{"id":305746,"date":"2017-04-04T20:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-04-04T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wdev.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent-dev\/2017\/04\/04\/on-the-edge-by-rafael-chirbes-why-this-book-should-win\/"},"modified":"2018-05-04T14:39:03","modified_gmt":"2018-05-04T14:39:03","slug":"on-the-edge-by-rafael-chirbes-why-this-book-should-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/2017\/04\/04\/on-the-edge-by-rafael-chirbes-why-this-book-should-win\/","title":{"rendered":"“On the Edge” by Rafael Chirbes [Why This Book Should Win]"},"content":{"rendered":"

Between the announcement of the Best Translated Book Award longlists<\/a> and the unveiling of the finalists, we will be covering all thirty-five titles in the Why This Book Should Win<\/a> series. Enjoy learning about all the various titles selected by the fourteen fiction and poetry judges, and I hope you find a few to purchase and read!<\/em><\/p>\n

The entry below is by Jeremy Garber, events coordinator at Powell\u2019s Books<\/a> in Portland, OR.<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On the Edge<\/em><\/a> by Rafael Chirbes, translated from the Spanish by Margaret Jull Costa (Spain, New Directions)<\/b><\/p>\n

Chad\u2019s Uneducated and Unscientific Percentage Chance of Making the Shortlist: 62%<\/b><\/p>\n

Chad\u2019s Uneducated and Unscientific Percentage Chance of Winning the BTBA<\/span>: 12%<\/b><\/p>\n

In the afterword to Rafael Chirbes\u2019s On the Edge<\/em> (New Directions), Valerie Miles (translator and Granta en espa\u00f1ol co-founder) said this about the late Spanish author, \u201c[he] accepted his role as the defiant, intrepid author who bears witness, who acts as counterbalance to the forces of power, of corruption and of greed and misery, yet writes lucidly, and even at times tenderly.\u201d Chirbes, who passed away from lung cancer during the summer of 2015, was esteemed in his native land, but has had (to date) only two of his works translated into English.<\/p>\n

Set following last decade\u2019s financial crisis, On the Edge<\/em> is a remarkable novel of the personal fallout stemming from the ravaging and pervasive economic ruin that shook lives and nations around the globe. Chirbes\u2019s tale, while often gritty and unsparing, is nonetheless possessed of considerable beauty and abundant feeling. With rich, evocative prose, Chirbes\u2019s language is as gripping as the story itself\u2014neither of which leaves much room for the reader to saunter or dally. No, On the Edge<\/em> instead grasps tightly, arresting and affecting in equal measure. Like the far-reaching effects of the economic crisis itself, Chirbes\u2019s masterpiece (awarded both Spain\u2019s National Prize for Literature and the Critic\u2019s Prize [and perhaps soon the Best Translated Book Award!]) is epic and unrelenting.<\/p>\n

Rendered from the Spanish by the incomparable Margaret Jull Costa (who has four books on this year\u2019s BTBA<\/span> longlist), On the Edge<\/em> is a riveting and disquieting work of fiction\u2014one that speaks to the horrors of individual and collective calamity. On the Edge<\/i>\u2019s import cannot be overstated, nor can the lingering effects of this singular novel. Chirbes\u2019s steady gaze helps dissect the pernicious greed that led to our global recession and, through the eyes of his characters, we\u2019re able to glimpse the very real, inescapable consequences it has brought (and continues to bring). Speaking of steady gazes, the unforgettable cover image (by Paul Sahre Inc.) inescapably foretells the stark story within.<\/p>\n

Miles concludes her afterword thus, \u201cWriting was his form of observing and expiating his own inconsistencies and primal urges\u2014sex, power, money\u2014in their modern iterations\u2014real estate speculation, prostitution and human trafficking, political debauchery\u2014and challenging readers to look into his pages as into a dark mirror, to see the ghostly reflection of their own faces looking back. What redeems these scathing truths\u2014for a writer with this experience and depth of insight\u2014is art.\u201d Rafael Chirbes, Margaret Jull Costa, and On the Edge<\/em> are immensely deserving of this year\u2019s Best Translated Book Award.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Between the announcement of the Best Translated Book Award longlists and the unveiling of the finalists, we will be covering all thirty-five titles in the Why This Book Should Win series. Enjoy learning about all the various titles selected by the fourteen fiction and poetry judges, and I hope you find a few to purchase […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":292,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[67476],"tags":[35996,64586,48766,38636,13566,56,63136,11716,37876],"class_list":["post-305746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-translated-book-awards","tag-btba","tag-btba-2017","tag-btba-fiction","tag-jeremy-garber","tag-margaret-jull-costa","tag-new-directions","tag-on-the-edge","tag-rafael-chirbes","tag-why-this-book-should-win"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/292"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305746"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":396762,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305746\/revisions\/396762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}