Which books translated by newmag have been listed as the 100 best of the 21st century?
07/23/2024
Newmag bestseller Elena Ferrante's "My Brilliant Friend" topped The New York Times' list of the best 100 books. The final installment of Ferrante's Neapolitan quartet, "The Story of the Lost Child," is ranked 80th.
The New York Times compiled its list of the best books of the 21st century
with input from over 500 writers, public speakers, poets, literary critics,
translators, and other specialists. The selection committee included Stephen
King, John Irving, and Sarah Jessica Parker, among others. The Upshot section
of NYT, which studies the databases and analyzes them, asked specialists and
literary critics to choose ten books of the XXI century.
Experts could nominate their favorite books or those they believed would
remain relevant for generations to come. The only criterion was that the chosen
books, including translations, had to be published in English in the USA before
January 1, 2000. Journalists collated all responses and curated the final list
of the top 100 books.
Three of the century's best literary works are by Elena Ferrante. "My
Brilliant Friend" is a poignant tale of the lifelong friendship between
Elena and Lila, spanning from childhood to adulthood. United by years of
companionship and shared history, the two women strive to break free from their
oppressive and violent upbringing in a poor neighborhood.
The novel not only explores themes of friendship and love but also depicts
the significant social and political transformations in Italy during that
period. Elena Ferrante is a pseudonym; despite global recognition, the author's
real identity remains undisclosed.
The fourth and final volume, "The Story of the Lost Child," will
be published in Armenian in the fall. Another Ferrante novel, "Days of
Abandonment," is also included in the list.
The second-best book is "The Warmth of Other Suns" by American
writer Isabel Wilkerson, while British writer Hilary Mantel's novel "Wolf
Hall" secured the third spot. Donna Tartt's novel "The
Goldfinch," named after the painting by Dutch artist Carel Fabritius,
rounds out the top selections. The book received numerous prestigious literary
awards, including the Pulitzer Prize in 2014.
Newmag will soon present "The Goldfinch" fully translated into
Armenian, along with all four volumes of this global bestseller.
Jonathan Franzen's modern classic, "The Corrections," is the fifth.
Additionally, Newmag has translated another novel by Franzen,
"Freedom," into Armenian, slated for release soon.
Newmag will also introduce two more of the top 100 books of the 21st century
in Armenian. Joan Didion's "The Year of Magical Thinking," ranked
12th in The New York Times, and Donna Tartt's "The Goldfinch," ranked
46th among the best books of the century.
In her memoir "The Year of Magical Thinking," American writer and
journalist Joan Didion chronicles the most challenging year of her life
following the sudden death of her husband, writer John Gregory Dunne, with whom
she shared over 40 years of marriage. The book is a poignant reflection on
grief and loss, and coming to terms with the realities of life.
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Elena Ferrante
6800 ֏
Description
In the third book in the New York Times–bestselling Neapolitan quartet that inspired the HBO series My Brilliant Friend, Elena and Lila have grown into womanhood. Lila married at sixteen and has a young son; she has left her husband and the comforts her marriage brought and now works as a common laborer. Elena has left the neighborhood, earned her college degree, and published a successful novel, all of which has opened the doors to a world of learned interlocutors and richly furnished salons. Both women are pushing against the walls of a prison that would have seen them living a life of misery, ignorance, and submission. They are afloat on the great sea of opportunities that opened up for women during the 1970s. And yet, they are still very much bound to each other in a book that “shows off Ferrante’s strong storytelling ability and will leave readers eager for the final volume of the series” (Library Journal).
Elena Ferrante
6800 ֏
Description
In 2012, Elena Ferrante's My Brilliant Friend introduced readers to the unforgettable Elena and Lila, whose lifelong friendship provides the backbone for the Neapolitan Novels. The Story of a New Name is the second book in this series. With these books, which the New Yorker's James Wood described as "large, captivating, amiably peopled ... a beautiful and delicate tale of confluence and reversal," Ferrante proves herself to be one of Italy's most accomplished storytellers. She writes vividly about a specific neighborhood of Naples from the late-1950s through to the current day and about two remarkable young women who are very much the products of that place and time. Yet in doing so she has created a world in which readers will recognize themselves and has drawn a marvelously nuanced portrait of friendship.
In The Story of a New Name, Lila has recently married and made her entrée into the family business; Elena, meanwhile, continues her studies and her exploration of the world beyond the neighborhood that she so often finds stifling. Love, jealousy, family, freedom, commitment, and above all friendship: these are signs under which both women live out this phase in their stories. Marriage appears to have imprisoned Lila, and the pressure to excel is at times too much for Elena. Yet the two young women share a complex and evolving bond that is central to their emotional lives and is a source of strength in the face of life's challenges. In these Neapolitan Novels, Elena Ferrante, the acclaimed author of The Days of Abandonment, gives readers a poignant and universal story about friendship and belonging.
Elena Ferrante
6800 ֏
Description
A modern masterpiece from one of Italy's most acclaimed authors, My Brilliant Friend is a rich, intense and generous hearted story about two friends, Elena and Lila. Ferrante's inimitable style lends itself perfectly to a meticulous portrait of these two women that is also the story of a nation and a touching meditation on the nature of friendship. Through the lives of these two women, Ferrante tells the story of a neighborhood, a city and a country as it is transformed in ways that, in turn, also transform the relationship between her two protagonists.
