Trevor Steele on original Esperanto novels

Trevor Steele summarizes the importance and achievements of Esperanto literature in this lecture in English, given in Sydney, 2 June 2013:

Romanoj en Esperanto, prelego de Trevor Steele
 SOME NOTES ON NOVELS IN ESPERANTO

Following a general orientation to the subject, Steele summarizes the content of historically key original novels of varying quality written in Esperanto, with English translations of snippets of each.  The novels summarized are:

Ivan Ŝirjaev: Sen titolo (Without a Title 1903/1919, 1995)
Henri Vallienne: Ĉu li? (Was it Him?, 1908)
Heinrich August Luyken: Pro Iŝtar (For Ishtar, 1924)
Hendrik Jan Bulthuis: La vila mano (The Shaggy Hand, 1928)
Julio (Gyula) Baghy: Hura! (1930)
Sándor Szathmári: Vojaĝo al Kazohinio (Voyage to Kazohinia, 1935, 1941, 1958)
Raymond Schwartz: Kiel akvo de l‘ rivero (Like Water in the River, 1962)
Vladimir Varankin: Metropoliteno (The Underground Railway, 1933)
John Islay Francis: La granda kaldrono (The Great Cauldron, 1978)
Anna Löwenstein: La ŝtona urbo (The City of Stone, 1999)

Steele mentions but skips over Jean Forge (Jan Fethke), István Nemere, Stellan Engholm, and Cezaro Rossetti.

In this treatment of Szathmári's Vojaĝo al Kazohinio, Steele quotes from William Auld's commentary (in English translation).

Steele's characterizations of these novels are useful. Among the authors listed Baghy is iffy as a novelist. Löwenstein is fairly new on the scence and I have not read her work. Some of the early Esperantist writers are rather mediocre, thematically, as you can see. Schwartz, though known mainly as a humorist, did write a serious novel, and from what I call it take be taken as serious fiction, though I did not see it as adding up to much philosophically. But Steele does include three of the most important fictional works written in Esperanto, those of Varankin, Szathmári, and Francis. He does not mention that the novels of Szathmári and Varankin are available in English translation.

The bad novels had to be mentioned for historical reasons. There, however, many good and a few excellent fiction writers not mentioned in this talk. Among the most profound is (1931-1981), whom I will discuss in my next post.

Atheist Alliance International meets & greets Esperanto-speaking atheists

My Words in Esperanto

Written by Tanya Smith, 09 May 2012

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I co-founded Ateista Tutmonda Esperanto-Organizo (ATEO) in 1987, Esperanto's centennial year. Others are now carrying on the work and forging links with non-Esperantist organizations.

Tanya Smith of Atheist Alliance International met the vice-president of ATEO, Anna Löwenstein, and wrote a greeting in English which Anna subsequently translated into Esperanto and published in our journal Ateismo.  The translation is in the graphic to the left. Here is Tanya's original message:

"Hello atheist esperantists! As is common with native English speakers I am quite bad with other languages (it's embarrassing really), so I appreciate ATEO's translation of this greeting from me. I understand that the key goal of Esperanto is to facilitate communication and cooperation between people of different backgrounds, with the intention that this will foster goodwill and harmony on our small planet. It's a noble goal, and esperantists who are also atheists may appreciate that Atheist Alliance International has similar objectives. By challenging religion and its privileged place in society we seek a secular world that is fair to all people, and ultimately more peaceful. For all our sakes, I hope the efforts of both communities are successful in fostering a better world."

Recenzoj de Joseph Skibell

Beletra Almanako, N-ro 13, Februaro 2012 (6-a jaro)

Aldone al intervjuo kun Joseph Skibell, enestas en ĉi tiu numero du recenzoj de A Curable Romantic [Kuracebla Romantikulo], fare de:

Anna Löwenstein (137-141);

Esther Schor, el la angla tradukis Brian Moon (141-146).

Mi jam blogis pri la originala anglalingva recenzo de Schor, kiu aperis en:

The Crooked Heart by Esther Schor; review of A Curable Romantic by Joseph Skibell; The New Republic online review, September 10, 2010.

Löwenstein taksas la ĉefrolulon Jakob Sammelsohn "epopea senspinulo"kaj la romanon "tre juda libro." Skibell montras D-ron Zamenhof el ne-ŝablona perspektivo. Skibell tro detaligas pri la aferoj de la Esperanto-movado, kiel eble ne taŭgas por neesperantista legontaro. Sekvas kelkaj aliaj kritikoj.

Schor diras:

Temas pri energi-riĉa, senbrida enscenigo, same vaste kiel la apetitoj de ĝia protagonisto - la postmoderna juda romano kiel kunkirlaĵo de ĝenroj: jida folklora rakonto, edukado de la sentoj, freŭda kazostudo, erotika konfesaĵo, utopia parabolo, ĉio envolvita en "alternativa historio" pri emancipiĝo de la judoj, kiun hantas la figuro de Dreyfus kaj ebriigas la sorĉaj plezuroj de la lingvo Esperanto.

Sekvas detala resumo kaj pritrakto. Apud la fino ŝi diras:

Lukács fame aljuĝis al Walter Scott la meriton inventi la modernan historian romanon. La geniaĵo de Scott estis, ke li lokis ajnulon meze en la historio kaj uzis lin (aŭ ŝin) por refrakti la potencojn de reĝoj kaj reĝinoj, tiranoj kaj popolamasoj. Sed en la eksterordinara romano de Joseph Skibell, eĉ la ŝajna ajnulo ne estas apudstaranto en la historio.

Do jen kelkaj tentaĵoj al legado de ĉi tiuj recenzoj.