The best recent translated fiction – review roundup

The Propagandist by Cécile Desprairies; Lovers of Franz K by Burhan Sönmez; Back in the Day by Oliver Lovrenski; Waist Deep by Linea Maja ErnstThe Propagandist by Cécile Desprairies, translated by Natasha Lehrer (Swift, £14.99) This clever and vivid book by a historian of Vichy France falls somewhere between autobiographical novel and fictionalised memoir. It opens as a colourful story based on the author’s family: her grandmother’s morphine addiction, her aunt Zizi’s vanity (she “boasted that all she kept in her refrigerator were beauty products”), and her mother’s reluctance to talk about the past. But what were grandmother and Zizi doing in the pages of Nazi propaganda magazine Signal? The narrator learns her family were “Nazi sympathisers”, though the phrase hardly captures the zeal of her mother Lucie’s support. The details are shocking: to Lucie and her lover, “mice, rats and Jews were basically the same”, and she has no regrets after the war. “If all the French had been on the right side, Germany would have won.” Their blinkered support has lessons for today, too. “What does it matter if something is true or false,” asks one character, “if you believe it to be true?”Lovers of Franz K by Burhan Sönmez, translated by Sami Hêzil (Open Borders, £12.99) Nazi-supporting parents feature in this novel too, set in West Berlin in 1968, the year of revolutionary protests around the world. A young man of Turkish descent faces off against a police commissioner. Ferdy Kaplan is under investigation for killing a student – but his intended target was Max Brod, the executor of Franz Kafka’s estate who published Kafka’s work against his wishes. Police suspect Ferdy had an antisemitic motive against the Jewish Brod, “influenced by [his parents’] ideas”. There’s a Kafkaesque quality to the interrogation – “It is our job to assume the opposite of what you tell us,” the police say – but Kurdish author Sönmez is really interested in the question of who owns literature. Was Brod right to publish? Would Kafka be unknown if he hadn’t? The dialogue-led approach makes the book punchy and fast-moving, and brings some surprising twists before the end. Continue reading...

Comments

Culture

Mormon Wives’ Jessi Ngatikaura breaks silence on Demi rift and split rumours after explosive finale

Evening Standard

Comments

Culture

Mormon Wives’ Jessi Ngatikaura breaks silence on Demi rift and split rumours after explosive finale

Trump orders federal government to help bulk up U.S. drone industry

Flights at Reagan National to be stopped for Army parade, fireworks show

New video shows DoorDash driver pulling up next to plane at Chicago O'Hare

Adam Sandler offers Derrick Henry a movie cameo if he rushed for 2,000 years this season

U.K. judge warns of risk to justice after lawyers cited fake AI-generated cases in court

X for the win? Users were glued to the Elon Musk v. President Trump blowup

Medaina Festival transforms Petra into a new frontier for electronic music

Bill Maher compares Musk-Trump feud to Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni legal drama

New Doctor Who rumours have fans worried show is ‘out of ideas’

James Whale makes heartbreaking admission in terminal cancer update

JoJo Siwa offers glimpse inside romantic cottage staycation with Chris Hughes

Dawn French apologises for 'mocking tone' in video about Israel-Hamas conflict

'Wait Wait' for June 7. 2025: With Not My Job guest Jeff Gordon

Why Do Broadway Actors Love to Work Summers at The Muny in St. Louis?

Massive Attack at LIDO Festival: 'a moment of unity and a call to action'

Divisive horror movie full of ‘grotesque monsters’ now streaming on BBC iPlayer

Can an American pope apply U.S.-style fundraising to fix Vatican finances?

Brothers bring boxing back to Fenway after 70 years and hope to revitalize the sport in Boston

David Attenborough's 'Ocean' is a brutal, beautiful wakeup call from the sea

How Hollywood took over Broadway and obliterated box office records

Sarah Jessica Parker was ‘shocked’ by backlash against And Just Like That’s Che Diaz

Dawn French issues apology following backlash to Gaza video

‘Exquisite’ Amazon Prime show cancelled after one series despite 85% Rotten Tomatoes score

Dawn French says sorry for posting 'one-sided' Gaza video

Robbie Williams at the Emirates Stadium review: 'a grand scale This Is Your Life'

Wayne Lewis death: Atlantic Starr singer dies, aged 68

Con Mum true story – how chef Graham Hornigold was scammed by dying ‘mother’

Robbie in London was over the top, bizarre yet also sincere – only he can do that

Sam Fender at the London Stadium: Geordie Springsteen bosses biggest eve gig

Stephen King puts the Trump and Musk feud into perspective with one scathing question

‘Doctor Who’s finale infuriated fans – but the next series will fix everything’

Alan Yentob’s final interview set to air on BBC

Sarah Jessica Parker makes candid comment about awkward And Just Like That scene: ‘None of this is my idea’

Amazon cancels show from Gilmore Girls creator after just one season

I haven’t fallen over on stage yet but if I do I’ll joke about it, says Justin Currie

'My grandmother grew up brushing her teeth with radioactive toothpaste'

Clarkson Farm fans delighted after star shares ‘great’ health news

'They have perfect dark skin': The African nation home to fashion's favourite models

Cosey Fanni Tutti's journey through art, porn and music

A baklava crawl in the Turkish city that's obsessed with the pastry

4 takeaways from Erin Patterson's testimony at her toxic mushroom triple murder trial

'Doctor Who' is about possibility. Ncuti Gatwa's role embodied that

00s pop icons surprise shoppers with free car park gig

I thought Robbie Williams was overhyped but he can still kick it

Iran’s Daughters of the Sea

Warped Ways of Seeing “P.O.V.”

Why Do Doctors Write?

Ryan Coogler confirms Denzel Washington will star in Black Panther 3

Bake Off legend claims she’s been dropped by the BBC after 10 years on TV

WorldPride caps off its first D.C. celebration with a weekend parade

Book Review: ‘John Hancock,’ by Willard Sterne Randall

The Director of ‘Mission Impossible: Final Reckoning’ Unpacks Key Franchise Moments

What to Expect at the 2025 Tony Awards: ‘Hamilton,’ Robots and More

Thrilling Fantasy Books That Reimagine Myths and Folklore

Why Beyoncé and BET Keep Calling Jesse Collins

Misty Copeland Changed Ballet. Now She’s Ready to Move On.

Ferris Bueller’s Vest Hits the Auction Block. ‘Anyone, Anyone?’

‘Devastated’ Rod Stewart, 80, cancels concerts weeks before Glastonbury due to sickness

‘I co-wrote Chappell Roan’s famously explicit lyric in my parents’ basement’