Nobel literature chief: US writing too 'insular'

[Peder]

I'd rather read The Desert.

 

[Stewart]

What surprises me a bit in this thread is that only a few is actually commenting on the content of what was said about american literature - why not try to argue his case, or argue a real case that he is in the wrong, instead of just saying that it is another anti-american rant.

That might lead to something... maybe even something interesting...

I think one of the better reactions to Engdahl's comments appeared on the Literary Saloon, in which they discussed translations and world literature in America, newspaper coverage, and the ratio of translations to various languages.

 

[Sin]

Harold Augenbraum, executive director of the foundation which administers the National Book Awards, said he wanted to send Engdahl a reading list of U.S. literature.

Why he didn't? I would like to see that list.

 

[beer good]

Now I am asking, because I see this tendency, not only in the few american manuscripts I read, but also in European literature. Over here we have a tendency to uphold the new tradition of letting other European works influence what we are writing, and not notice much outside that. Just a few centuries ago I feel we were very good at letting other literary worlds be heard in our writings; especially south american and american, but also old Hinduistic and buddhistic styles or thoughts.

I'm not sure I agree completely with this; while there's definitely a lot of what you might call "insular" thinking it seems to me that there's a growing amount of contemporary European literature that's influenced by other viewpoints too - both thanks to immigration and, of course, the ever-present US and UK influence. But yeah, there does seem to be a certain lack of cross-breeding; most European readers happily read books in their own language or books translated from English, but you'll be hard-pressed to find more than a couple of translations of, say, contemporary Spanish fiction in Sweden. (Or Danish; I can't find a single translation of Madsen.)

Speaking of Engdahl, he actually made this comment in an interview:

Without the French influences, Swedish literature - and especially poetry - would still be a bit barbarian, domestic or... German.

 

[beer good]

I think one of the better reactions to Engdahl's comments appeared on the Literary Saloon, in which they discussed translations and world literature in America, newspaper coverage, and the ratio of translations to various languages.

I've read that now, and they make a good case. This comment from the same blog is interesting too:

It was disappointing yesterday to find so many (mainly English-language) reactions, in both newspapers and at weblogs, that wondered as, for example, Adam McDowell does in the National Post: "Jean-Marie who ?" (...) this collective reaction of general bafflement in the US (another of those obscure choices by those Swedes ...) underscores Engdahl's point rather emphatically.

 

[Peder]

That's definitely another one for the List: "Never heard of le Clezio."
And while I'm at it, also: "Wear T-shirts with slogans on them."

 

[ewomack]

Good stuff is being written in the USA, no doubt, but the culture doesn't really provide support for "literature," per se. What Europe does have over the US is a sense of literature as a part of society and culture (and this can get snobby). For example, some years ago a French newscast out of Paris dedicated more than half of their show to a deceased literary author (sorry, I don't remember the author's name). Instead of the usual news fare, they invited panelists and literary critics on to discuss this man's work. I remember being transfixed in the broadcasting studio (yes, I used to work in television) and thinking "this would NEVER happen in the US." And it doesn't. How many US authors are famous in today's sense of famous? Well, there's Grisham, Brown, Crichton, King, and those folks who the public at large will likely know from movies, not books. Phillip Roth and Joyce Carol Oates are known to the reading community, but they rarely appear in the mass mainstream media. In my various places of employment, I think I've met 2 or 3 people who had even heard of them. Writers are no longer public figures here unless their novels become films. Based on my travels, correspondence, and reading, Europe seems to have a greater appreciation of literature for literature's sake. But we can never forget that Europe also gave us ABBA. There's such balance in nature.

 

[jaynebosco]

I think that Americans in general are unaware of non-American authors, unless their books are somehow tied to movies or TV specials or whatever Oprah has picked, and even then they are largely popular novels. Even books that take place in somewhere else in the world are usually made into movies that take place in New York (the novel version of P.S. I Love You took place in Dublin, but the movie version took place in New York).

 

[Fantasy Moon]

I think that Americans in general are unaware of non-American authors, unless their books are somehow tied to movies or TV specials or whatever Oprah has picked, and even then they are largely popular novels. Even books that take place in somewhere else in the world are usually made into movies that take place in New York (the novel version of P.S. I Love You took place in Dublin, but the movie version took place in New York).

I must admit that I heard about P.S. I Love You when I understood that a movie was going to be released shortly thereafter. So while I wait for the movie I read the book. (This seems to happen a lot...)

 

[Blindsided]

I bet our books make more money than European books

 

[Peder]

And of course we could get insular enough to not even care what he says.
Don't know why I didn't think of that sooner.