Aleksander Hemon, editor of the new annual series “Best European Fiction 2010,” talks about the democratic and aesthetic satisfactions of the inaugural volume, which collects stories from 30 countries across Europe.
Aleksander Hemon: Robert Frost said that poetry is what is lost in translation, Joseph Brodsky said that poetry is what is gained in translation. I would go with Brodsky.
By Vincent Czyz and Bill Marx
Getting the word out about first-rate new international fiction has been a challenging problem for publishers interested in broadening the horizons of American readers, who tend to be isolationists when it comes to contemporary fiction. Dalkey Archive Press has come up with an ingenious approach to the problem: this year it has inaugurated an annual series of books dedicated to a round-up of European short stories. The volume’s design reflects the look of the ever-expanding series of “Best American [fill in the blank and year]” books, a line-up that includes volumes dedicated to compendiums of the year’s best essays, short stories, travel writing, sports reporting, poetry etc.
The Trojan horse approach seems to be working — my local book store set up a prominent display of “Best American [fill in the blank] 2010″ tomes including, nestled right in the center, “Best European Fiction 2010.”
Of course it doesn’t hurt to have the acclaimed writer Aleksander Hemon as the book’s editor. Hemon was born in Sarajevo; he moved to the United States in 1992. He is the author of the novel “The Lazarus Project,” which was a finalist for the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Award and three collections of stories, “”Nowhere Man,” “The Question of Bruno,” and “Love and Obstacles.”
The World’s book critic Chris Merrill put “Best European Fiction 2010″ on his holiday reading list and World Books has posted a review of the book by writer Vincent Czyz. Vince and I sent a few questions about the promising series to Hemon. His replies are below.
World Books: There doesn’t seem much doubt that the short story has fallen in status and prestige. As you point out in your introduction to the volume, there was a time when every “decent newspaper or magazine” printed them. What signs do you see that the short story is alive and well? Is the form healthier in Europe or in America?
Aleksandar Hemon: Well, it is being written all around the world and it has the vitality of form, as it is more conducive to experimentation and play than the novel, if for no other reason then because it is shorter and, in some ways, easier to shape. I also think that the short story can easily be published on the web–many a blog posting is the size of a short story–so it is capable of surviving the death of print.
World Books: What are some basic differences, if any, between American and European short stories?
Hemon: It is hard to generalize, as there are many European sensibilities and traditions, but the European short story–and European literatures at large–are not afraid of intellectually engaging the reader, of making the reader work. They do not operate under the looming shadow of entertainment which has tainted so much of American literature. The fear among the American writers that the reader is going to flee to watch the movies or television or surf the web if some form of entertainment, some kind of emotional roller coasting, is not offered is downright epidemic.
World Books: What do you think the strengths of this collection are?
Hemon: The diversity of forms and ideas. I believe literature is an inherently democratic undertaking, and you can hear all kinds of voices in this collection.
World Books: Would you agree that narrative for the most part has fallen out of favor among European short story writers?
Hemon: No, I wouldn’t. I would say that many European writers do not take narrative for granted, nor “story” as a self-evident category. They question the way the story is told in an ever-changing world.
World Books: How would you answer the charge that stories such as Jon Fosse’s “Waves of Stone” is too disconnected from ordinary experience?
Hemon: So one could claim for the “Goldberg Variations,” or Cubist paintings, or John Ashbery’s poetry. Besides, who gets to decide what “ordinary experience” is? On the one hand, in the Nazi Germany, worshiping the Fuhrer, living with the sense of Aryan superiority and demeaning the Jews were ordinary experiences, and so they burned art that did not comply with their standards of acceptable ordinariness. “Ordinary experience” is not a self-evident category and it needs to be questioned and challenged, which is what literature can and must do. The word “ordinary” is directly related to the word “order,” therefore always appealing to those who would like to impose law and order on everything, including language and imagination.
Given that literature is inherently democratic, the reader can simply skip Jon Fosse’s piece and move on to a more ordinary experience.
World Books: There seems to be a devaluation of emotions in European short stories. This in turn seems tied to characters that aren’t given much psychological heft or even physical description. Would you agree with these observations? If so, how do European writers make up for it?
Hemon: There is a particular kind of intentional fallacy that is common among American readership: the belief that the final result of the writer’s intentions are the emotions produced in the reader and that, therefore, you can understand a work of literary art by analyzing your own emotions. I have to go against this in pretty much every class I teach. This approach makes the reader’s (volatile) emotions the measuring rod of art; entirely suspends other modes of reading (intellectual, philosophical, historical); favors the most conservative writing–formally and politically–and makes Oprah the reigning empress of American publishing. Soap-operaish qualities are demanded from literature, which can encompass so much human intelligence and imagination and history.
It is also condescending to the readers, who are treated as children who will throw a fit if they’re not given the treat of emotional satisfaction.
I don’t think that European writers–the tens of thousands of them– need to make up for anything. There is a vast range of approaches and sensibilities, only parts of which are visible in this particular anthology. We hope to make that range more visible over time, with each subsequent collection of European fiction we publish.
World Books: Who do you think are some of the European short story writers to watch?
Hemon: I’d rather watch literatures: I was particularly impressed with the Baltic representatives in the collection: the Finnish, Latvian, Lithuanian and Estonian pieces.
World Books: Are the writers in the anthology examples of authors who shape their fiction to address a global audience? Are there first class writers in Europe whose work resists adequate translation?
Hemon: Dan Brown (a cynical emotional manipulator) shapes his fiction to address a global audience. Great writers have integrity and sovereignty; they write what they write out of some kind of inner need, in pursuit of knowledge that is available only in literature. Rilke (whose work could also be accused of being removed from ordinary experience) believed that great art can only come out of necessity. I’m sure that there are writers in Europe who have yet to be translated or translated adequately–every great writer needs a great translator– but I do not believe that there is untranslatable literature. Robert Frost said that poetry is what is lost in translation, Joseph Brodsky said that poetry is what is gained in translation. I would go with Brodsky.
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