Fiction in Translation [1]
1.
In 1979, I began keeping a record of the books I read that I considered literature. During the first twenty years, 35 of these works were translations from another language.
The following ten years (1999-2008), there were 117. During the almost-fifteen years since then (2009-2023) the number's grown to 200.
Three possible reasons for this increase:
My growing maturity as a reader . . .
The waning of my unexamined belief that the U. S. of A. was the be-all
and end-all of life on Earth . . .
The burgeoning of available titles—thanks in large part to the work of many smaller/independent/niche presses. [See below].
2.
Ann Morgan
Ann Morgan spent 2012 reading a book from each of the world's 196 countries*.
Her website explains how the project worked, what she's done since, and includes a massive, updated, list of works, organized by country, many suggested by her readers.
https://ayearofreadingtheworld.com/
She's given several TED talks,including this one from 2018:
https://www.ted.com/talks/ann_morgan why_stories_matter
Highly recommended.
*At the website, she explains her criteria for deciding what constitutes a "country."
3.
Here are three more sites to help your dive into the rest of the world’s fiction:
Words Without Borders
https://wordswithoutborders.org/
Center for the Art of Translation https://www.catranslation.org/
Literary Hub https://bookmarks.reviews/category/literature-in-translation/
4.
Much of the work of connecting readers of English to writers from the greater world is being accomplished by independent presses. Here are some doing the heavy lifting, along with five titles from each. Three notes:
[i] Books I've yet to read are marked with an *.
[ii] Publication dates are for a work's first publication in its original language.
[iii] I've highlighted a favorite from each.
Charco Press // Edinburgh, Scotland, UK // https://charcopress.com
Specializes in fiction from South American (especially Argentina).
Two Sherpas, Sebastián Martinez Daniell (trans. Jennifer Croft), 2018 [Argentina]
The Older Brother, Daniel Mella (trans. by Megan McDowell), 2016 [Uruguay]
The Wind That Lays Waste, Selva Almada (trans. by Chris Andrews), 2012 [Argentina]
Slum Virgin, Gabriela Cabezón Cámara (trans. by Frances Riddle), 2009 [Argentina]
Elena Knows, Claudia Piñeiro (trans. by Frances Riddle), 2007 [Argentina]
An interview with Carolina Orloff Editor/Co-Director of Charco Press:
Charco books are typically slim, and have a graphic design that make them easily spottable on the shelf.
[Fiction in Translation [2] coming in a few days.]
Friends: I'm still doing battle with the formatting imps at Substack. Apologies for the misalignments, etc. I'm doing my part! Arrrrgh.