ΕΠΙΤΕΛΟΥΣ!

Ο άγγλος συγγραφέας Τζούλιαν Μπαρνς απέσπασε το Βραβείο Μπούκερ 2011 για τη νουβέλα του «The Sense Of an Ending». Ηταν η τέταρτη (και εκ του αποτελέσματος η πιο τυχερή) φορά που ήταν υποψήφιος στη βραχεία λίστα για το σημαντικότερο λογοτεχνικό βραβείο του αγγλοσαξονικού κόσμου.
Ο 65χρονος νικητής (που έλαβε και το χρηματικό έπαθλο των 50 χιλιάδων λιρών) δήλωσε ανακουφισμένος και ενθουσιασμένος που τελικά κέρδισε το βραβείο κατά την ανακοίνωση του ονόματός του στην επίσημη τελετή στο Γκίλντχολ του Λονδίνου το βράδυ της Τρίτης 18 Οκτωβρίου.
Η πρόεδρος της κριτικής επιτροπής Στέλλα Ρίμινγκτον, πρώην γενική διευθύντρια της αγγλικής μυστικής υπηρεσίας Μ-15, είπε ότι το βιβλίο «έχει όλες τις ενδείξεις ενός κλασικού έργου της αγγλικής λογοτεχνίας». Το σύντομο αυτό μυθιστόρημα του Μπαρνς για τη φιλία των παιδικών χρόνων και τις ατέλειες της ανθρώπινης μνήμης είναι «εξαίσια γραμμένο, έχει έξυπνη και λεπτοδουλεμένη πλοκή και κάθε του ανάγνωση μας αποκαλύπτει ένα νέο βάθος. Κρίναμε ότι αυτό το βιβλίο μιλάει στον άνθρωπο του 21ου αιώνα» υπογράμμισε η ίδια.
Με τη σειρά του ο Τζούλιαν Μπαρνς ευχαρίστησε την επιτροπή «για τη σοφία της - για την οποία δεν θέλω να ακούσω κακή κουβέντα - και τους χορηγούς για την επιταγή τους» σχολιάζοντας έτσι εμμέσως και με χιούμορ τα βέλη που δέχθηκαν οι εφετινοί κριτές ότι με τις επιλογές τους στη βραχεία λίστα δεν προέκριναν πάνω απ' όλα τη λογοτεχνική ποιότητα των μυθιστορημάτων (αποκλείοντας συγγραφείς όπως ο Αλαν Χόλινγκχερστκαι ο Σεμπάστιαν Μπάρι). Η βράβευση του Τζούλιαν Μπαρνς βεβαίως αποκαθιστά με τον καλύτερο δυνατό τρόπο τα πράγματα.
Είχε φτάσει το πλήρωμα του χρόνου (με το ενδέκατο μυθιστόρημα) για μια από τις πιο εκλεπτυσμένες πένες της Αγγλίας, για έναν δόκιμο συγγραφέα που γεννήθηκε το 1946 στο Λέστερ και σπούδασε νομικά και γαλλική φιλολογία στην Οξφόρδη. Τρεις φορές κατά το παρελθόν έφτασε πολύ κοντά στην πηγή αλλά δεν ήπιε νερό: το 1984 με το μυθιστόρημα «Ο παπαγάλος του Φλωμπέρ», το 1998 για το «England, England» και το 2005 για το «Αρθουρ και Τζορτζ» (όλα στα ελληνικά απ' τις εκδόσεις «Μεταίχμιο» σε μετάφραση της Αλεξάνδρας Κονταξάκη).
Ευχαριστώντας τη Σούζαν Ντιν που είχε την καλλιτεχνική επιμέλεια του βιβλίου, ο Μπαρνς τόνισε πως «όσοι από εσάς έχετε δει το βιβλίο - πέραν των όσων πιστεύετε για το περιεχόμενό του - μάλλον θα συμφωνείτε ότι είναι ένα όμορφο αντικείμενο». Εσπευσε μάλιστα να συμπληρώσει ότι «το βιβλίο ως αντικείμενο, αν θέλει να επιβιώσει απέναντι στο ηλεκτρονικό βιβλίο, πρέπει να μοιάζει με κάτι που αξίζει κάποιος να αγοράσει και να διατηρήσει».
Οι πωλήσεις των βιβλίων της βραχείας λίστας παρουσίασαν εφέτος άνοδο 127% σε σχέση με πέρυσι. Ηταν η καλύτερη εμπορικά χρονιά για το βραβείο που απονέμει η πολυεθνική εταιρεία «Man». Συγκεκριμένα το βιβλίο του νικητή έχει πουλήσει πάνω από 27.500 αντίτυπα από τότε που κυκλοφόρησε.
Αξίζει να σημειωθεί ότι το 150 σελίδων μυθιστόρημα του Τζούλιαν Μπαρνς δεν είναι το πιο σύντομο που έχει βραβευτεί ποτέ με το Μπούκερ. Η Πενέλοπε Φιτζέραλντ κατέχει το ρεκόρ συντομίας με το μυθιστόρημα «Offshore» που είχε κερδίσει το 1979 με 132 σελίδες.
Το βιβλίο κυκλοφόρησε στη Μ. Βρετανία τον Αύγουστο του 2011 και μεταφράζεται ήδη σε πολλές γλώσσες. Από τις εκδόσεις «Μεταίχμιο» θα κυκλοφορήσει στις 21 Νοεμβρίου 2011σε μετάφραση Θωμά Σκάσση.


http://www.vimagazino.gr/culture/article/?aid=425786


Booker prize 2011: Julian Barnes triumphs at last


Julian Barnes finally won the literary prize that has eluded him on three previous occasions when he was tonight presented with the Man Booker prize for his short novel, The Sense of an Ending.
His victory came after one of the most bitter and vituperative run-ups to the prize in living memory - not among the shortlisted writers, but from dismayed and bemused commentators who accused judges of putting populism above genuine quality.
But few of those critics could claim Barnes' novel is not of the highest quality. The chair of this year's judges, former MI5 director general Stella Rimington, said it had "the markings of a classic of English Literature. It is exquisitely written, subtly plotted and reveals new depths with each reading."
Much of the row over the shortlist has stemmed from Rimington's own prioritisation of "readability" in the judging criteria. But tonight, she said quality had always been just as important.
"It is a very readable book, if I may use that word, but readable not only once but twice and even three times," she said. "It is incredibly concentrated. Crammed into this short space is a great deal of information which you don't get out of a first read."
Accepting the prize, Barnes thanked the judges for their wisdom and the sponsors for their cheque. He also offered some advice to publishers: "Those of you who have seen my book, whatever you think of its contents, will probably agree it is a beautiful object. And if the physical book, as we've come to call it, is to resist the challenge of the ebook, it has to look like something worth buying, worth keeping."
Afterwards Barnes admitted a sense of relief at finally winning. "I didn't want to go to my grave and get a Beryl," he said referring to Bainbridge, who was shortlisted five times, never won and received a posthumous Best of Beryl Booker prize.
He said the "readability" row had been "a false hare" to which he had paid little attention, adding: "Most great books are readable. Any shortlist of the last ten years that I've read has contained nothing but what you would call readable books."
Barnes once called the prize "posh bingo" and he said he had not changed his view – it simply depended on who the judges were and what they liked. "The Booker prize has a tendency to drive people a bit mad," he said, not least writers with "hope and lust and greed and expectation" so the best way to stay sane, he said, was by treating it as a lottery until you win "when you realise that the judges are the wisest heads in literary Christendom". Asked what he would spend the £50,000 prize money on he said a new watch strap was first on his list. "I could buy a whole new watch."
The book, at 150 pages, is undoubtedly short, but not the shortest to ever win the prize – that record belongs to Penelope Fitzgerald'sOffshore, which won in 1979 and is shorter by a few hundred words.
The Sense of an Ending, Barnes' 11th novel, explores memory: how fuzzy it can be and how we amend the past to suit our own wellbeing. It tells the story through the apparently insignificant and dull life of arts administrator Tony Webster.
"One of the things that the book does is talk about the human kind," said Rimington. "None of us really knows who we are. We present ourselves in all sorts of ways, but maybe the ways we present ourselves are not how we really are."
Rimington said the question of whether Barnes was overdue to win the £50,000 prize never entered her mind or figured in the debate. "We really were, and I know you find it very boring of me to say so, looking at the books that we had in front of us," she said.
Despite the sometimes hostile reaction to the shortlist, Rimington said she had enjoyed the process of judging. "I've been through many crises at one time or another in which this one pales, I must say. We've been very interested by the discussion. We've followed it sometimes with great glee and amusement. The fact that it has been in the headlines is very gratifying."
It took the judges (Rimington, MP Chris Mullin, author Susan Hill, the Daily Telegraph's head of books Gaby Wood and the former Spectator editor Matthew d'Ancona) just 31 minutes to decide on the winner, after what Rimington called "an interesting debate." They had been divided 3-2 at the beginning of the judging meeting, but were all agreed by the end.
"There was no blood on the carpet, nobody went off in a huff and we all ended up firm friends and happy with the result," she said.
Barnes, 65, had been shortlisted for the prize three times previously; in 1984 with Flaubert's Parrot, when he lost out to Anita Brookner; win 1998 with England, England, losing to Ian McEwan; and with Arthur & Georgein 2005, when he lost to John Banville.
What was particularly striking this year was that Barnes was the only seriously big hitter on the shortlist, and the only author to have been shortlisted previously.
The others on the shortlist were Carol Birch for her much-admiredJamrach's Menagerie, a historical high seas adventure; two Canadian writers - Patrick deWitt for The Sisters Brothers, a picaresque western, and Esi Edugyan for Half Blood Blues, which mixes the raw beauty of jazz and the terror of Nazism; and two debut novels – Stephen Kelman forPigeon English, which tells the story of a Ghanaian boy who turns detective on a south London housing estate; and AD Miller forSnowdrops, a Moscow-set tale of corruption and moral decline.
The shortlist undoubtedly prompted a livelier debate about what makes a great novel with many commentators annoyed by judge Chris Mullin's belief that a book had to "zip along" to be worthy of being considered.Last year's Booker chairman Andrew Motion also weighed in, accusing the judges of creating a "false divde" between what is high end and what is readable, and questioning the absence of authors such as Alan Hollinghurst, Edward St Aubyn and Ali Smith.
The row has also led to a group of writers, publishers and agentsannouncing plans to set up a rival literary prize that would reward the artistic achievement of a writer above 'readability.'
Full details of the Literature Prize have yet to be announced but the agent Andrew Kidd said they felt "a space has opened for a new prize which is unequivocally about excellence." However, not everyone condemned the shortlist. Book sellers, in particular, were happy with a list that resulted in record Booker sales. A spokesman for Waterstones, Jon Howell, called the critical reaction "ungracious sniping" and said Barnes was a worthy winner.
If anyone is upset at the win, it may well be the bookies. William Hill said more than half of all bets had been for Barnes, a 6/4 favourite.


• This article was amended on 19 October 2011. The original described Matthew d'Ancona as editor of the Spectator. This has been corrected to former editor.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/oct/18/booker-prize-julian-barnes-wins?newsfeed=true