Year in Review: Books

The book world in 2010 was characterized by a resurgence of interest in the Beat Generation, a growing interest in translations and of course the emergence of electronic readers, a technology that promises to have a significant effect on the publishing industry in the coming years.  

The most hyped American novel of the year was Jonathan Franzen's Freedom. Some critics claimed the book's arrival heralded a fresh start for the novel, a genre that long seems to have been on the brink of extinction. Others felt the rabid support the book received was a sign of just how desperate for greatness the literary world has become.

Several Beat Generation biographies, films and even graphic novels were published this year, to varying degrees of fanfare. The most legitimate of these efforts is Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg: The Letters, a collection of 182 correspondences between the two friends, spanning 1944 to 1963. Considering that a number of these letters had previously been published, the collection does not contain many wild revelations. But David Stanford and Bill Morgan did an admirable job cataloging and editing their material, and have produced a volume unparalleled in scope yet retaining a sharp focus on the contentious, indefatigable friendship between these two iconic writers. The book is perfect for fans of the Beat Generation, especially those who have read the most popular works by the two writers.

In July, Amazon announced that it had sold more e-books than hardcover books for the first nine months of the year, which the bookseller promoted as a harbinger of change in the publishing industry. The significance of this trend is the subject of ongoing debate.

Czech literature had quite an eventful year, with several notable English-language translations of Czech novels published. Alex Zucker's translation of Petr Ouředník's Case Closed, part murder mystery and part linguistic game, was published by Dalkey Archive. Language is tested, explored and taunted throughout the novella, both in the characters' lackadaisical and often pointless conversations, and in direct commentary from the narrator. At the same time, Ouředník takes potshots at the Czech national character, the country's (lack of) progress since the fall of communism and its current place in the European Union.

In October, Zucker was awarded the Translation Prize for his translation of Petra Hůlová's All of This Belongs to Me, published last year.

Czech novelist Jáchym Topol's fourth novel, Kloktat dehet, was published as Gargling With Tar in David Short's English translation by Portobello Books. Narrated by an adolescent growing up in an orphanage run by nuns, Gargling With Tar is both a twisted, half-completed bildungsroman and a searing, satirical reappraisal of the events of 1968.

Topol has clearly emerged as one of the leading voices of post-'89 Czech literature, and he has done so in part by appropriating crucial episodes of 20th-century history and reworking them to fit his own imaginative ends. In recognition of that fact, in October Topol was awarded the prestigious Jaroslav Seifert Prize for his fifth novel, Chladnou zemí, which has not yet been translated into English.

It was indeed a charmed year for translations, and not only from Czech. Translator Lydia Davis published her translation of Flaubert's classic novel Madame Bovary to general acclaim. Davis has earned a reputation for re-examining previously translated masterpieces of French literature, such as Marcel Proust's Swann's Way, and offering vital new versions of the books in English. Flaubert is widely considered the father of the modern approach to novelistic style, and the pressure he put on his prose makes his work the fire in which master translators feel compelled to test their mettle.

The first English publication by Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke in quite some time, The Inner Sky is a collection of poems, journal entries, fragments and other marginalia. Translated for the first time into English by Damion Searls, it's a fascinating book and a welcome addition to the Anglophone Rilke oeuvre, though it lacks the polished power of Rilke's more crafted publications. Searls has contributed thrilling new translations of this most familiar poet that show Rilke's thought in its rawest form.

Fitting a year's worth of books in a single column is no easy task, and this list barely scratches the dust jacket, so to speak. Even with the proliferation of electronic readers, the book publishing industry seems to be going strong, at least for now. Here's to hoping the trend continues in the new year. 

Stephan Delbos can be reached at
sdelbos@praguepost.com