The state of literature

First of all, I'd like to congratulate J. M. G. Le Clezio, the French-born author who won the 2008 Nobel Prize in Literature, announced yesterday. In 2004, my publisher, the independent non-profit Curbstone Press, published a translation of Le Clezio's Etoile errante, with the title Wandering Star. The novel--about two women, a Jewish Holocaust survivor and a Palestinian refugee whose paths intersect with the birth of the State of Israel--was one of founder and editorial director Alexander Taylor's favorites in his 32-year career.

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...three years after its publication, it had sold less than 500 copies.

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It was also one of his biggest disappointments, as he told me when we had lunch together a year ago. The book received minimal reviews, media coverage, and bookstore orders; three years after its publication, it had sold less than 500 copies.

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