The “leftovers of empire”: Commonwealth writers and the Booker Prize

Morris, Paula

doi:10.1080/17449855.2020.1728914

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…58 The Booker has received considerable criticism for this move, as its putative globalisation in effect hastens a new centralisation, an Atlanticist focus situated between the publishing capitals of London and New York. 59 But what has thus far gone under-discussed in the Booker Prize's makeover is how the Foundation concomitantly refashioned its International Prize, transforming the award into the Booker's foreign-language equivalent as an annual celebration of contemporary fiction published in Englishlanguage translation. According to the Booker group, this 'rationalisation' of the two prizes was designed to 'reward the best books published anywhere on the globe, in any language, as long as they have a publisher in Britain regardless of where they were first published'.…”

Section: Prizing Translation: the Vegetarian And The International Booker Prizementioning

confidence: 99%

Han Kang’s The Vegetarian and the International Booker Prize: reading with and against world literary prestige

O’Key

2021

Textual Practice

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In 2016, the English-language translation of Han Kang's 2007 novel The Vegetarian was awarded the Booker group's International Prize for fiction. Although reviewers have tended to interpret the novel's plot pessimistically, as a perilous descent into starvation, literary critics have argued that The Vegetarian dramatises an ecofeminist refusal of carnism and patriarchy. Yet both of these interpretations neglect crucial textual and extra-textual features of Han's novel. In fact, the text's generic and narrative ambiguities on the one side, and its celebrated position within contemporary world literary publishing culture on the other, suggest that there are limits to reading The Vegetarian as a radically posthumanist tale of becoming-plant. This essay therefore reconsiders The Vegetarian in light of its narrative form and its incorporation into the world literary canon. By doing this I will not only complicate existing close readings of Han Kang's work. I will also develop literary-sociological analyses of prize-giving and the publishing industry, while at the same time interrogating the extent to which contemporary literature challenges and becomes folded into global capital.

show abstract

Section: Prizing Translation: the Vegetarian And The International Booker Prizementioning

confidence: 99%

Han Kang’s The Vegetarian and the International Booker Prize: reading with and against world literary prestige

O’Key

2021

Textual Practice

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

The “leftovers of empire”: Commonwealth writers and the Booker Prize

Cited by 1 publication

References 0 publications

Han Kang’s The Vegetarian and the International Booker Prize: reading with and against world literary prestige

Han Kang’s The Vegetarian and the International Booker Prize: reading with and against world literary prestige

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About