Booker Prize Fiction

The Man Booker Prize for Fiction is awarded annually to a writer from the British Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland for the best full-length novel published in the UK that year. In this seminar, we will study a selection of winners since the award was established in 1968, including this year's winner to be announced in October. Readings will reflect a diversity of writers, settings, and styles, such as Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children (1981), Penelope Lively’s Moon Tiger (1987), Peter Cary's Oscar and Lucinda (1988), Kasuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day (1989), Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient (1992), J. M. Coetzee's Disgrace (1997), Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things (1999), Yann Martel’s Life of Pi (2001), and Howard Jacobson's The Finkler Question (2010). Topics of research and discussion will include literary innovation, authorial reputation, the politics of prizes, publicity, and film adaptation. 3 hrs. sem.