I just received a copy of Zoran Živković's omnibus, Novels, sent to me by the author himself. The book is seen here contemplating its place among several other august titles. Although I have already thanked him in private, this gift was a very generous one to me, especially considering how many excellent fictions are contained here. Perhaps in the future this omnibus (which is in English translation) will be published in some form in the US and/or UK markets; this is the Serbian release. Živković is one of the few authors I place pre-orders on, regardless of price, and hopefully there will be readers here who will be curious and look into buying some of his fiction, which is available in the UK from PS Publishing and in the US from Aio, Dalkey Archive, Prime Books, Night Shade Books, Wildside Press (his "The Library" serves as a bridge for the outstanding Leviathan 3 anthology), and Northwestern University Press. I usually don't list publishing information, so take this exception as a hint that his stories are available from a variety of sources and that they are well worth whatever amount of money you spend on them. How's that for high praise?
Edit: Received the second half of the shipment (strange that they didn't arrive together, since they were mailed at the same time). Here are five lovely Japanese editions (but in English translation) of several of Živković's "story suites", or sets of interconnected short stories. These are uniformly excelent and they probably fit in nicely with the books in the background.
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12 comments:
A heartly endorse this post, all disbelievers shall be fed to the squirrels.
Wait... how is there an English translation if it hasn't been released in the UK or US? Who published the English translation then?
(Oh, and different Paul from the one above, just for clarity's sake. :P )
Yes, I agree that the streets will flow with the blood of the unbelievers and that the squirrels shall FEAST!
And as for editions, Živković's English translations are first published in Serbia and then months or years later in the UK or US. This has been the case for several of his more recent works. Same translator for all editions, though.
That's very strange. Surely there isn't enough of a market for an English translation in Serbia alone? Or do they just get one English translation and release it in various other-language countries instead of getting separate translations for each of those countries?
This may not be what the focus of your post was supposed to be about, but I find it a fascinating phenomenon - do you know of any other cases like that?
Zoran often pays to have these initial translations done. But they're not just sold in Serbia--they're sold in other surrounding countries where the most common shared language among some readers is English. So that would answer your question. But they also, at least in the past, served as calling cards to UK and US publishers.
This is how I was able to read his Fourth Circle in English and then acquire it for Ministry of Whimsy--we did the first US edition of any of his work.
JeffV
And in this case, if it's an omnibus, it's all previously published material?
JV
Jeff, thanks for the information. I thought that was the case, but I didn't want to state it directly in case I was mistaken.
Yes, it's all previous published material, at least for the English-language stories, with the exception of The Ghostwriter, which was only published in Serbian in 2009 and this particular book. I believe it won't be available in the UK or US until later this year or next.
I better change identity format or this will become confusing.
I really love the PS books, you can get the majority of his short work just in Impossible Stories I and II alone. I ordered The Writer, The Book, The Reader earlier today (along with Literary Remains, Black Wings, and Harsh Oases) and now I have all the PS Zivkovik books, so I am a happy person. :)
Indeed. I love those PS editions. Also have four of his books (The Fourth Circle, The Ghostwriter, Amarkord, and Escher's Loops) in Serbian-language editions.
I love the Aio designs for his books...but I haven't heard anything new from them in a long time, and their website has been static. Any idea if Aio will still be publishing more of his work? (I enjoy his work regardless of the book design, but Aio's editions were a definite bonus.)
So far, there's only one book translated to portugueses, but i own Aio and PS Publishing editions, and Escher's Loops will definitely be one my future acquisitions :D
Book Envy Alert! Book Envy Alert!
Such pretties. Such precious pretties. Good haul. :D
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