Happy Friday, Asymptote pals! In the Internet, especially in the Translation Deep-Web we at Asymptote wander in, clickbait articles about “untranslate-able words” are so common we hardly register them any more. But articles about untranslate-able words that don’t exist yet—that’s another thing entirely. Why doesn’t “Schadenfreude” have an antonym?
You probably noted that this past week marked Bloomsday, a holiday for the literati invented by Irish writer James Joyce—who inspires fear and awe in most English-language readers. Not the case in China, apparently, where Finnegans Wake is a bestseller and several Joycean works, including the ominous Ulysses, have been adapted to the stage. In other unlikely artsy feel-good stories: you’ve probably never heard of Annecy, France (unless you went there for study-abroad like a certain roundup contributor). Here’s how a little picaresque French town became central in the international film circuit. But France isn’t the only country with an on-the-ball film scene: here’s why Chilewood should be on your radar.
Really, all of Chile should be on your radar, it seems:critic James Wood would argue that Chilean writer Alejandro Zambra, examined here in the New Yorker, might just be Latin America’s “new literary star.” Fun fact: Zambra is translated by former Asymptote-r herself, Megan McDowell (yay, Megan!).
Ben Lerner, American poet and author of last year’s lit-hit 10:04, on poetry and the shortest poem he had to memorize. Lerner is famously candid, but not all writers are: at the New Statesman, a forum for those to say what they otherwise wouldn’t (do we really need to hear it?). The Statesman has two-for-one this week, it seems: check out British novelists Kazuo Ishiguro and Neil Gaiman talk literary genre.
Finally, two Berlin-based things our readers should know about: check out Suture, a book launch and exhibition set up by English-language Broken Dimanche Press in Neukölln. And, regardless of home base, if you’re a writer yourself, be sure to submit your (English-language, unless otherwise translated) things to SAND, Berlin’s English literary journal—submissions for poetry, prose, and visual art are open until July 15, and there’s a special flash (non)fiction contest you should keep your eyes peeled for!
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