I cannot work out the criteria here

Oct 17, 2016 18:45


The London Review of Books Bookshop Blog: The [Hypothetical] Booker Prize Winners, 1900-1968.
And I think, firstly, that if you are judging by present-day Booker criteria, how often, if ever, have you seen books that are funny, or genre, making the cut even on to the short list? I yield to none in my admiration for works such as The Pursuit of Love but it is so very much the kind of book that endures but does not win the Big Bow-Wow Prizes.
And I think, secondly, you are listing books that are still remembered today, at least among people who read litfic, which is a very uncertain guide to what would have won in the past, when I think we would have seen the names of e.g. Galsworthy, Hugh Walpole, Charles Morgan feature a lot more prominently.
And, in terms of personal taste WOT no Arnold Bennett and no Rebecca West? Take it away, Kenneth Williams!

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novels, genre, memory, mitfords, litfic, humour, awards, bennett, rebecca west, lists

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