Paul > Books: ib-long-list-2023‎ (13)

Q: Is Saroja a Dalit?
A: Again, it is never explicitly mentioned, but the story itself and how she is perceived and treated point us in that direction.

Honford Star's mission is to publish exciting literature from East Asia, be it classic or contemporary. We believe there are many ground-breaking East Asian authors and books yet to be read by English-language readers, so we aim to make these works as accessible as possible. By working with talented translators and exciting local artists, we hope to see more bookshelves containing beautiful editions of East Asian literature.

And Other Stories publishes some of the best in contemporary writing, including many translations. We aim to push people’s reading limits and help them discover authors of adventurous and inspiring writing.

Charlotte Barslund translates Scandinavian novels and plays. Recent novels translated include the Arctic crime novels The Girl Without Skin and Cold Fear by Mads Peder Nordbo, Resin by Ane Riel, which was shortlisted for the 2019 Petrona Award, and A House in Norway by Vigdis Hjorth, which was longlisted for the 2019 International Dublin Literary Award. Her translation of Per Petterson’s I Curse The River of Time was shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. She has worked with writers such as: Samuel Bjork, Jo Nesbo, Karin Fossum, Thomas Enger, Jonas T. Bengtsson, Carsten Jensen, Lotte and Søren Hammer, Lone Theils, Steffen Jacobsen, Sissel-Jo Gazan, Jakob Melander, Jesper Stein, and Lene Kaaberbøl. She lives in the UK.

At it's best, the novel reminded me of Kundera at his most playful, with it’s philosophical but humorous musings on many topics, complete with sub-headings.

However, if the novel is flawed, it is by comparison to Kundera, or indeed Gospodinov's own model, the Minotaur's labyrinth. Kundera's novels were famously intricately constructed, nary a word out of place, and so to was the labyrinth containing the Minotaur, the work of the master Daedalus. In contrast, at times it feels as if, in the Physics of Sorrow, Gospodinov has simply included anything of relevance (and sometimes irrelevance) that occurs to him, and the novel also wavers between autobiographical fictions and literary philosophy (and typically strongest when the latter).

And now I will hazard a second assertion, which is more disputable perhaps, to the effect that on or about December 1910 human character changed.

Q: Something, or rather someone, else who has been consistently appearing throughout your books is Gaustine, both as a character and an alter ego. Could you tell me more about him and the process of inventing him?

A: He appeared first in my poetry—most of the recurrent features in my work do. I wanted to begin a poem with an epigraph that I did not want to sign myself, so I had to make up a character and came up with Gaustine, a troubadour from the thirteenth century. The epigraph was three lines, something like: “The troubadour was created by the woman, I can say it again, she invented the inventor.” After the book was published, I remember running into my ancient Greek literature professor—the best in his field—in front of the National Library and he told me, almost guiltily, “All afternoon I’ve been searching for this Gaustine in the library archives and there are no sources whatsoever about him.” Which was a very nice compliment. So Gaustine just went ahead and found his way, appearing in different forms.