In Translation: April Fiction and Poetry

April showers bring awesome translations…that’s how the expression goes, right? RIGHT. This month, keep an eye out for the following works from Italy, France, Korea, and Switzerland. And thanks to your input on my ongoing “In Translation” posts, I will now feature poetry along with literary fiction!


Behind the Station by Arno Camenisch, translated by Donal McLaughlin (Dalkey Archive Press, Series: Swiss Literature Series, 100 pages, April 14)

This is the second book in Camenisch’s Alp Trilogy and tells the story of a secluded village nestled in a valley. We see the inhabitants through the eyes of two young brothers, and thus learn about the drama of village life from a perspective of innocence and wonder. Winner of many prizes for poetry, prose, and drama, Camenisch is an exciting voice in world literature.

Random Recommendation Guest Post: The Earth Is Enough by Harry Middleton

This recommendation comes from Carl. Follow him on twitter @KoenigCalibos.

The Earth Is Enough: Growing Up in a World of Flyfishing, Trout & Old Men (1989) by Harry Middleton

"In this memoir of his boyhood on a farm in the Ozark foothills, Harry Middleton joins the front rank of nature writers alongside Edward Hoagland and Annie Dillard. It is the year 1965, a year rife with change in the world---and in the life of a boy whose tragic loss of innocence leads him to the healing landscape of the Ozarks. Haunted by indescribable longing, twelve-year-old Harry is turned over to two enigmatic guardians, men as old as the hills they farm and as elusive and beautiful as the trout they fish for---with religious devotion. Seeking strength and purpose from life, Harry learns from his uncle, grandfather, and their crazy Sioux neighbor, Elias Wonder, that the pulse of life beats from within the deep constancy of the earth, and from one’s devotion to it. Amidst the rhythm of an ancient cadence, Harry discovers his home: a farm, a mountain stream, and the eye of a trout rising."

Books to Look For (April): History

The Madman and the Assassin: The Strange Life of Boston Corbett, the Man Who Killed John Wilkes Booth by Scott Martelle (Chicago Review Press, 240 pages, April 1)

Martelle has given us the first full-length biography of this brave but troubled man who was part of the squadron that cornered Booth in a Virginia barn. An English immigrant dogged by poverty and mental illness, Corbett was also a proud Union soldier whose fame in helping kill Booth dissipated quickly once he moved West and his illness dragged him down. Promises to be a fascinating angle on the Lincoln assassination.



The Intimate Bond: How Animals Shaped Human History by Brian Fagan (Bloomsbury Press, 336 pages, April 14)

I think we all know how much influence animals (both wild and domestic) have over our lives. Here, Fagan explores our "intimate bond" through an analysis of six human-animal relationships, and discusses such topics as herding, donkeys and globalization, and horses and the fall of empires. (Maybe there's also something in here about why cats believe that they are our masters :-P )

From the TBR Shelf #41: Dragon Hunter by Charles Gallenkamp

Dragon Hunter: Roy Chapman Andrews and the Central Asiatic Expeditions (2001) by Charles Gallenkamp

When I was in second grade, I had a "boyfriend" who was totally into dinosaurs. He lived, breathed, ate, and dreamed dinosaurs. Me- I was into books and stuffed animals. I couldn't understand why anyone would want to spend time looking at lizard-like, freaky-looking creatures, like dinosaurs, all day long.

And then, about twenty years later, I saw part of a documentary about dinosaurs and fossil-hunting and something clicked. Some years before that, I had become interested in the history and politics of museums and their collections, and learning about the acquisition of dinosaur bones and eggs by natural history museums suddenly seemed fascinating.