Best of 2007 Translations

As anyone reading this blog even on a casual basis can figure out, I’m a big fan of year end lists. (Actually of lists in general. And lists of lists. But whatever, that’s a personal problem.)

What I’d personally really like to see though is a “best of literature in translation 2007” list. And instead of just lamenting the fact that nothing like this exists, I figured we could use this forum to try and create one.

We don’t want to come up with a list on our own, or do anything too formal, but we thought it would be interesting to gather together all recommendations of great works in translation published during 2007 and post a top 20-25 list later this month. If there’s actually some interest, we could set up some sort of voting for the top 5 books. . . .

The only restrictions I’d like to impose are that 1) the work nominated is in translation, 2) that it was published in 2007, and 3) that it’s not a retranslation. (So no War and Peace, and unfortunately, no Growth of the Soil.)

Scott Esposito recently posted about the NBCC “Best Recommended” project stating that he had voted for Montano’s Malady by Enrique Vila-Matas, but that it unfortunately didn’t make the long-list. I personally love this book, so to start this project off, I’ll list it first among this small group of 2007 translations that I read over the past year:

• Enrique Vila-Matas, Montano’s Malady (New Directions)
• Roberto Bolano, The Savage Detectives (FSG)
• Roberto Bolano, Amulet (New Directions)
• Julio Cortazar, Autonauts of the Cosmoroute (Archipelago)
• Georges Simenon, The Engagement (NYRB)
• Cesar Aira, How I Became a Nun (New Directions)

One of the downsides of being in publishing is that you generally don’t have time to read books that you’re not working on, thinking of publishing, etc. So I haven’t had a chance to get to Daniil Kharms’s Today I Wrote Nothing, Robert Walser’s The Assistant, or Eca de Queiros’s The Maias, all of which I could see on such a list . . .

What books would you like to recommend or add to this list? Please insert them in the comments below, or email me at chad.post at rochester dot edu. I’ll post an updated list sometime next week.

CORRECTION: I wasn’t following my own rules . . . The Engagement is a retranslation, as is The Maias, so both can be eliminated from the list above. (Thanks Michael for pointing this out.)