The winner of the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2012 has just been announced.
Blooms of Darkness by Aharon Appelfeld, translated by Jeffrey M Green from the Hebrew, published by Alma Books
At 80, Israeli author Aharon Appelfeld is the oldest author to win the prestigious Prize, following on from the youngest ever winner, Santiago Roncagliolo, who won the Prize last year. The £10,000 award is shared equally with Appelfeld’s American translator, Jeffrey M Green.
Aharon Appelfeld said: Blooms of Darkness is a work of fiction that includes my personal experience during the Second World War. I wanted to explore the darkest places of human behaviour and to show that even there, generosity and love can survive; that humanity and love can overcome cruelty and brutality. It is a joy to win the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize alongside Jeffrey M Green – he is a highly professional translator and I love his work.
Jeffrey M Green said: Translators are humble people by nature, so it is astonishing and gratifying for translators to be honoured by the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. Clearly, if Blooms of Darkness had not been excellent, even an excellent translation would not have won this Prize, but a bad translation would certainly have destroyed the excellence of the original. It has been a privilege to be Aharon’s voice in English.
About the book
The ghetto in which the Jews have been confined is being liquidated by the Nazis, and eleven-year-old Hugo is brought by his mother to the local brothel, where one of the prostitutes has agreed to hide him. Mariana is a bitterly unhappy woman who hates what she has done to her life, and night after night Hugo sits in her closet and listens uncomprehendingly as she rages at the Nazi soldiers who come and go. When she’s not mired in self-loathing, Mariana is fiercely protective of the bewildered, painfully polite young boy. And Hugo becomes protective of Mariana, too, trying to make her laugh when she is depressed, soothing her physical and mental agony with cold compresses. As the memories of his family and friends grow dim, Hugo falls in love with Mariana. And as her life spirals downwards, Mariana reaches out for consolation to the adoring boy who is on the cusp of manhood.
Get involved
Find out more about this year’s Independent Foreign Fiction Prize shortlist.
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