the kind of paragraph (and essay) one would write if one's only source of knowledge about books & readers was twitter dot com, and if one's entire literary ambition was to go viral-ish for 0.5-2.5 days on twitter dot com - ThreadSky

ajbwells.bsky.social • 1 day ago

the kind of paragraph (and essay) one would write if one's only source of knowledge about books & readers was twitter dot com, and if one's entire literary ambition was to go viral-ish for 0.5-2.5 days on twitter dot com

Reposted from Sam Byers

Please for the love of god can we just not.

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beritmiriam.bsky.social•1 day ago

I liked this thought about the genrefication of translated literature. It reminded me of our conversation about the success of German novels in English-speaking countries, and I feel like the essay touches on that but doesn’t develop it.

ajbwells.bsky.social•1 day ago

The genreification is so interesting though! Someone should write an actually good article about it!! Is it also the case with German readers, do you find, that certain big-hard-translated-books become fetish objects?

ajbwells.bsky.social•1 day ago

I agree that it's an interesting start for a conversation—but the analysis is dreadful. It very strangely forces into one coherent canon (liked by one "type of guy") a vast array of very different books, arbitrarily excluding others; he also doesn't cite a single one of the critics he opposes!!

beritmiriam.bsky.social•1 day ago

This fits the impression I got, that it is a very long nonmention. But I do feel that there is one point worth to elaborate on: These translations into english of – often men, e.g. that list – can allocate cultural capital to writers, that leads to real financial rewards in their homecountries.

beritmiriam.bsky.social•1 day ago

And while the list is too diverse to make sense, there still seems to be a vague canon for english speaking people with an interest in translated lit –think Sebald, Sorokin and Bernhard – that has shaped the US/UK/AUS impressions of foreign literatur above proportion.

coryoldweiler.bsky.social•1 day ago

Thank you. I read this last night and felt like I was losing my mind. I certainly don’t pretend to be some sort of great critic, but was so baffled by whatever was going on here that I briefly considered quitting entirely.

ajbwells.bsky.social•1 day ago

you're more 'great critic' and less 'pretend' I reckon ... hey I loved your Platzová piece last year by the way!! the Oyeyemi too

coryoldweiler.bsky.social•1 day ago

That is incredibly kind. Thank you. (Also wish you were an assigning editor!)

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