Fantasy in other countries

[yoyogod]

This is my first post, so I hope I haven't messed up and put it in the wrong spot.

I've been thinking lately that most of my favorite fantasy (and SF) writers are American or British. There are also some Canadians, Australians, and--I think--a few from New Zealand. That's five countries out of (according to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_speaking_countries)) 73 countries where English is an official language.

I suppose that some of the smaller countries--like the Pitcairn Islands (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitcairn_Islands) (pop 67)--or some of the third world countries might not have much of a publishing industry. I assume that the other major English-speaking countries have publishing industries and probably some fantasy and science fiction, but I don't know of any of their writers.

Does anyone know of any fantasy (or science fiction, or even horror) writers from any other English-speaking countries, especially the major ones like India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Philippines, and South Africa? I want to broaden my literary horizons by reading more culturally diverse books.

[badducky]

For some reason Yann Martel's "Life of Pi" was getting shelved in the fantasy section at Books-A-Million...

Why just English-Speaking nations?

Translations of Italo Calvino, Umberto Eco, Kafka, and Stanislaw Lem are all masters of the fantastic, not to mention the many Spanish-Speaking South American Authors that flourished in the second half of last century (Carpentier, Marquez, Borges).

[waylander]

Orbit(UK) publish Indian fantasy author Ashok Banker.

Gollancz have just signed a Polish fantasy author (whose name I can't remember) whose works sell a lot in Poland.

[yanallefish]

Indian fantasy? What's this one like? (always curious, not like I don't have a huge "to-read" pile...*g*)

[Euan H.]

Thailand (and presumably the rest of south-east asia--but I only read Thai, and that veeerrryy slowly :) ) is filled with horror and historical/mythological fantasy. A lot of it is now migrating to the silver screen. Frex, there's a movie now in Thai cinemas called 'Sudsakorn', about a boy who fights demon-giants and evil spirits. He rides an iron-plated unicorn-type thing, which talks, and he's aided by a lecherous drunken sage who has a stick that transforms into a snake. Another example I saw recently concerned a shape-shifting naga princess who fell in love with a mortal man (a prince). Another: a woman (Nang Nak) loves her husband too much (non-detachment being bad in Buddhism). He goes off to war. His wife is pregnant when he leaves. When he comes back, the kid's born, and he settles into his normal life as if nothing's happened. But his wife died in childbirth, and now he's living with a ghost. It's a good story, and a better movie.

All of those are books and movies--but none of them have been translated (as far as I know) into English. Friends of mine have told me the same thing is true for Japanese and Chinese stories. There's a wealth of material available in the original language, but not so much translated.

The problem with a lot of these stories is that in order to appreciate them, you need to have a grounding in the culture concerned. A lot of Thai horror stories, frex, won't make aesthetic sense unless you're familiar with the basic tenets of Buddhism and how it fits into Thai culture. The same is true for a lot of Japanese stories. (And presumably for all other cultures that have non-Western/Middle-Eastern roots.) As most people in the West will (understandably) not want to do this, the stories from these cultures don't have much commercial potential in the UK or the US.

I think the same is going to apply for English speaking countries as well. Unless the stories that are told follow Western/Middle-Eastern story logic, then they'll face an uphill battle getting published. Sure there are some of these stories out there--but not many.

As for the Philipines being English-speaking . . . yes, it's an official language, but I wouldn't say the Philipines is really an English-speaking country. It's English-speaking in the same way that Singapore is English-speaking.

[Melanie Nilles]

The problem with a lot of these stories is that in order to appreciate them, you need to have a grounding in the culture concerned. A lot of Thai horror stories, frex, won't make aesthetic sense unless you're familiar with the basic tenets of Buddhism and how it fits into Thai culture. The same is true for a lot of Japanese stories. (And presumably for all other cultures that have non-Western/Middle-Eastern roots.) As most people in the West will (understandably) not want to do this, the stories from these cultures don't have much commercial potential in the UK or the US.

Don't forget your anime/manga from Japan. Those stories are rooted in Japanese/Asian culture, but you don't have to understand that culture first-hand to understand the stories. Many of them are refreshingly creative from what we're used to on this side of the ocean (US). However, you'll also find that there are themes that can be grouped together, in which many of the stories are identical in many aspects.

Just my 2 cents.

Melanie

[spacejock2]

ZORAN ZIVKOVIC - a Serbian. "Zivkovic has won major awards in his native country, as well as being twice nominated for the distinguished International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and winning the World Fantasy Award for his mosaic-novel THE LIBRARY (2003)."

[Dave.C.Robinson]

Dave Freer (published through Baen in the US) is South African.

[Nakhlasmoke]

Dave Freer (published through Baen in the US) is South African.

And just to show you how much SA supports its SF and Fantasy writers - I have never seen a Dave Freer book in a SA bookstore.

Very sad.

[maxmordon]

Isabel Allende just wrote a Y/A fantasy series

And pretty much all of Jorge Luis Borges

[Kristiina]

Johanna Sinisalo: Troll, a love story, is the only Finnish fantasy which I know is available in English.

Hm, I have to look at this. Some of Arto Paasilinna's stories are fantasy, but 'The Year of the Hare' not so much and that's the only English translation I'm sure about. Besides, he isn't marketed as a fantasy writer here...

And I'm a Finn who is writing in English and tries to sell her stuff to American publishers. No luck so far, but I haven't been in this game all that long yet.

[sunandshadow]

Try this as a sampler:
http://www.amazon.com/SFWA-European-Hall-Fame-Contemporary/dp/076531536X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-2926084-2162233?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1189273572&sr=1-1

[shakeysix]

spanish lit has a very strong sense of fantasy that even colors day to day fiction. i am thinking "100 years of solitude"--garcia marquez ; "like water for chocolate" -esquivel; even "the house on mango street" -by cisneros has elements of fantasy although set in modern chicago. borges is another spanish author well known for fantasy. there is another author that i cannot remember. he wrote some great horror stuff. one about a house that slowly squeezes its family into one room. another called something like "la noche de la boca arriba". about a young man on a moterbike who ends up on an aztec altar. help, anyone?--s6

[Myriada Star]

what about Night watch by russian author Sergej Lukjanenko- fantastic trilogy (no i think there are about 4 watch books by now) it was translated to english as well
and Andrzej Sapkowskij - polish author but probably wasnt translated
hey or have u heard bout Karel čapek- the guy who first used word "robot" in a play called RUR (actually it was his brother jozef who invented that word)
http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/c/capek/karel/rur/ -here s the link for the play
and i also liked prisaha by Alexandra Pavelkova slovak author but she wasnt translated

[waylander]

Andrezej Sapkowski is now published by Gollancz in the UK