literature in translation
FICTION
Join our host Adam for In Translation, a book club dedicated to exploring the richness of translated world literature with a focus on contemporary international publishing and recently translated work. This book club will attempt to explore as many parts of the world as we can, always attempting to find work translated from as many world languages as possible. We'll focus mostly on fiction, but who knows, maybe we'll veer off into other genres and forms. We’ll meet every month!
You can find some of Adam’s staff picks here.
In Translation will be meeting on Thursday, September 18th, at 7pm; we will be reading LIES AND SORCERY by Elsa Morante, translated from Italian by Jenny McPhee.
About the book:
An Italian master's magnum opus about three generations of women, now in the first-ever unabridged English translation.
Winner of the 2024 Society of Authors John Florio Prize for for the best translation from Italian and the 2024 American Literary Translator Association's Italian Prose in Translation Prize
Elsa Morante is one of the titans of twentieth-century literature--Natalia Ginzburg said she was the writer of her own generation that she most admired--and yet her work remains little known in the United States. Written during World War II, Morante's celebrated first novel, Lies and Sorcery, is in the grand tradition of Stendhal, Tolstoy, and Proust, spanning the lives of three generations of wildly eccentric women.
The story is set in Sicily and told by Elisa, orphaned young and raised by a "fallen woman." For years Elisa has lived in an imaginary world of her own; now, however, her guardian has died, and the young woman feels that she must abandon her fantasy life to confront the truth of her family's tortured and dramatic history. Elisa is a seductive, if less than reliable, spinner of stories, and the reader is drawn into a tale of secrets, intrigue, and treachery, which, as it proceeds, is increasingly revealed to be an exploration of a legacy of political and social injustice. Throughout, Morante's elegant writing--and her drive to get at the heart of her characters' complex relationships and all-too self-destructive behavior--holds us spellbound.
In Translation will be meeting on Thursday, October 23rd, at 7pm; we will be reading THE BOOK OF LAMENTATIONS by Rosario Castellanos, translated from Spanish by Ester Allen.
About the book:
Set in the highlands of the Mexican state of Chiapas, The Book of Lamentations tells of a fictionalized Mayan uprising that resembles many of the rebellions that have taken place since the indigenous people of the area were first conquered by European invaders five hundred years ago. With the panoramic sweep of a Diego Rivera mural, the novel weaves together dozens of plot lines, perspectives, and characters. Blending a wealth of historical information and local detail with a profound understanding of the complex relationship between victim and tormentor, Castellanos captures the ambiguities that underlie all struggles for power.
A masterpiece of contemporary Latin American fiction from Mexico's greatest twentieth-century woman writer, The Book of Lamentations was translated with an afterword by Ester Allen and introduction by Alma Guillermoprieto.
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