Booker sequel on Hilary’s Mantelpiece

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London: British novelist Hilary Mantel made history on Tuesday by becoming the first woman to win the Man Booker Prize twice, following up her ‘Wolf Hall’ success in 2009 with ‘Bring Up The Bodies’, the second book of the Tudor trilogy.
Others in the contest were India’s Jeet Thayil (Narcopolis), Will Self (Umbrella), Tan Twan Eng (The Garden of Evening Mists), Deborah Levy (Swimming Home) and Alison Moore (The Lighthouse).
Chair of judges Peter Stothard described Mantel as the “greatest modern English prose writer”, and told reporters she had rewritten the art of historical fiction with a sequel that “utterly surpassed” ‘Wolf Hall’, Mantel’s re-imagining of the rise of blacksmith’s son Thomas Cromwell to the top of the court of King Henry VIII. Stothard, editor of the Times Literary Supplement, likened Cromwell’s character to Don Corleone of the famous ‘Godfather’ series.
‘Bring Up the Bodies’, published by HarperCollins imprint Fourth Estate, picks up the action in 1535 with Anne Boleyn’s spectacular fall from grace and execution the following year.
There could yet be a third Booker for Mantel.The final part of her trilogy, ‘The Mirror and the Light’, is expected to hit the shelves in 2015. AGENCIES
PRIZE DOUBLES
Peter Carey | Oscar and Lucinda (1988) and True History of the Kelly Gang (2001)
J M Coetzee | Life & Times of Michael K (1983) and Disgrace (1999)
Hillary Mantel first woman to win the Booker Prize twice
‘Bring Up the Bodies’ is also the first direct sequel to win the prize. ‘Wolf Hall’ won in 2009 Portrait of Cromwell inspired Mantel
Hilary Mantel described the process of writing the book as a gruelling experience, saying: “I can’t remember a time in my writing life when I was so beaten up by a book.” She said when the going got tough, she would pause to draw inspiration from a portrait of Thomas Cromwell that hangs in her Devon home. “You wait 20 years for a Booker Prize, and two come along at once,” she said in her acceptance speech at London’s medieval Guildhall. “I regard this as an act of faith and a vote of confidence.”
A former social worker, Mantel first attempted historical fiction in 1979 with ‘A Place of Greater Safety’, set during the French Revolution. It was rejected by every publisher who read it and did not see the light of day until 1992. However, such is her popularity now that the BBC has snapped up the rights to ‘Wolf Hall’ and ‘Bring Up The Bodies’ and is turning them into a six-part period drama.
“If you are looking for comparing it with things, you can see as much Don Corleone in this book as DH Lawrence,” Stothard said. “There is certainly a Godfather element to this book including, I have to say, the moral ambiguity of the Don Corleone/Thomas Cromwell figure.
The way she uses language to make you slightly uncertain as to whether or not Cromwell is acting wrongly or rightly, or sincerely or insincerely... is all created by prose.”
Stothard, who sought to impose rigorous literary criticism to the judging process this year, said ‘Bring up the Bodies’ had surpassed ‘Wolf Hall’, calling it “tighter”. “This is a bloody story of the death of Anne Boleyn and the pursuit of Anne Boleyn, but Hilary Mantel is a writer who thinks through the blood. She uses her power of prose to create moral ambiguity and the real uncertainty about political life then,” Stothard said.
He banned fellow judges, including “Downton Abbey” actor Dan Stevens, from mentioning books other than the six novels shortlisted for the prize and from expressing a personal preference for any of the nominees.
Stothard also prevented the fivemember panel from taking the decision to a vote, saying that the winning novel was the one for which the arguments in favour proved strongest. “We have never had a vote at any point in our long discussions,” he explained. “I don't believe that art can be reduced to numbers.” AGENCIES