Bottari Lattes Grinzane International Literary Prize. Previously, Claudio Magris has won dozens of prestigious literary awards in continental Europe and around the world, including the Strega Prize, the Erasmus Prize, the Princess of Asturias Prize, the Austrian National Prize for European Literature, the Kafka Prize, and the Thomas Mann Prize.
Claudio Magris
Like the early cosmopolitan or world writers, Margeris imagined the boundless world while also deeply immersed in the love complex. He put himself in Trieste. Trieste (and Friuli) gave birth to writers such as Italo Svevo, Umberto Saba, and Pierre Paolo Pasolini. For more than a hundred years, Trieste has taken in Proust, Rilke, Joyce, Puning, Richard Burton, Freud... Until the 19th century, Trieste was a "virgin" space without a connection to literature, but now it has become so information-overloaded that Margeris calls it "the square of literature."
When Margeris was a child, Trieste was a frontier, a border, to some extent a no-man's land, straddling the Western and Eastern worlds. He would walk to the frontier of the Kasso River, and across that river was another world. Years later, Margeris felt they were ignored and rejected. Boundaries have always been a fundamental theme at Magris. Under this theme there are geographical boundaries, spiritual boundaries, and self-boundaries. Borders are sometimes bridges, sometimes barriers, Margeris once said. Growing up, however, Margeris experienced the "spirit of the world" of an army of troops, learning from Johann Gottfried Herde, "It seems to be asleep, and even before it even buds, it knows where it is." In an interview, he mentioned that there is a literature of the North of the World and literature of the South of the World, the latter ancient and poetic, such as Mo Yan.
Margeris did not stick to Trieste, he extended his love for Trieste beyond Central Europe. Central Europe is another coordinate for understanding Magris, which includes the cities and history of Vienna, Trieste, Berlin, Budapest, Zagreb, Krakow, etc., which is similar to Habermas's "transnational cluster".
His interest in Central Europe led him to complete his doctoral dissertation Habsburg Mythology in Modern Austrian Literature. In this doctoral dissertation, he identified the "Habsburg mythology" and opened up a new cultural horizon. Magris corrected the deformed image of reality in Austria-Hungary, while also illuminating the chaos and fragmentation beyond order and unity, so that Habsburg can be seen as a whole world in fragmentation. The Habsburg mythological paradigm deals with three themes: the trend towards a multi-nationalist shift from monarchy; late Habsburg hedonism; Imperialism runs slowly but well-functioning bureaucracy. The origins of Habsburg mythology date back to the early 19th century, when the ruling elite used it as a political tool to counter separatist movements through a multi-state ideology.
Danubio is a narrative representation of its Habsburg mythology. "Journey to the Danube" takes readers from the twentieth century onwards to glimpse the scenery and culture along the Danube, full of new flowers and plants emerging from the silt of the river, and the ode to the Danube by Franz Tumler, Dimitri Ingres, Yuzhov Attila and others.
The Danube was transformed by Magris into a representative of the contemporary Tower of Babel. Like the changes that Utopia has undergone in terms of historical themes and narratives, dreams, drama, and loss, it is all-encompassing and full of boundaries. "The writer constructed a universal esoteric group, a Freemasonry, a stupid secret headquarters. It is no accident that they themselves, from Jean Paul to Mussil, also write essays and eulogies about stupidity. Magris wrote in it.
Years ago, Margeris spoke to Borges in Venice about his story, who asked him to write it himself, which led to his first novel, Illazioni su una sciabola (The Story of the Saber). In the final winter of World War II, Magris was hospitalized with his father in Udine, who was under Nazi rule at the time. The Cossacks, who came here from exile in Russia, negotiated with the Nazis and acquired some territories. The Allies swept here, the Cossacks led by Pyotr Nikolaevich Krasnov surrendered, and some soldiers committed suicide. There is also the bridge section of the Free State of Phum in the middle. Such characters are often found in the works of Enzo Bettizza and Furvio Tomisa, who are considered Italians by the Slavs and considered Slavs by Italians.
In Magris's view, identity, like a matryoshka doll, exists both in this set of dolls and in greater tolerance. On another occasion, Margeris says, identity is forgotten without reflection. It's not just Magris who has this idea. Slapio Slataper said in Il mio Carso that he is Italian, not exactly Italian, and that he has some peculiarities compared to other Italians. And in that essay he had to borrow the typical methods of Greek poets, telling the truth and himself in a metaphorical way. Think about it, Robert Reiter became Franz Liebhard writing in Schwäbischer Dialekt years later.
(Partial translation reference: "Journey to the Danube", by Claudio Magris, translated by Cai Peijun, Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House, 2015)
Layla Slimani is Chair of the 2023 International Booker Prize
A few days ago, world literature rising star Leïla Slimani has been appointed president of the 2023 International Booker Prize, and she has dual Moroccan and French citizenship. Writers and translators selected for the 2023 International Booker Prize jury include Ukrainian translator Ulim Black, Malaysian English-language writer and former Man Asian Literature Prize winner Chen Tuanying, journalist Parul Segar, and journalist Frederick Stutman.
Layla Slimani
"As a child, I used to live in the world of books. With the magic of the novel, I became a Russian princess, a gold digger, an orphan on the outskirts of London, an alchemist in the mountains of Colombia. Writers and translators taught me that literature has no borders, no illegal immigrants, no outcasts. Fiction is my home, and I am honored to spend a few months in the world of fiction, working with friends and colleagues to celebrate our passion for language and storytelling. Layla Slimani said about the 2023 International Booker Prize.
The title of his famous work "Chanson douce" is taken from the nursery rhyme "une chanson douce". Late on the afternoon of October 25, 2012, Lucia Kerim and Leo Kerim were killed by caretakers, their bodies sinking in the bathtub of their apartment, while one of their sisters was taking swimming lessons accompanied by their mother. Inspired by this, Sliemani created this work. After winning the Goncourt Prize for Literature, the book sold more than 1 million copies in France, having previously sold more than 70,000 copies. Song of Tenderness is also popular in Morocco because its protagonist is someone from the West.
However, Slimani's early literary career was not smooth. When her first manuscript was rejected in 2013, the publisher, Jean-Marie Laclavetin, gave her a lot of guidance. In 2015, he won the Ramamunia Prize for Dans le jardin de l'ogre (The Garden of the Ogre). The La Mamouña Prize is sponsored by Hotel La Mamunía and rewards French-language Moroccan literature. Previous winners include authors such as Mahi Binebine and Mohamed Leftah. The Ramamuniya Prize was no longer awarded after 2015.
The protagonist of "Ogre Garden", Adele, is a male fanatic, or female pornographer, based on a series of scandals and stories unfolded by former IMF minister and former presidential candidate Dominique Strauss-Kahn around allegations of sexual assault in 2011. The novel is full of women's examination of their bodies and states, "Adele got out of bed and crossed her hands over her breasts. She lifted the sheet that covered the sleeping man, who curled up together, trying to keep it as warm as possible. His skin was smooth and fat, and looking at the nanny's room he had brought Adele, perhaps he was younger than he said. His legs are short and his hips are like women's. ”
The Le pays des autres trilogy focuses on Slimani's maternal grandmother, mother, and the lives of three generations of Liemani. Drawing on the traditions of Southern literature cemented by William Faulkner, Carson McCullers, and Mary Flannery O'Connor, she hoped to build her own "Alabama."
The first exposes the vulnerability and trauma of women at the end of colonization. Mathilde met Amine, a Moroccan Muslim corporal stationed in Alsace, she was captivated and decided to hit the road with him. When Mathilde returned to Amin's home in 1947 to live with Amin's mother, she suddenly realized that she was constantly reminded that she was "a foreigner, a woman, a wife, a man at the mercy of others." Mulhouse encouraged her to be a decent woman rather than a happy woman. "When she kisses their (the child's) cheeks, there is the power of love and there is also burning regret. She loved them more, and she gave up everything for them: happiness, passion, freedom. Sliemani wrote in the book.
In the end, Mathilde finally found his place. She learned Arabic for the first time in the kitchen of Muroz, Berber from local healers, and spoke the Alsatian dialect when she was sick. She named her daughter Aïcha in honor of Lalla Aïcha.
Sliemani is concerned with public affairs, especially women's issues and pan-Moroccan issues. She worked for Jeune Afrique, the most influential pan-African magazine, founded in 1960 and banned in Tunisia and Morocco.
Through the stories of more than a dozen Moroccan women, Sex and Lies explores Moroccan sexuality and the social conditions behind it. The sexually conservative atmosphere in Morocco is extremely serious. According to a survey by Tel Quel, 84% of Moroccans oppose sexual freedom, including 90% of women and 78% of men. The editor told her that Sex and Lies is most often about "shame." Shame is decent and deserved in the Arab world. Be favored at the border, and cross it with punishment. Zülfü Livaneli wrote in Bliss that throughout the Mediterranean, the concept of honor still exists between women's thighs. There are also legal issues.
The theme of sex is not uncommon in Moroccan literature, and writers such as Mohamed Choukri, Tahar Ben Jelloun, Mohammed Leftah, Abdellah Taia and others have expressed it. The subject of pornography is also not uncommon in West Asia and North Africa, with Joumana Haddad, Salwa Al Neimi, Kateb Yacine all covered.
Born on October 3, 1981 in Rabat, Morocco. As a child, accompanied by my maternal grandmother, I read modern epics from the USSR and France, such as Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Tolstoy, Maupassant, Zola. After graduating from Descartes in 1999, Sliemani studied at Sciences Po and ESCP. When he first arrived in Paris, Sliemani didn't adjust to it for weeks, not talking to anyone outside of class. Sliemani envied sexual freedom in Paris, but such stories and language are difficult to take place in Rabat, where there are no terraces, no wine, and no love without impurities.
Her favorite writers are Lyudmila Ulitskaya, Svetlana Alekseevich, Zadi Smith, Adichi, Sandro Veronesi, Michel Villebeck, Zerua Schalov. In 2018, Sliemani was invited to visit China.
North Island "Divergent Road"
A few days ago, Kitajima's long poem "Divergent Journey" and the poetry collection "Someone Must Rewrite Love: Kitajima Works" were published. North Island's poetry has been published in different editions over the years, dating back to the 1978 mimeograph Strange Beach. In addition to poetry, his classic works include a series of essay collections, such as "The Blue House", "The Midnight Gate", "The Rose of Time", "Green Lantern", etc.
The creation of "Divergent Journeys" spans the entire 2010s from 2009 to 2021. The writing of "Divergent Journey" was suspended due to a stroke in 2012 and has only been revived since 2015. The stroke had a great impact on the North Island, and he recorded in a long poem, "The judgment of the language barrier expert is right I am really willing to send pizza /.../ Matching the universe Painting makes me ecstatic Ink dots scattered and attached to the staggered flow Forests outside the boundaries of language Where misfortune depends on blessing I am free without a target Listen to the whispers of snowflakes Watch the mysterious river in the vortex of day and night".
Before it was assembled, "Divergent Road Travel" was published in "Today" four times, namely the 96th issue of the Spring 2012 issue, the 121st issue of the Spring 2019 issue, the 129th issue of the Spring 2021 issue, and the total Issue of 133 issues of the Spring 2022 issue. When first published, "Divergent Road Travel" appeared together with two selections of long poems, namely Ouyang Jianghe's "Phoenix" and Nishikawa's "Wanshou". "Divergent Road" is not Kitajima's only long poem, he also wrote the long poem "Daydream", which was published in People's Literature in 1986.
Kitajima left more ink to his friends. According to incomplete statistics, "Divergent Road" involves at least the following characters, Aiki, Pas, Darwish, Sontag, Li Tuo, Wan Zhi (Chen Maiping), Lao Mu (Liu Jianguo), Zhang Pengzhi, Paul Borum, Thomas Tronströmer, Balleton Brightenbach, Lv Min, Gu Cheng, Adonis, Yan Wenjing, Niu Han, Feng Yidai, Huang Rui, Allen, Schneider, Anda Zhuangyi, Shi Yongjun, Tanigawa Shuntaro, Margaris, Ouyang Jianghe, Shang Poultry, and Yes. For example, when it comes to Gu Cheng, Kitajima writes, "Berlin Spring Gu Cheng and his wife's house / Cooking in a high hat He talks about death / The joy of fish Plate Plate / Lead the way for me From the third floor to the bottom floor / Knock on the door of the Aiki couple / Word to word sit together Gu Cheng is / Space with winter gestures / Snowflakes close to the soul".
Beidao, formerly known as Zhao Zhenkai, was born in 1949. According to his father's diary, "In October 1949, we gave our son a nickname. With our first son, we were both busy. Meili made small clothes for her son and often bathed him; Since there is not enough breast milk, milk cakes are fed several times a day. I used to walk around the house with my arms, put him to sleep, and take pictures of him from various angles. The little family has this little baby, and everything comes to life. ”
According to incomplete statistics, North Island has taught at Durham University (unknown), University of Michigan (1994-1995), University of California, Davis (1994-1997), Beloit College (1999–2006, short-term), State University of New York at Stony Brook (2000), University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa (2005), University of Notre Dame (2005-2007, spring), Chinese University of Hong Kong (2007-present). Kitajima's responsibilities at Hong Kong Chinese University also involve organising the Hong Kong International Poetry Night.
Kitajima does not write poetry for the world or China, he writes poetry for a small group of friends, Kitajima mentioned in an interview. As he stated in Shanghai Literature, No. 5, 1981, "Poets should build a world of their own through their works." At the same time, Kitajima was also concerned with the social function of literature. In today's society, it is extremely difficult to restore the dignity of the Chinese language, Kitajima once told the HKTDC. On the one hand, this comes from Kitajima's view of literature, which states that language should be outside the system and the market. On the other hand, this comes from Kitajima's concern for noisy reality.
Among the Chinese poets since 1949, Kitajima is almost the most translated, and he has almost the most foreign language editions. In English, for example, almost all of his works are available in English, and new works are available in English within a few years of their release. Taking poetry and essay collections as an example, without considering the new reprint, the English version is much more numerous than the Chinese version. North Island's English translation was first published in an anthology in 1985.
Shehan Karunatiraka was awarded the 2022 Booker Prize
Shehan Karunatilataka won the 2022 Booker Prize for "The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida." Also shortlisted are Percival Everett, Elizabeth Strout, Claire Keegan, NoViolet Bulawayo and Alan Garner. The judges called Karunatiraka's novel "comical and daring narrative technique and expansive creative ambition."
Shehan Karunatiraka
The chaotic Sri Lankan civil war, Tamil rebel groups, the People's Liberation Front, the task force, Indian peacekeepers, etc. are entangled. "Don't try to find good people, because there are none." In it, Mali Almeida cautioned, "Although all speeches are contrary to this, the nudity of Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim, and Boer is indistinguishable. In the face of flames, everyone is equal. ”
Marley was the son of a Burr-Tamil mother and Sinhalese father, a war photographer, nonpartisan, gambler, homosexual, and self-described "slut." In the opening scene, Marley has taken silly pills and is already dead, and he has no idea how he died, he can only recall that night at the Leo Hotel where Pegasus Casino is located. During his lifetime, Marley was employed by different factions such as the government and separatists, and also formed many grudges. Marley took so many shocking photos that he now had to contact his friends within seven days (seven moons) to persuade them to retrieve them and disclose them to the public. The photos are like a legacy of a dark age. "The afterlife is a tax office, and everyone wants to eat kickbacks." Karunatiraka wrote.
Previously, Karunatiraka won the short-lived Commonwealth Literature Award and the DSC South Asian Literature Award for "Chinese" (Chinaman). The novel presents Sri Lanka's weaknesses and expectations since 1948 through the mouth of an aging sports writer.
Karunatiraka attended S. Thomas Preparatory School and Whanganui College. He has long worked for advertising agencies such as McCann and BBDO, and is still in advertising agencies. He started bands, and his favorite band was the police band. Writers who influenced Karunatiraka were William Goldman, Tom Robbins, Vonnegut, Rushdie, Ondaje, Christie, Stephen King, Neil Gaiman.