Man Booker International Prize: Vernon Subutex makes it to the shortlist
On 12 April, the Man Booker International Prize first selection was reduced to a shortlist of six titles, among which we're thrilled to count Virginie Despentes's Vernon Subutex 1, translated by Frank Wynne for MacLehose Press! Congratulations to them and to the other shortlisted authors and translators!
To celebrate this, the Beyond Words festival will include a special closing event on Vernon Subutex, with French singer and performer Fishbach - who will also be playing Anais (a character from Vernon Subutex 2) in the new TV adaptation of the book by Canal +. Fishbach will be giving readings from the text and performing songs inspired by the world of the book. This will be on 21 May at the Institut français and you can book here!
The list of selected books for the Man Booker International Prize also includes:
The White Book, by South Korean author Han Kang, translated by Deborah Smith (Portobello Books)
The World Goes On, by Hungarian author László Krasznahorkai, translated by John Batki, Ottilie Mulzet & George Szirtes (Tuskar Rock Press)
Like a Fading Shadow, by Spanish author Antonio Muñoz Molina, translated by Camilo A. Ramirez (Tuskar Rock Press)
Frankenstein in Baghdad, by Iraqi author Ahmed Saadawi, translated by Jonathan Wright (Oneworld)
Flights, by Polish author Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Jennifer Croft (Fitzcarraldo Editions
Lisa Appignanesi, chair of the 2018 Man Booker International Prize judging panel, comments:
This is a shortlist emblematic of the many adventures of fiction – its making and reading. We have mesmeric meditations, raucous, sexy, state- of- the- nation stories, haunting sparseness and sprawling tales; enigmatic cabinets of curiosity, and daring acts of imaginative projection – all this plus sparkling encounters with prose in translation. We were sorry to have shed so much of our longlist talent, but this is a shortlist to read and re-read.
What next? The winner of the 2018 prize will be announced on 22 May at a formal dinner at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, with the £50,000 prize being divided equally between the author and the translator of the winning book.
In the meantime... Why not discover Vernon Subutex 1?
Vernon Subutex was once the proprietor of Revolver, an infamous music shop in Bastille. His legend spread throughout Paris. But by the 2000s, with the arrival of the internet and the decline in CDs and vinyl, his shop is struggling. When it closes, Subutex is out on a limb, with no idea what to do next. Nothing sticks. Before long, his savings are gone, his employment benefit is cut, and when the friend who had been covering his rent dies suddenly, Subutex finds himself relying on friends with spare sofas and ultimately alone and out on the Paris streets. But, as he is stretching out his hand to beg from strangers in the street, a throwaway comment he made on Facebook is taking the internet by storm.
Vernon does not realise this, of course. It has been many weeks since he was able to afford access to the internet, but the word is out: Vernon Subutex has in his possession the last filmed recordings of Alex Bleach, famous musician and Vernon’s benefactor, who recently died of a drug overdose. Unbeknownst to Vernon, a crowd of people, from record producers to online trolls and porn stars, are now on his trail.
The judges comment:
This book is a racy, sexy urban picaresque in which, through the horrors of contemporary capitalism, we learn a great deal about sex on the net, we learn a great deal about the relationships within the music industry. There is a kind of loneliness to the individual that comes out in this book which is very affecting and somehow very current.
Virginie Despentes was born in Nancy, France, in June 1969. She is a writer and filmmaker, and former maid, sex worker and freelance rock journalist. Her first novel, Baise-Moi, the controversial rape-revenge story, was published in 1992 and adapted for film in 2000. Upon release it became the first film to be banned in France for 28 years. She is the author of over 15 further works, including Apocalypse Baby (2010) and Bye Bye Blondie (2004) and the autobiographical essay, King Kong Theory (2006).
Frank Wynne was born in County Sligo, Ireland, in April 1962. He is an award-winning translator from French and Spanish. His previous translations include works by Pierre Lemaitre, Patrick Modiano and Michel Houellebecq. He lives in London.
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