Complete Review

Complete Review (stylized complete review) is a literary website founded in March 1999. It is best known for reviews of novels in English translation, in particular drawing attention to otherwise neglected contemporary works from around the world, but there are also reviews of classics, non-fiction, drama and poetry. As of March 2009, on its tenth anniversary, there were a total of 2251 works under review,{{cite web |url=http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/archive/200904a.htm#ll9 |title=The Complete Review: the first decade |work=Literary Saloon |first=M. A. |last=Orthofer |date=April 2009 |access-date=November 24, 2018}} averaging over 250 new reviews added per year.{{cite web |url=http://www.rochester.edu/College/translation/threepercent/index.php?id=1823 |title=Happy Birthday to the Complete Review |work=Three Percent |first=Chad W. |last=Post |date=April 6, 2009 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120805124122/http://www.rochester.edu/College/translation/threepercent/index.php?id=1823 |archive-date=August 5, 2012 |url-status=dead |quote="[F]or one person that's absolutely amazing." |access-date=April 6, 2009 }} A blog, Literary Saloon, was added in August 2002.{{cite web |url=http://www.ibna.ir/en/doc/tolidi/123975/persian-literature-still-a-strong-and-active-literary-culture |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150706015839/http://www.ibna.ir/en/doc/tolidi/123975/persian-literature-still-a-strong-and-active-literary-culture |archive-date=2015-07-06 |url-status=dead |title=Persian literature still a strong and active literary culture |work=Iran Book News Agency |first=Farzaneh |last=Doosti |date=December 10, 2011 |access-date=November 24, 2018}}

As of its 10th anniversary in 2009, 95 percent of the reviews were written by the site's founder and managing editor, Michael Orthofer (b. 1964, Austria).{{cite web |url=http://www.pen.org/author.php/prmAID/196 |title=Michael Orthofer |publisher=Pen World Voices Festival |first=Arthur |last=Japin |author-link=Arthur Japin |date=April 26, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070604232705/http://www.pen.org/author.php/prmAID/196 |archive-date=2007-06-04 |url-status=dead}} From the beginning, it was Orthofer's intention to create an institutionalized persona for the site, and he therefore did not sign his name or even have it anywhere easily visible. However, beginning in 2009 Orthofer, recognizing that he was the majority contributor, announced "posts and reviews will now be signed 'M.A.Orthofer', as I might as well lay claim to (and accept blame for) them."

On founding the site Orthofer said "I’ve always read a lot and been interested in literature, and I was interested in exploring the possibilities of the Internet. It struck me that while there were a lot of sites ... offering book reviews, practically no one was linking to other reviews of the same book, so that’s what I set out to do."{{cite web |url=http://www.imprintmagazine.org/life_and_style/net_review_ultimate_bookworm |title=NET Review: The Ultimate Bookworm |work=ImprintMagazine |first=Sara |last=Howard |date=September 28, 2005 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130415012216/http://www.imprintmagazine.org/life_and_style/net_review_ultimate_bookworm |archive-date=April 15, 2013 |url-status=dead |access-date=April 6, 2009 }}

In 2010 Orthofer published a book about the website called The Complete Review: Eleven Years, 2500 Reviews. A Site History, with commentary on diverse and sundry related matters.{{cite book |url=http://www.complete-review.com/main/CRbook.htm |title=The Complete Review: Eleven Years, 2500 Reviews |publisher=Aesthetics of Resistance |first=M. A. |last=Orthofer |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-557-75037-5}} In 2016, Orthofer published The Complete Review Guide to Contemporary World Fiction.,{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/completereviewgu0000unse |title=The Complete Review Guide to Contemporary World Fiction |publisher=Columbia University Press |first=M. A. |last=Orthofer |year=2016 |isbn=978-0231146753}} [https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7312/orth14674 JSTOR] a reader's guide to world literature with an emphasis on fiction published since the 1990s.

Critical and popular reception

In October 2004, David Orr of the New York Times Book Review said "it remains one of the best literary destinations on the Web."{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/03/books/review/03ORRL.html |title=Where to Find Digital Lit |work=The New York Times Book Review |first=David |last=Orr |author-link=David Orr (journalist) |date=October 3, 2004 |access-date=November 24, 2018}} In 2005, Time magazine included it as one of the 50 Coolest Websites 2005.{{cite web |url=http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1073316,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050622184640/http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1073316,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 22, 2005 |title=50 Coolest Websites of 2005: Arts and Entertainment |work=Time |first=Maryanne Murray |last=Buechner |date=June 20, 2005 |access-date=November 24, 2018}} John Freeman of the National Book Critics Circle said of the site in 2006, "The complete review seemed to appear out of nowhere, but suddenly it became one of the most useful aggregating sites on the web for book information and news, especially from abroad."{{cite web |url=http://bookcritics.org/blog/archive/the-critical-i-six-questions-for-m.a.-orthofer |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130701033222/http://bookcritics.org/blog/archive/the-critical-i-six-questions-for-m.a.-orthofer |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 1, 2013 |title=The Critical I: Six Questions for M.A. Orthofer |work=Critical Mass |publisher=National Book Critics Circle board of directors |first=John |last=Freeman |author-link=John Freeman (author) |date=August 21, 2006 |access-date=November 24, 2018}} Chad W. Post at the University of Rochester in 2009 said, "I don’t think there’s a reviewer, or publication, in America that’s as diverse as Michael Orthofer's Complete Review. Nor as meticulous about record keeping and self-aware about its reviewing trends."{{cite web |url=http://www.rochester.edu/College/translation/threepercent/index.php?id=1533 |title=Complete Review and International Literature |work=Three Percent |first=Chad W. |last=Post |date=January 2, 2009 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120806000706/http://www.rochester.edu/College/translation/threepercent/index.php?id=1533 |archive-date=August 6, 2012 |url-status=dead |access-date=April 6, 2009 }} A February 2016 article in The New Yorker by Indian novelist Karan Mahajan featured an in-depth profile of the website and Orthofer.{{cite web |url=http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/one-mans-impossible-quest-to-read-and-review-the-world |title=One Man’s Impossible Quest to Read—and Review—the World |work=The New Yorker |first=Karan |last=Mahajan |author-link=Karan Mahajan |date=February 16, 2016 |access-date=April 13, 2016}}

Notes

External links

[http://www.complete-review.com/main/main.html Complete Review], official site
[http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/index.htm Literary Saloon], a blog for Complete Review.
[http://www.complete-review.com/main/CRbook.htm The Complete Review: Eleven Years, 2500 Reviews], book by Michael Orthofer, 2010.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_vWueM0h3A "Interview with Michael Orthofer"], in [https://conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/michael-orthofer/ Conversations with Tyler Cowen], July 27, 2016
[https://cupblog.org/2016/04/25/an-interview-with-m-a-orthofer-author-of-the-complete-review-guide-to-contemporary-world-fiction/ "An Interview with M. A. Orthofer"], Columbia University Press blog, April 26, 2016
[https://yuobserver.org/2016/03/critiquing-the-world-one-review-at-a-time-an-interview-with-m-a-orthofer/ "An Interview with M.A. Orthofer"], Sharon Huberfield, The Yeshiva University Observer, March 13, 2016

Category:American literature websites

Category:Internet properties established in 1999

Category:1999 establishments in the United States