We reached out to Howard Jacobson, winner of the 2010 Man Booker prize (The Finkler Question), for his thoughts on David Grossman winning the 2017 Man Booker International Prize for his novel, A Horse Walks Into a Bar.
“I was delighted to be among the first to shake David Grossman’s hand on Wednesday night after he won the Man Booker International Prize for the years’ best novel in translation. Not all writers evoke their work in their person, but Grossman has a melancholy nobility of demeanor that reminds you at once of his writing. The audience at the Victoria and Albert Museum listened to his words in silence and applauded him and his novel with fervor. He is one of those who remind you of the incomparable importance of literature. I am delighted for him.”
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Martin Amis and Howard Jacobson Get the Holocaust Backwards, From Different Angles
Jonathan Zalman is a writer and teacher based in Brooklyn.
