Writers attack 'overrated' Anglo-American literature at Jaipur festival

Xiaolu Guo warns that English-language mainstream has warped a broader 'reading habit', on panel with Jhumpa Lahiri and Jonathan FranzenAmerican literature is "massively overrated", the award-winning author and film-maker Xiaolu Guo told the Jaipur literature festival – and fellow panellist and US novelist Jonathan Franzen – this weekend.A session on the global novel in Jaipur on Saturday saw the Chinese/British writer Guo, one of Granta's best of young British novelists who has also been shortlisted for the Orange prize, attack the way "our reading habit has totally been transformed by the mainstream"."Our reading habit has been stolen and changed" said Guo. "For example I think Asian literature is much less narrative … but our reading habit is more Anglo-Saxon, more American … Nowadays all this narrative [literature is] very similar, it's so realism, so story-telling driven … so all the poetry, all the alternative things, have been pushed away by mainstream society.""I love your work, Jonathan," she told Franzen, "but in a way you are smeared by English American literature … I think certain American literature is overrated, massively overrated, and I really hate to read them," she said.The Pulitzer-winning Indian/American Jhumpa Lahiri also laid into America's literary culture, saying that it was "shameful the lack of translation, the lack of energy put into translation in the American market". "It is embarrassing, to me, and I think just getting out of America for a... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2014-01-20 00:00:00 UTC ]

Other news stories related to: "Writers attack 'overrated' Anglo-American literature at Jaipur festival"


A Small Press Book We Love: Point Zero by Seichō Matsumoto

Small presses have had a rough year, but as the literary world continues to conglomerate, we at Literary Hub think they’re more important than ever. Which is why, every (work) day in March—which just so happens to be National Small Press Month—a Lit Hub staff member will be recommending a small... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2025-03-28 13:15:15 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A Small Press Book We Love: The Fisherman by John Langan

Small presses have had a rough year, but as the literary world continues to conglomerate, we at Literary Hub think they’re more important than ever. Which is why, every (work) day in March—which just so happens to be National Small Press Month—a Lit Hub staff member will be recommending a small... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2025-03-27 13:15:11 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A Small Press Book We Love: Minor Detail by Adaina Shibli

Small presses have had a rough year, but as the literary world continues to conglomerate, we at Literary Hub think they’re more important than ever. Which is why, every (work) day in March—which just so happens to be National Small Press Month—a Lit Hub staff member will be recommending a small... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2025-03-26 13:15:47 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A Small Press Book We Love: Provisionally Yours by Antanas Sileika

Small presses have had a rough year, but as the literary world continues to conglomerate, we at Literary Hub think they’re more important than ever. Which is why, every (work) day in March—which just so happens to be National Small Press Month—a Lit Hub staff member will be recommending a small... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2025-03-25 13:15:31 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A Small Press Book We Love: Little Blue Encyclopedia (For Vivian) by Hazel Jane Plante

Small presses have had a rough year, but as the literary world continues to conglomerate, we at Literary Hub think they’re more important than ever. Which is why, every (work) day in March—which just so happens to be National Small Press Month—a Lit Hub staff member will be recommending a small... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2025-03-24 13:15:01 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A Small Press Book We Love: Loved and Missed by Susie Boyt

Small presses have had a rough year, but as the literary world continues to conglomerate, we at Literary Hub think they’re more important than ever. Which is why, every (work) day in March—which just so happens to be National Small Press Month—a Lit Hub staff member will be recommending a small... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2025-03-21 13:15:06 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A Small Press Book We Love: Duplex by Kathryn Davis

Small presses have had a rough year, but as the literary world continues to conglomerate, we at Literary Hub think they’re more important than ever. Which is why, every (work) day in March—which just so happens to be National Small Press Month—a Lit Hub staff member will be recommending a small... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2025-03-20 13:15:38 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A Small Press Book We Love: Let Me Clear My Throat by Elena Passarello

Small presses have had a rough year, but as the literary world continues to conglomerate, we at Literary Hub think they’re more important than ever. Which is why, every (work) day in March—which just so happens to be National Small Press Month—a Lit Hub staff member will be recommending a small... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2025-03-19 13:15:06 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A Small Press Book We Love: Children of the Ghetto by Elias Khoury

Small presses have had a rough year, but as the literary world continues to conglomerate, we at Literary Hub think they’re more important than ever. Which is why, every (work) day in March—which just so happens to be National Small Press Month—a Lit Hub staff member will be recommending a small... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2025-03-18 13:15:56 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A Small Press Book We Love: Margaret the First by Danielle Dutton

Small presses have had a rough year, but as the literary world continues to conglomerate, we at Literary Hub think they’re more important than ever. Which is why, every (work) day in March—which just so happens to be National Small Press Month—a Lit Hub staff member will be recommending a small... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2025-03-17 14:45:39 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A Small Press Book We Love: Naples 1349 by Amedeo Feniello

Small presses have had a rough year, but as the literary world continues to conglomerate, we at Literary Hub think they’re more important than ever. Which is why, every (work) day in March—which just so happens to be National Small Press Month—a Lit Hub staff member will be recommending a small... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2025-03-14 13:30:40 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A Small Press Book We Love: Pipe Dreams on Pico by Brent L. Smith

Small presses have had a rough year, but as the literary world continues to conglomerate, we at Literary Hub think they’re more important than ever. Which is why, every (work) day in March—which just so happens to be National Small Press Month—a Lit Hub staff member will be recommending a small... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2025-03-13 13:30:12 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A Small Press Book We Love: The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante

Small presses have had a rough year, but as the literary world continues to conglomerate, we at Literary Hub think they’re more important than ever. Which is why, every (work) day in March—which just so happens to be National Small Press Month—a Lit Hub staff member will be recommending a small... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2025-03-12 13:30:55 UTC ]
More news stories like this


For its tenth birthday(!), A Little Life is getting a makeover.

Ten years ago this month, Hanya Yanagihara threw a wrench in the literary world with the publication of her Dickensian doorstop, A Little Life. Featuring four queer men growing up and together in New York high society—and also, many grim depictions of child abuse and ultra-violence—the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2025-03-12 13:13:49 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A Small Press Book We Love: That We May Live: Speculative Chinese Fiction

Small presses have had a rough year, but as the literary world continues to conglomerate, we at Literary Hub think they’re more important than ever. Which is why, every (work) day in March—which just so happens to be National Small Press Month—a Lit Hub staff member will be recommending a small... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2025-03-11 13:30:22 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A Small Press Book We Love: Wings in Time by Callie Garnett

Small presses have had a rough year, but as the literary world continues to conglomerate, we at Literary Hub think they’re more important than ever. Which is why, every (work) day in March—which just so happens to be National Small Press Month—a Lit Hub staff member will be recommending a small... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2025-03-10 13:30:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A Small Press Book We Love: The Bear by Andrew Krivak

Small presses have had a rough year, but as the literary world continues to conglomerate, we at Literary Hub think they’re more important than ever. Which is why, every (work) day in March—which just so happens to be National Small Press Month—a Lit Hub staff member will be recommending a small... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2025-03-06 14:28:36 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A Small Press Book We Love: The President’s Room by Ricardo Romero

Small presses have had a rough year, but as the literary world continues to conglomerate, we at Literary Hub think they’re more important than ever. Which is why, every (work) day in March—which just so happens to be National Small Press Month—a Lit Hub staff member will be recommending a small... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2025-03-05 14:30:44 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A Small Press Book We Love: Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Small presses have had a rough year, but as the literary world continues to conglomerate, we at Literary Hub think they’re more important than ever. Which is why, every (work) day in March—which just so happens to be National Small Press Month—a Lit Hub staff member will be recommending a small... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2025-03-04 14:30:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A Small Press Book We Love: Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Small presses have had a rough year, but as the literary world continues to conglomerate, we at Literary Hub think they’re more important than ever. Which is why, every (work) day in March—which just so happens to be National Small Press Month—a Lit Hub staff member will be recommending a small... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2025-03-04 14:17:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this