Cultural Capital

Reflections on books and the arts from the New Statesman culture desk

Barnes wins the Man Booker prize

The judges get one thing right, at least.

By Jonathan Derbyshire Published 19 October 2011 11:56

In a belated attack of good sense, the judges of this year's Man Booker Prize rewarded Julian Barnes for his novel The Sense of an Ending. But in a remarkably graceless speech, the chair of the judges, Stella Rimington, couldn't resist a dig at critics of the shortlist (she no doubt had the NS's Leo Robson, among others, in mind), whom she accused of peddling "black propaganda". She insisted that she and her fellow judges had reacted to criticism of their shortlist (and their pronouncements defending their choices) with "great glee and amusement" - which rather cements the suspicion that she wasn't up to the job.

Read Leo Robson's review of The Sense of an Ending here.

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7 comments

Thu, 2011-10-20 08:24 — dfbhftgh (not verified)

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Wed, 2011-10-19 12:23 — Freeman2

I'm not sure using the expression 'great glee and amusement' means she wasn't up to the job. Which university did you go to Mr Derbyshire? I wonder if there's a little bit of that going on here.

Thu, 2011-10-20 14:03 — Chir0n

I was a little shocked when I first heard Rimmington was going to chair the Booker, but I'm now glad she did because it's revealed the hypocrisy of all those critics who see themselves as the gatekeepers of "Literature", but who in reality are only interested in maintaining the status quo.

The Booker is a tired old whore much like most of the "Literary" establishment. If another Shakespeare came along today, all of these clowns would miss him or (more likely) her while fawning over the latest novel by a boring middle-class author who's stuck in the 19th century.

Wed, 2011-10-19 18:12 — lightfoot (not verified)

I thought her speech was amusing, and her KGB parallels obviously meant as a joke. The only gracelessness here is Mr Derbyshire's....

Wed, 2011-10-19 19:11 — DK (not verified)

"Glee and amusement" are indeed inappropriate responses to reasoned and coherent criticisms of how the jury pressured the Booker Prize to recognize market success rather than literary quality (the two can go together, but they can't be assumed to). The Booker Prize has never been perfect, but the implicit accusation of elitism levelled at Jonathan Derbyshire is absurd. The real elitists are the hyper-rich elite, from Lord Browne through to the Murdochs, who all share undisguised contempt for values which are not those of the market place, and thus, amazingly, promote themselves as democratic populists, while insisting that all activity which doesn't produce private profit is worthless. I salute the New Statesman for calling time on such antics, and for insisting that more texts are "readable" than many would have us believe.