NYC’s European Book Club and Musings on the European Book Club, by an Impartial Observer

Book clubs are a highly successful way of promoting literature in the U.S. But statistics pertaining to the reception of European literature here are rather daunting: the average number of all translations of fiction into American English is around 400 per year. That means, when it comes to German contemporary fiction, for example, that an average of only seven (7!) titles is translated each year. Maybe the solution is to combine the successful model of the book club with European literature in translation. Et voilà: in New York City, the libraries of the Goethe-Institut, the Austrian Cultural Forum, the Instituto Cervantes, the Czech Center New York, the French Institute/Alliance Française, and the Istituto Italiano di Cultura decided to give it a try and created the European Book Club.

And we were in for bit of a surprise. After our first announcement in the e-mail newsletters of the participating institutions, we were flooded with registrations. From the beginning, we decided to limit the groups to around 20 participants, but within a few weeks every session had roughly 70 registrants. How did we manage the success? The first “emergency” measure was to offer a second session for each book. And to establish ourselves properly, our colleague Yann Carmona created a webpage for the book club. Now we are looking for partner institutions that want to establish their own book club under the European Book Club umbrella. That means reading the same titles, incorporating participants into a general mailing list, being recognized as a partner on the website of the European Book Club, and encouraging members to communicate with each other via a web discussion. There is also the idea of webcasting some of the sessions, so that people interested in European literature who do not have the possibility of joining a group could participate by listening to the discussion and posting or chatting about their ideas. Some of the participating institutes are also considering the possibility of bringing in the authors of the titles we read. And that led to another idea: next year, at the end of the book club season, we could organize a “readers meet the authors” event.

For further information about the European Book Club, contact Brigitte Doellgast, Library Director, Goethe-Institut New York (Doellgast@newyork.goethe.org)

Musings on the European Book Club, by an Impartial Observer (Brigid Cahalan, New York Public Library)

Working together can be challenging for organizations: competing interests, differing personal styles, and cultural factors often stand in the way. On a recent visit to New York City’s FIAF (French Institute/Alliance Française), I learned of several organizations that overcame these barriers to develop an innovative and exciting program, the European Book Club.

Last year, Samantha Schnee, an editor at the online literary magazine Words Without Borders, spoke at The New York Public Library as part of a panel of esteemed writers and translators. I was startled to learn that 50% of all the books in translation now published worldwide are translated from English, but only 6% are translated into English. Should we be surprised that people from abroad know so much more about the U.S. than we do about their countries and cultures?

Perhaps the tide is turning, as evidenced by the enthusiastic response the European Book Club has received. Like so many of my fellow New Yorkers, I found the concept of such a book club irresistible—an idea introduced at the perfect time and in the perfect place. I managed to squeeze in for the Goethe-Institut’s discussion recently.

What a treat! The chosen book, Measuring the World, by Daniel Kehlmann, tells a wild and witty tale of explorer Alexander von Humboldt, mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss, and the intersection of their lives in 19th century Berlin. I heard several accents among the participants, including Spanish, French, German, and what might have been Brooklynese. The erudite crowd included some who had read the book in the original as well as in translation and a South American who told us about the enormous influence von Humboldt has, and the esteem in which he is held, in all corners of that continent.

I salute librarians at the five other cultural institutes for giving New Yorkers such a wonderful gift—welcoming us to your “lands” to share in dynamic, thoughtful conversations about wonderful books—and for lifting us far above our workaday worlds.

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