Tag: 04.25.05

Getting Foreign Lit A Place At The Table

It’s old news that literature in translation doesn’t sell too well in the English-speaking world, and even getting the stuff displayed can be difficult in a marketplace of megachains bent on squeezing every drop of profit out of the latest bestsellers. But a new promotional push by two indie publishing houses has signed up 80 independent booksellers who have agreed to prominently feature ten works in translation over the next month. The aim isn’t necessarily to make a killing, merely to get bookstores and readers in the habit of considering foreign books alongside the usual domestic choices.

Kani: Arts Demand Respect

South African playwright/actor John Kani says the arts need more respect. “What the Government underestimates is the role that the arts can play in building and healing a nation, and in giving young people in particular a holistic sense of what a human being can be. Australia, with a little more experience than us in this thing called ‘democracy’, hopefully treats the arts with a bit more respect.”

The Antiquities Game

“At first glance, the connection between those who loot antiquities and those who collect, trade, and preserve them seems the stuff of academic seminars and journals. Yet such is the allure of ancient treasures that, since the 1970s, this relationship has spawned global treaties, inflamed Third World nationalism, created a secretive Washington bureaucracy, and triggered federal prosecutions. To some, this international cooperation reflects the ability of the world’s nations to unite to protect an endangered world resource. To others, it demonstrates the hazards resulting when “feel-good” multinationalism collides not only with the sovereignty of the United States but with the basic human desire to surround oneself with objects of beauty.”

Hollywood’s German Connection

How to finance that $100 million Hollywood blockbuster movie? First you go to Germany. “The Hollywood studio starts by arranging on paper to sell the film’s copyright to a German company. Then, they immediately lease the movie back—with an option to repurchase it later. At this point, a German company appears to own the movie. The Germans then sign a “production service agreement” and a “distribution service agreement” with the studio that limits their responsibility to token—and temporary—ownership.”

The Literary No-Man’s Land

Even well-established writers with great reviews are having difficulty getting their books sold these days. “If you speak to publishers about the sales of literary fiction – I mean we’re in real trouble in this country. Sales are shocking these days, even compared to 10 years ago. And publishers are seriously cutting back.”

A Jazz Concert Recording That Adds History

A long-forgotten concert recording of a jazz concert provides some interesting historical insight. “The tapes come from a concert at Carnegie Hall on Nov. 29, 1957, a benefit for a community center. The concert was recorded by the Voice of America, the international broadcasting service, and the tapes also include sets by the Dizzy Gillespie Orchestra, Ray Charles with a backing sextet, the Zoot Sims Quartet with Chet Baker, and the Sonny Rollins Trio. But it is Monk with Coltrane that constitutes the real find. That band existed for only six months in 1957.”

The Rise Of Asian Cinema

The Asian film industry is coming into its own. “World culture is a growth industry, and national cinemas in Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong have become a significant part of the equation. The films of the region are part of an aesthetic continuum, although it is sometimes hard to tell the voice from the echo. Individually, they are rooted in national trends, myths and cultural interests that collectively form a pan-Asian consensus.”