What we read: Women in Translation month
Women in Translation month (#WITMonth) takes place in August of every year and started in 2014 as an initiative by U.S. book blogger Meytal Radzinski, who grew up in a bilingual household. When you consider that female, and female-identifying, authors are often relegated to the second shelf in their native language, it strongly suggests that there is also a barrier firmly in place when it comes to translating their work. At The FBC Paris, we technically treat every month as Women in Translation, accommodating an international community that speaks several languages outside of English and French.
Here are some WIT titles that I enjoyed reading this past August and wanted to share.
(Trigger warning: Rape. Incest)
Titles to pick up now
Little Eyes (Samanta Schweblin) tr. by Megan McDowell
In the Little Eyes universe, there’s a new gadget that everyone is obsessing over. The kentuki is “a cell phone with legs”, its camera and speaker contained within the body of a toy animal: rabbit or panda, crow or dragon, the buyer gets to decide. The kentuki requires a certain amount of maintenance: if an owner forgets to recharge the batteries or the kentuki’s dweller decides to disconnect then it’s game over and the connection is lost forever.
In Little Eyes, Samanta Schweblin introduces the reader to various kentuki dwellers and keepers from all corners of the globe, for whom the device takes on a different meaning. To a young boy grieving the loss of his mother in Antigua, the kentuki allows him to explore a new and foreign landscape (with snow); a divorced dad in Italy finds a welcome companion in his mole kentuki as he potters around his greenhouse; and an older mother in Peru finds the intimacy she craves from her son, who has moved to Hong Kong, from her kentuki owner Eve, who lives in Germany.
Scwheblin’s writing always includes a layer of tension, with the possibility of horror just around the corner. On the flip side of these innocent animal companions is the fact that kentuki owners have no control over who “dwells” in the gadget. So just who exactly are they inviting into the intimacy of their home?
Purchase from Penguin Random House here
Minor Detail (Adania Shibli) tr. by Elisabeth Jaquette
Minor Detail is a slim yet intense novel that highlights the present-day ramifications of historical violence, with an ending that makes clear the current day fear of existing under occupation. It’s written in two parts: the first begins in 1949 (one year after the Palestine war) when a young Palestinian woman is captured by Israeli soldiers before being repeatedly raped and finally, executed. The second part is set in the present day and follows a young, nameless woman living in Ramallah, who comes across a story that references the rape and sets out to find answers to this “minor detail” within history.
The crux of the novel deals with the omission of facts, which the author seems to underline by being deliberately sparse with her words. The anxiety experienced by the young woman as she seeks to reveal the truth is effectively conveyed by the author, as the reader slowly comes to understand the danger of the journey that she has bravely undertaken.
Purchase from Fitzcarraldo Editions here
Slum Virgin (Gabriela Cabezón Cámara) tr. by Frances Riddle
Slum Virgin transports us to Buenos Aires, where we meet the loveable Cleopatra, a trans (former) prostitute who claims to have been visited by the Virgin Mary. Through Cleo, Gabriel Cabezon Camara exposes the brutality of life in the Argentinian slums of El Poso. Buckle up for a whirlwind journey of corrupt cops, drug dealers, and prostitutes from an author who refuses to whitewash poverty.
Told from two perspectives - Cleo and Quity, her journalist lover who also happens to be writing Cleo’s life story - Slum Virgin is a particularly poetic translation of a stunning debut novel.
Purchase from Charco Press here
Apple & Knife (Intan Paramaditha) tr. by Stephen Epstein
Apple & Knife is a collection of short stories that updates traditional fairy tales, set in and around the author’s home of Indonesia while adding a feminist spin to the narrative. The result is a dark and gothic creation, which is simply too gruesome to read in one sitting.
Intan Paramaditha cleverly asks the reader to question how seemingly innocent fairy tales can play out in the present and puts a microscope on how women around the world are treated by a society that favors men. Whether in the boardroom or seated around the dinner table, women continually come up against countless issues that impact their emotional, mental, and physical well-being.
It isn’t all doom and gloom, however: while there are some spine-tingling metaphors that will leave you gasping for breath, these clever stories will also put a smile on your face with their sharp wit and serve as a reminder that men must be held accountable for their societal privileges.
Hurricane Season (Fernanda Melchor) tr. by Sophie Hughes
This gut-punching novel revolves around the Witch, the local weirdo whose corpse is found floating in a river in the Mexican village of La Matosa. The story is narrated by several neighborhood characters - there to potentially shed light on who the Witch was and how she ended up dead. Through a multi-person narrative, we learn that the Witch represented different things to the local inhabitants - for the men, the Witch hosted drug-fuelled orgies which locals frowned upon, while the women turned to her for antidotes to illness, pregnancy, or love potions. The Witch, in other words, took on the burdens that the people of La Matosa could not take on for themselves.
The narrators are chaotic and untrustworthy, living in extreme poverty, dealing with incest and drug addiction, and ultimately they don’t shed any light on the murder mystery at hand: to some, the Witch appears to be a trans woman, and to others, there may be more than one Witch. Gut-punching, violent, depraved, and powerful, the book is almost a character itself, with so much energy coursing through its pages. Sentences turn into paragraphs that go on for pages, making it hard to put the book down. Hurricane Season is a one-of-a-kind novel that is hard to fit within one genre. It will get under your skin and refuse to leave you in peace.
Purchase from Fitzcarraldo Editions here
Where The Wild Ladies Are (Matsuda Aoko) tr. by Polly Barton
Another short story collection told from a feminist perspective, which calls on folklore and the spiritual world for inspiration, this time the yokai (ghosts and monsters) of Japan. Where The Wild Ladies Are contains sixteen stories of modern-day Japanese women and men, who find themselves in an odd situation where an other-worldly presence swoops in and opens them up to new possibilities.
There are moments of silence in Aoko’s writing, such as Silently Burning, which focuses on the history of folklore instead of making an astute observation on modern-day life in Japan. Meanwhile, A Fox’s Life bridges bittersweet and uplifting through the story of a woman who doesn’t truly find freedom until the age of 50, when she picks up a new hobby of mountain climbing. This is generous, multi-layered story-telling at its finest.
Purchase from Tilted Axis Books here
Woman at Point Zero (Nawal El Saadawi) tr. by Sherif Hatata
Nawal El Saadawi is one of the most important contemporary feminist writers, as well as a trained physician and psychiatrist, who was born in Egypt in 1931 and is still active to this day. Woman at Point Zero was first published in 1975 before benefiting from a re-publication in 2015: a book that should have been part of the original feminist literary canon was instead left out in the cold for too many years.
Woman at Point Zero is a fictional account based on real-life events. The book’s protagonist, Firdaus, is awaiting execution from a Cairo prison. The story of how she got there is set within an Arab context but her journey resonates beyond cultural borders and generations. So often, we talk about the choices that women make from a purely feminist and empowering position: Woman at Point Zero beautifully yet heartbreakingly illustrates that quite often women, especially those who share a similar background to Firdaus, simply don’t have the luxury of choice. Therefore, a significant part of the feminist journey is about becoming fearless in the face of patriarchy.
One upcoming translated title to look out for
Earthlings (Sayaka Murata) (01/10/20) From the bestselling author of Convenience Store Woman
Natsuki lives an ordinary life, married to an asexual man and maintaining a socially acceptable façade of normality. Her family and friends put increasing pressure on her to get pregnant, causing Natsuki to retreat back into her childhood memories, specifically summers spent in the mountains with her cousin Yuu, playing around with spells and transformation mirrors. Adult Natsuki escapes her life of normality and heads back to the mountains, preparing to reunite with her cousin. But what will happen once she gets there? Will Yuu remember the promise they made all those years ago - and if so, will he honor it?