Philip Roth just won the Man Booker International Prize, an award given out every two years to an author for their body of work, but not without some controversy. One of the three judges awarding the honor is really not a fan of Roth’s oeuvre: Carmen Callil, a feminist publisher, recused herself from the panel rather than be part of a body that honored Roth. She told the Guardian, “He goes on and on and on about the same subject in almost every single book. It’s as though he’s sitting on your face and you can’t breathe [Editor’s note: this is not, we don’t think, an intentional callback to Portnoy’s Complaint.] … I don’t rate him as a writer at all. I made it clear that I wouldn’t have put him on the longlist, so I was amazed when he stayed there. He was the only one I didn’t admire — all the others were fine … Emperor’s clothes: in 20 years’ time will anyone read him?” So, it’s possible Callil secretly has the ear of the Nobel Prize awarding committee as well? [Guardian UK]
