Book Marks: Until August, Fried Rice, And Another Book Banned

Gabriel García Márquez's last and unreleased novel, Until August, has been published by his sons, Rodrigo and Gonzalo García Barcha. Thing is, the previously unfinished work was supposed to be destroyed. So, why? "Having reviewed the manuscripts, his family determined that they contained the essence of the writer who has captivated so many readers for decades," CNN reported. While conceding that publishing the book was a "betrayal", the sons felt it "definitely has many of (his) outstanding characteristics: beautiful prose, knowledge of the human being, power of description."

Unsurprisingly, this decision stirred up a maelstrom of a debate over an author's legacy. A creator's final wishes regarding their work should be honoured, but would doing otherwise harm their legacy? Márquez's sons don't think so and greenlit the release. Some have viewed this "betrayal" positively, including one writer living with dementia, who feels heartened by how the author, who also had dementia in his final years, continued to write.

Others aren't as sanguine. The Latin American Post expressed trepidation over the sons' defiance of their father, which it says "raises profound questions about the sanctity of an artist's final wishes and the responsibilities of those left to steward their legacy." The outlet adds that the dilemma "resonates deeply in Latin America, a region where the reverence for literary giants often intersects with the tumultuous realities of its political and social fabric." At least one critic doesn't think Until August is all that, and several local readers drew parallels with the posthumous publication of Harper Lee's Go Set a Watchman.

Márquez is a towering figure in Latin American literature and the region appears to have claimed him as its own. But the decision to release his work wasn't made by some third party but his immediate family. Even if they have the right to say "this was a bad idea", outsiders have less of a right to determine what happens to this work.

Whether Márquez will be peeved by this we will never know, but this is a family matter and should be treated as such. The book is out and being read, analysed, and discussed, as book should be.


Okay, what else...

• Erica Eng's Eisner Award-winning webcomic "Fried Rice" has gone to print and will be distributed by Gerakbudaya. The print edition "includes 30 pages of new content and 'remastered' pages," The Star reports. "I don't know if I'd have published Fried Rice if not for the recognition," Eng told the local English-language daily. "Before winning the award, I thought it would just be a fun art project and I wasn't expecting anything to come of it. Without the award, I don't think I would have gotten this far."
• Gay NOT OK! The ban on the book Gay Is OK! A Christian Perspective in Malaysia remains after the book's publisher, Gerakbudaya and the author, Ngeo Boon Lin failed to pursue the appeal against the ban at the Federal Court. The book was banned on November 2020. Malay Mail Online also provided more details on the ban and the court's decision.
• Romantasy is booming, thanks in part to #BookTok, but if you thought Sarah J. Maas created the genre ... not quite, according to Canadian book blogger Rachel Sargeant. "We're looking back at Mercedes Lackey and like J.R. Ward and all these, these women who wrote these fantasy romance books in the '90s and the 2000s," she told CBC Radio. "I feel like those aren't being put in the conversation at all."
• An author's work isn't done after the manuscript goes to print. Besides the next book, one has to do marketing and promotion: social media, meet-and-greets, websites. But is it necessary to churn out essays based on the themes of one's book for publication? Tajja Isen has some thoughts on that. "...in practice, such essays can make for a tricky genre, which embodies an expectation that shapes other parts of the promo process, from interviews to personal branding: that writers be ambassadors or educators for their books' issues, even if those issues are incidental to the work."
• Author Jeff Hoffmann wonders why men don't read more fiction. "I can't think of another storytelling medium that allows us to inhabit the subjectivity of a character more deeply than fiction. And seeing the world through another's eyes, especially someone completely different than us, helps us to strengthen our empathy muscle. Greater empathy makes us better parents, better spouses, better managers, better friends." Not to worry, Hoffmanm has some suggested titles to start with a~nd maybe his own? Yes, I've seen Twitter threads like this where the writer drops their book, newsletter, Ko-Fi, etc., but I empathise. We have to earn a living.
• Do historical works need to be rescued from obscurity by literary critics? Bringing back old literature to make them somehow relevant to our times "seems to miss the idea that reissues may have inherent value because they have aged, or even simply because they are enjoyable," according to a critic in The New York Times. "We don't rescue and recirculate authors in order to do right by them, but because their work is a piece of history. We need to understand literature in its own right and as an expression of its own time and context, even if that context is horrifying or alien or uninviting or problematic."
• In Nicholas Russell's interviews book critic Becca Rothfeld, he seems to be lamenting the state of book criticism and sees Rothfield's work as something to aspire towards: "What critics like Becca do so well is convincingly make the case for a higher form of discernment. We should be asking more of our art and the ways we engage with it. More than that, we should be practicing this discernment often, with generosity but also specificity."
• A publisher recalls the publication of Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses and the aftermath. One part sticks out, highlighting one potential problem with who bans books and how it's done: "...Syed Shahabuddin, an MP from Bihar and the editor of the monthly magazine Muslim India, lodged a complaint about the contents of the book and appealed to the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi to ban it immediately. Shahabuddin had not read the book and neither had Home Minister Buta Singh who would have to act on the matter."
• Book Riot looks at a new publisher that promises authors a bigger share of the pie and dives into some of the elements of its business model. They seem to find things about it that makes it viable but one suggests waiting a bit longer to see if it will pan out.
• "A well-executed conlang can bolster a film's appearance of authenticity. It can deepen the scenic absorption that has long been an obsession for creators and fans of speculative genres such as science fiction and fantasy." The New Yorker explores the topic of constructed languages (conlangs) in such productions as Dune and Game of Thrones.