Man Booker Prize awarded for the first time to a north american- Diário de Notícias – Lisbon

Four hours. This was the time that the jury needed to award the prize to Paul Beatty for its satire of racial Sellout

Paul Beatty, aged 54 years, came yesterday to the story of the most important literary prize of the English language assigned in the United Kingdom. Not only won the award – and raised the prize money for 59 thousand euros – as they became the first american to achieve the feat, in what was the third edition after the change of rules that went on to admit applications from writers of all nationalities provided they write in English, and the books were published in the United Kingdom.

“it May be hard to believe, coming from a black, but I never stole anything”. So, in a free translation, which begins Sellout, the satire of racial Paul Betty, “a book that preaches the player to cross, in a joyful abandonment, but that is why it works: to be nailed, the reader gets hooked,” said the historian Amanda Foreman, who this year chaired the jury of the prize which, since 1969, distinguishes the best novels published in the uk market.

last night, after the dinner of ceremony at the Guindhall, in London, with the presence of the Duchess of Cornwall, Camila, who presented the award to Paul Betty, the author spoke, visibly moved “the long journey” that has been your life. “I don’t want to be dramatic, [saying] that writing saved my life or something like that – but writing has given me a life,” he said.

according To the jury, which took four hours to decide unanimously on the name of the winner, the book “lays bare all the social taboos and nuances politacamente correct, all the sacred cows, and at the same time makes us laugh and tremble. It’s funny and painful at the same time.”

“Sellout is one of those rare books able to pick up on the satire, a subject that is very difficult and not always done well, and delves into the heart of contemporary american society with a humor absolutely wild of a genre that already has not seen since Swift or Twain”, said Foreman.

Published in the Uk by Oneworld – the same publishing house that backed the book A Brief History of Seven Killings, the jamaican Marlon James, winner of the 2015 edition – the novel tells the story of a narrator of the black american displeased with the course of life, and to affirm their identity afro-american, seeks to re-establish slavery and segregation in your city “ghetto” agrarian.

According to the british newspapers, the book refers to over 200 times the word nigger and 233 the word fuck. Paul Beatty, published his first book, Big Bank Take Little Bank in 1991, has already admitted in interviews to the press in English that readers can find the book difficult to digest. Something that does not bother minimally Amanda Foreman: “fiction should not be comfortable. It is rare for the truth to be beautiful”.

The other five finalists were Paul Beaty (United States), with The Sellout, published by Oneworld, Deborah Levy (United Kingdom), with Hot Milk, published by Hamish Hamilton, Graeme Macrae Burnet (United Kingdom), with His Bloody Project, published by Contraband,Otessa Mosgfegh (United States), with Eileen, published by Jonathan Cape, David Szalay (Canada/United States of America), with All That Man Is, also published by Jonathan Cape and Madeleine Thien (Canada), Do Not Say We Have Nothing, published by Granta Books, is viewed as one of the favorites to win this year’s edition.