Die Man Booker-prys is sekerlik een van die mees gesogte literêre pryse in die wêreld en die bekendmaking van die nominasielys is altyd iets wat baie aandag trek. En vanjaar was dit ook geen uitsondering nie toe die paneel beoordelaars hul lys van 13 titels bekend gemaak het nie. Die rede daarvoor is hoofsaaklik weens die afwesigheid van twee uiters prominente skrywers wie se romans nié genomineer is nie, te wete Ian Mcewan (Solaris) en Martin Amis (The Pregnant Widow).
Andrew Motion, wat as sameroeper van die beoordelaars optree, het egter summier enige suggestie van onderduimsheid in die kiem probeer smoor: “It’s always a pity when people respond by pointing out books that aren’t on the list rather than the ones that are… we were not interested in the previous form of the writers. Here are 13 exceptional novels – books we have chosen for their intrinsic quality without reference to the past work of their author.” Volgens hom was McEwan en Amis se romans gewoon nie goed genoeg om dié lys te haal nie …
‘n Verdere verrassing op die lys, is die Australiese skrywer, Peter Carey, wat vir ‘n derde keer genomineer is. Hy het die Booker-prys reeds twee keer vantevore gewen (in 1988 met Oscar and Lucinda en weer in 2001 met True History of the Kelly Gang) en is saam met JM Coetzee die enigste skrywers wat tot nog toe die prestasie van twee toekennings kon behaal het.
Die totale prysgeld van die Man Booker beloop £50,000 en die wenner sal op 12 Oktober aangekondig word.
Uiteraard wemel die internet met berigte oor dié bekendmaking. Die beste berig hieromtrent is myns insiens The Independent s’n, veral weens die opsommende kommentaar by elkeen van die genomineerde boeke. Vir jou leesplesier plaas ek dié lys onder aan vanoggend se Nuuswekker.
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Ten slotte is daar drie besonderse blog-bydraes om aan te kondig: Ester Naomi Perquin vertel van werksaamhede te midde van ‘n hittegolf; Desmond Painter wonder oor die gefronsde uitydrukkings waarmee daar in onlangse tye na ‘n intellektuele reus soos Jean-Paul Sartre gekyk word en Jelleke Wierenga bely hoe belangrik die kinderpoësie van onder andere Roald Dahl en W.O. Kühne vir haar is.
Lekker lees en bly maar op die uitkyk vir die struikrowers langs die pad.
Mooi bly.
LE
The Thousand Autumns of Zacob de Zoet. (David Mitchell) – “Mitchell writes with such invigorating edge and dash that scarcely a sentence stands idle… this sumptuous imbroglio never drags”
The Betrayal. (Helen Dunmore) – “It is said that Dunmore’s writing is sensuous, physical and almost synaesthetic. Here, it is all that, but also sparse and elegant when needs be.”
Parrot and Olivier in America. (Peter Carey) – “Wonderfully witty and visual prose, which springs surprise after surprise on the reader… this is a book full of good things”
The Long Song. (Andrea Levy) – Levy “has a real gift for comedy… a well-researched book that wears its scholarship lightly”
February. (Lisa Moore) – “Moore’s firm grip and fine craft make something special from this novel of disaster and its aftermath… supple, graceful prose”
In a Strange Room. (Damon Galgut) Synopsis: Written in three segments, each concerns separate journeys undertaken in different circumstances by the narrator.
The Finkler Question. (Howard Jacobson) To be published in August. Synopisis: Julian Treslove, radio producer and bachelor, dines with two old friends who have been widowed recently. They reminisce and on his way home, Julian suffers a brutal attack that comes to transform his world.
The Slap. (Christos Tsiolkas) – “A beautifully structured examination of the complexity of modern living; a compelling journey into the darkness of suburbia”
Skippy Dies. (Paul Murray) – “Adept at winding science and history into its design… the book strays near some dark territory, but maintains its light, utterly readable, skippy tread throughout”
Trespass. (Rose Tremain) – “Tremain’s writing is both vivid and wonderfully compressed… the novel is only 250 pages long, but it packs an enormous punch – the work of a writer at the top of her game”.
Room. (Emma Donoghue) Published next month. Synopsis: A story about a child abducted and kept confined in a room; it was inspired by the real-life case of Josef Fritzl in Austria
C. (Tom McCarthy) Published next month. Synopsis: The story of Serge Carrefax, a young man born at the dawn of the 20th century who becomes steeped in emergent technologies.