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The British Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, presents the Man Booker of fiction 2018 to British writer Anna Burns on the occasion of her 50th year at the London Guildhall on Tuesday, October 16, 2018. (Frank Augstein, Pool / Associated Press)
LONDON – Anna Burns on Tuesday won the prestigious Man Booker Award for Fiction with "Milkman", a vibrant and violent story about men, women, conflict and power that took place during years of violence between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland.
Burns is the first writer in Northern Ireland to win the 50,000-pound ($ 66,000) prize, open to English-language writers from around the world. She received her trophy from Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, during a black tie ceremony at the medieval Guildhall in London.
"Milkman" is told by a young woman who deals with an older man who uses family ties, social pressure and political loyalty as weapons of sexual coercion and harassment. It takes place in the 1970s, but was published at the time of the worldwide eruption of allegations of sexual misconduct that led to the "Me too" movement.
"I think this novel will help people think about" Me Too ", and I love novels that help people think about current movements and challenges," said philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah, chairman of the jury. . "But we think it's going to last – it's not just something happening right now.
"I think it's a very powerful novel about the damage and the danger of the rumor," he added.
Burns beat five other novelists, including bookmakers' favorites: The Ecological Epic "The Overstory" by American writer Richard Powers and the "Black Washington" by Canadian novelist Esi Edugyan, which tells the story of a slave. who escapes from a hot air balloon plantation.
The other finalists were "The Mars Room" by American novelist Rachel Kushner, who lives in a women's prison; Robin Robertson's The Long Take, a verse novel about a traumatized veteran of D-Day; and the "Everything Under" family saga by British 27-year-old Daisy Johnson, inspired by Greek tragedy.
Founded in 1969, the Man Booker Prize was originally open to British, Irish and Commonwealth writers. The Americans have been eligible since 2014 and there were two US winners: Paul Beatty's "The Sellout" in 2016 and George Saunders's "Lincoln in the Bardo" in 2017.
A third consecutive American winner would have revived fears among some British writers and publishers that the award becomes too focused on their country. But Appiah said neither the nationality nor the sex of the authors was a factor in the deliberation of the judges on the shortlist of four authors and two men.
"If we had thought that one of the men on the list was the best, I would not have said," No guys, we're going to get in trouble for that, "nor would we have been drifting to an American," did he declare. "We chose the one that deserves the most."
Man Booker has a reputation for transforming the writers' careers and the one who will come out on the field to beat the other finalists is always subject to vivid speculation and dynamic betting. Past winners include Salman Rushdie, Ian McEwan, Arundhati Roy and Hilary Mantel.
It is likely that Burns, who is 56 years old and has already published two previously published novels, has great momentum, but is not widely known.
"Milkman" appears on the printed page as a continuous torrent with few paragraph marks, which has led some to describe it as experimental and difficult. But Appiah said that Belfast's sharp and distinctive language in Burns' book was "really to be savored".
"If you're having trouble, try reading it out loud," he said. "The pleasure it has to see is related to how it sounds.
"It's difficult in the way riding a Snowdon mount is difficult. It is well worth it because the view is superb when you arrive at the top. "
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Follow Jill Lawless on Twitter at http://Twitter.com/JillLawless
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