The Booker prize's historical novels aren’t living in the past
Being made to read 132 novels in four months may be some people’s idea of a cruel and unusual punishment, but it does enable one to cast a sweeping eye over the literary landscape. I would estimate that, of the books submitted (and at present lined up against my sitting room wall), at least half could be described as historical.
A few dissenters have niggled because this year’s shortlist is dominated by historical fiction. We judges, it is alleged, must be a reactionary, backward-looking bunch to have picked one novel set in the 16th century, two in the 19th and three in the 20th.… Seguir leyendo »