近四分之一世紀的最佳名著可讀完一遍，就不得了了。


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What's the Best Novel in the past 25 years?

早上起來，看到《衛報》寫The Observer也在搞What's the best novel in the past 25 years? 一時覺得十分有趣，簡直興味盎然。
果不其然，這是因為之前《紐約時報》書籍版主編Sam Tanenhaus先玩了一次，選出了美國近25年來的最佳「美國小說」，這顯然讓英國佬耿耿於懷，於是這次《The Observer》便決定在布克獎開獎前，也來搞個the best British, Irish or Commonwealth novel from 1980 to 2005.
（關於The Best Work of American Fiction of The Last 25 Years，請參見：http://blog.roodo.com/franwu/archives/1652327.html，在回應欄裡尚有A.O. Scott對整個活動的評論、講解）

《衛報》在評論《紐約時報》的榜單時，提到一件事，簡直令我心有戚戚焉。即，Paul Auster, Lorrie Moore and Anne Tyler等人竟成為遺珠，這非常令人遺憾。
（我喜歡Paul Auster應該已經是公開的祕密；Paul Auster最近有兩本小說被翻成中文版，大家或可參考，分別是：《神諭之夜》和《布魯克林的納善先生》）


回到正題。
《衛報》說這個活動是：So, as the Booker prize season approached, The Observer decided to ask the same question about British fiction, for the same generation, 1980-2005, with one difference. Our definition of 'British', following Booker, would include Ireland and the literary traditions of the Commonwealth.
共有150位作家被邀請參與這次的活動。同樣地，他們也告訴他們的評審者，'how you define "best" is up to you'.
結果如何自然迭有驚奇，有意思的是，Only one writer voted for himself.（不知道這位毛遂自薦的作家是誰？）


最後結果是由JM Coetzee的《屈辱》（Disgrace）奪魁。與Toni Morrison's Beloved（Beloved）有類似的主題，都是在談論黑人與白人之間的關係。
（Toni Morrison's Beloved是The Best Work of American Fiction of The Last 25 Years的首獎）


完整名單如下：


First place

Disgrace (1999)
JM Coetzee

Coetzee became the first writer to win the Booker Prize for a second time with this exploration of post- apartheid South Africa, which centres on Professor David Lurie, in self-imposed exile at his daughter's remote farm after an ill-advised affair with a student.

Second place

Money (1984)
Martin Amis

Super-charged, anarchic and full of narrative acrobatics, Money burst on to the Eighties literary scene leaving a trail of imitators and devotees in its wake, not least because of its formidable, if frequently repulsive narrator, ad director John Self .

Joint third place

Earthly Powers (1980)
Anthony Burgess

Homosexual writer Keith Toomey is asked to write the memoirs of the late Pope Gregory XVII - a commission that takes him on a whirlwind recap of the major events of the 20th century.

Atonement (2001)
Ian McEwan

Opening in 1935 , Atonement focuses on Briony Tallis , at first as a 13-year-old implicated in the conviction of a family friend for rape and, latterly, an elderly novelist on the brink of losing her memory.

The Blue Flower (1995)
Penelope Fitzgerald

Fitzgerald's final novel is frequently cited as her masterpiece. It recreates the life of the 18th-century German poet and philosopher Novalis , focusing on his romance with a 12-year-old girl .

The Unconsoled (1995)
Kazuo Ishiguro

Ishiguro's intricate, dream-like fourth novel marked a radical departure from the more conventional narratives of his earlier work, evoking the great European masters of film as much as fiction.

Midnight's Children (1981)
Salman Rushdie

Rushdie's second novel not only won the Booker prize but was also awarded the 'Booker of Bookers' in 1993. It unites powerful subject matter - the partition of India - with a dazzling, playful style.

Joint eighth place

The Remains of the Day (1989)
Kazuo Ishiguro

Stevens , a butler at Darlington Hall, takes a trip to the West Country . His memories - particularly of the late Lord Darlington , revealed as a Nazi sympathiser - throw into sharp relief the novel's themes of collusion, betrayal and repression.

Amongst Women (1990)
John McGahern

A powerful meditation on 20th-century Irish history, particularly focusing on the Troubles, this novel was a runner-up for the Booker prize of 1990, and a national bestseller, confirming its author's reputation as Ireland's leading novelist.

That They May Face the Rising Sun (2001)
John McGahern

A study of a rural community in Ireland, the changing seasons and the gradual creep of modernity. A genre-bending fiction that incorporates memoir, history, folklore and a therapeutic reprise of the author's own career.

Other nominations

Hawksmoor (1985) Peter Ackroyd

The Old Devils (1986) Kingsley Amis

Behind the Scenes at the Museum (1995) Kate Atkinson

The Handmaid's Tale (1985) Margaret Atwood

An Awfully Big Adventure (1989) Beryl Bainbridge

The Wasp Factory (1984) Iain Banks

The Untouchable (1997) John Banville

The Regeneration Trilogy (1991-95) Pat Barker

Flaubert's Parrot (1984) Julian Barnes

A Long, Long Way (2005) Sebastian Barry

Ill Seen Ill Said (1981) Samuel Beckett

Possession: A Romance (1990) AS Byatt

True History of the Kelly Gang (2000) Peter Carey

A Perfect Spy (1986) John le Carre

Nights at the Circus (1984), Wise Children (1991) Angela Carter

Waiting for the Barbarians (1980), Age of Iron (1990), Masters of Petersburg (1994) JM Coetzee

The Barrytown Trilogy (1987-91) Roddy Doyle

Gwendolen (1989) Buchi Emecheta

Birdsong (1993) Sebastian Faulks

The Beginning of Spring (1988) Penelope Fitzgerald

To the Ends of the Earth: A Sea Trilogy (1980-89) William Golding

Unlikely Stories, Mostly (1983), 1982, Janine (1984) Alasdair Gray

Transit of Venus (1981) Shirley Hazzard

Ridley Walker (1980) Russell Hoban

The Line of Beauty (2004) Alan Hollinghurst

Never Let Me Go (2005) Kazuo Ishiguro

A Disaffection (1989), How Late It Was, How Late (1994) James Kelman

The Buddha of Suburbia (1990) Hanif Kureishi

English Passengers (2004) Matthew Kneale

The Life of Pi (2002) Yann Martel

As Meat Loves Salt (2001) Maria McCann

The Comfort of Strangers (1981), Enduring Love (1997) Ian McEwan

No Great Mischief (1999) Alistair MacLeod

Fugitive Pieces (1996) Anne Michaels

The Restraint of Beasts (1998) Magnus Mills

A Fine Balance (1995) Rohinton Mistry

Mother London (1988) Michael Moorcock

The Enigma of Arrival (1987) VS Naipaul

After You'd Gone (2000) Maggie O'Farrell

His Dark Materials Trilogy (1995-2000) Philip Pullman

I Was Dora Suarez (1990) Derek Raymond

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (2005) JK Rowling

The God of Small Things (1997) Arundhati Roy

A Suitable Boy (1993) Vikram Seth

Hotel World (2001) Ali Smith

A Far Cry From Kensington (1988) Muriel Spark

The White Hotel (1981) DM Thomas

Restoration (1989) Sacred Country (1992) Rose Tremain

Omeros (1990) Derek Walcott

The Passion (1987) Jeanette Winterson

http://blog.roodo.com/franwu/archives/2272868.html

真的有人辦得到嗎？