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#Books
[Long] The Booker Prize
A crowning achievement in literature
Updated: 2023.05.03
9 min read · Advanced
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[Long] The Booker Prize

Early in September I march down to my local bookshop, reusable cotton tote in hand, to buy every book shortlisted for the Booker Prize. This ritual is accompanied by several weeks of feverish reading sequestered [1] in various libraries and coffee shops around my city, in anticipation of the winner being announced. I regret to inform you, reader, that I have never once correctly guessed the winner, but each shortlisted book I have read has proven to be truly excellent, which is why I have become something of a Booker fanatic. In the modern age of YouTube and TikTok book reviewers, as well as sites such as Goodreads that allow every reader to post reviews and star ratings, some see literary prizes as a relic from the snooty and elitist past of the literary establishment. This bookworm, however, seeks to champion the merits of the Booker Prize, and encourage you to use it to find your next read.

What is the Booker Prize?

Although it has had various names since the prize was founded in 1969, the Booker is a literary prize awarded to fiction published in the English language by writers from within the commonwealth. It has a sister prize, the International Booker, whose board of judges choose the best work in translation from all over the world. Past winners of the Booker include John Berger, J.M. Coetzee, and Margaret Atwood. Each year a panel of judges, comprised of literary giants from all genders, races, and creeds, first puts forth a ‘longlist’, then a shortlist [2], of the best books of the year, from which a winner is ultimately announced. The winner is awarded £50,000 in prize money, as well as the title of ‘Booker Prize winner’ which carries considerable weight and prestige within the literary sphere.

A Defence of the Booker

The very concept that a ‘number one book’ can be decided upon by a group of literary insiders is a controversial one. On the face of it, we award prizes for all manner of things in the UK, such as for racing a giant cheese down a hill (Google: Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling), for growing the largest turnip at the village fête (UK National Giant Vegetables Championship), and for closely resembling your pet dog (Country Living Magazine). What is so different about awarding writers for literary excellence? Differing opinions are inevitable, and the coming-together of minds to select a single title as the champion is fraught with arguments and controversies. At no other time of the year are people fighting tooth and nail to defend a book or rip another to shreds. It sparks a public discourse like no other, and I follow along with rapt attention year after year.

My defence of the Booker against its critics is threefold. Firstly, the Booker has long championed women, awarding a prize to Bernice Rubens in its second year, all the way back in 1970, and many more women since. As you can imagine, this is unfortunately not the norm when it comes to literary awards (or, in fact, awards of most kinds). The Nobel Prize for Literature, for example, has been awarded to 15 women (and 101 men) since its inception. The Booker counts 18 women (and 35 men) among its past winners. The Booker has trailblazed [3] not only in regards to gender equality; both the panels and the winners feature writers from a diverse range of ethnic backgrounds. This should not be considered exceptional, but sadly, it is.

The second commendable [4] feature of the Booker is arguably the most relevant point: the books that make it onto the shortlist, and by extension the winner too, are excellent. Some of my favorites include Case Study by Graeme Macrae Burnet, from 2022’s list, which tells the story of an unnamed narrator in the form of her notebook entries as she investigates a disgraced psychotherapist who she suspects of involvement in her sister’s untimely death. Another favorite is DBC Pierre’s Vernon God Little, which won the 2003 Booker prize, a black comedy about the aftermath of a school shooting. The previously mentioned South African author J.M. Coetzee has won the Booker twice, and his second winning novel Disgrace is a masterclass in fiction, and a must-read for fellow lovers of an unreliable narrator.

Lastly, as previously mentioned, the prize money for the Booker is £50,000, making it one of the most lucrative [5] prizes in fiction. Besides the prize money, sales are boosted for the shortlisted novels, and they often sell out and reprints are expedited by publishing houses. It is incredibly difficult to become a professional writer, and most need to take on odd jobs to make enough money to get by. The cash injection that a Booker nomination brings can be life changing for an unknown author. Take DBC Pierre, who won with his debut novel and had the course of his career permanently altered. 2020’s winner, Scottish writer Douglas Stuart, grew up in a working-class area of Glasgow and won with his first novel Shuggie Bain, inspired by his childhood raised by an alcoholic mother before her addiction-related death when he was just sixteen years old. In an interview with the Duchess of Cornwall, he stated that the Booker prize had ‘transformed’ his life.

Han Kang’s The Vegetarian & Controversy

The Booker Prize is nothing if not controversial, and one of the most divisive [6] controversies occurred in 2016 when South Korean writer Han Kang, and her English translator Deborah Smith, were declared the winners of the International Booker Prize for that year. The Korean media rallied against Deborah Smith, with academic Charse Yun describing her work as an ‘adaptation’ rather than a translation. Deborah wrote a defence of her translation for the Los Angeles Review of Books, explaining that; ‘there is no such thing as a truly literal translation — no two languages’ grammars match, their vocabularies diverge, even punctuation has a different weight — there can be no such thing as a translation that is not “creative.” And while most of us translators think of ourselves as “faithful,” definitions of faithfulness can differ’. Han Kang has defended Smith, and chosen her as the translator for her subsequent novels Human Acts and The White Book, a display of solidarity that should not go unremarked upon. Translation is no mean feat, and translating fiction and poetry is widely considered to be one of the most onerous [7] and challenging tasks for translators. While Deborah Smith’s translation does indeed deviate from the original text, it was the Booker Prize’s recognition of both writer and translator that brought Han Kang to the west and brought this conversation to the cultural zeitgeist.

As with any prize, the Booker is not immune to controversy. Whether that be a flimsy [8] grasp of their own rules, or the ongoing debate surrounding the role of translators. Nevertheless, the Booker is here to stay, and I hope that my argument in favour of it was suitably compelling. Strolling through the aisles of your local bookshop in search of a new book can be a dizzying experience. There are so many new titles from first-time authors, with each book jacket proclaiming that this is the most promising work of fiction so far this century. So, if you are searching for something good to read this year, I recommend selecting a book from the Booker Prize shortlist for a guaranteed page-turner at the cutting edge of modern literature.

[긴 지문] 부커상

9월 초가 되면 저는 코튼으로 된 에코백을 들고 동네 서점에 가서 부커상 최종 후보에 오른 책을 모두 구입합니다. 이 의식은 최종 수상자 발표를 기다리는 몇 주 동안 제가 살고 있는 도시 곳곳의 도서관이나 커피숍의 구석에 앉아 열렬히 그 책들을 읽는 일과 동시에 일어납니다. 말씀드리기 부담스럽게도 저는 단 한 번도 수상자를 맞춘 적은 없지만, 제가 읽은 후보작은 전부 뛰어났고 그것이 제가 부커상의 열혈 팬이 된 이유입니다. 굿리즈와 같이 누구나가 서평과 별점을 게시할 수 있는 사이트가 있고, 유튜브나 틱톡 서평이 널려 있는 요즘에 문학상이란 것을 기성 문학계의 속물적이고 엘리트주의적인 과거의 유물로 보는 사람들도 있습니다. 하지만 책벌레인 저는 부커상의 장점을 극찬하고 여러분이 다음에 읽을 책을 찾는 데 부커상을 활용하시라고 권해드립니다.

부커상이란?

1969년 제정된 이래 다양한 명칭으로 불려온 부커상은 영연방 내 작가가 영어로 출판한 소설을 대상으로 하는 문학상입니다. 부커상에는 자매격인 국제 부커상이 있는데, 이 상의 심사위원단은 전 세계에서 영어로 번역되어 출판된 소설 중 최고의 작품을 선정합니다. 부커의 역대 수상자로는 존 버거, J. M. 쿳시, 마거릿 애트우드 등이 있습니다. 매년 성별, 인종, 신념을 다양하게 대변하는 문학계 거장들로 구성된 심사위원단이 그해 최고의 책 중 “롱리스트”를 먼저 발표하고 그런 다음 최종 후보작(숏리스트)을 고른 후 그 중에서 최종 수상자를 선정 발표합니다. 수상자에게는 5만 파운드의 상금과 함께 문학계에서 상당한 무게와 명성을 지닌 “부커상 수상자”라는 타이틀이 부여됩니다.

부커상에 대한 변

“최고의 책”을 문학계 내부자 몇 명이 결정할 수 있다는 개념 자체는 논란의 여지가 있습니다. 얼핏 보아도 영국에는 온갖 것에 대한 상이 있습니다. 예를 들면 언덕에서 거대한 치즈 굴리기 대회(구글 검색어:쿠퍼스 힐 치즈 롤링), 마을 축제에서 가장 큰 순무를 재배한 사람에 대한 상(영국 전국 거대 채소 챔피언십), 자기 애완견과 가장 닮은 사람 뽑기 대회회 (컨트리 리빙 매거진) 등입니다. 그렇다면 뛰어난 문학성에 대해 작가에게 상을 수여하는 것은 어떤 점이 다를까요? 서로 의견이 다른 것은 피할 수 없는 일이기 때문에 하나의 작품을 챔피언으로 선정하기 위해 의견을 모으는 과정은 논쟁과 논란으로 가득 차 있습니다. 일 년 중 한 책을 옹호하고 다른 책을 완전히 짓밟기 위해 사람들이 이보다 더 사활을 걸고 싸우는 때는 없습니다. 그 어느 때보다 대중의 담론이 촉발되고, 저는 해마다 열렬한 관심을 가지고 이를 지켜봅니다.

부커상을 비판하는 사람들에 반해 제가 이 상을 옹호하는 이유는 세 가지입니다. 첫째, 부커상은 오래전인 1970년 2회 때 버니스 루벤스에게 상을 수여한 이래로 많은 여성 작가들에게 상을 수여하면서 오랫동안 여성을 옹호해 왔습니다. 여러분이 쉽게 짐작하듯이 문학상(사실 대부분의 상)에 있어서는 안타깝게도 이것이 당연한 일이 아닙니다. 노벨 문학상을 예로 살펴보면 이 상은 제정 이래 15명의 여성(101명의 남성)에게 수여되었습니다. 부커상은 역대 수상자 중 여성이 18명(남성 35명)입니다. 부커상은 양성 평등의 차원에서만 선구적인 역할을 한 것이 아닙니다. 심사위원들과 수상자 모두 다양한 인종적 배경을 가진 작가들을 특징으로 합니다. 이런 것들이 예외적인 일로 간주되어서는 안되겠지만 애석하게도 현재는 그렇습니다.

부커상을 칭송할 만한 두번째 특징은 아마도 가장 당연한 점, 즉 최종 후보에 오른 책들, 나아가 수상작들 모두 훌륭한 작품이라는 점입니다. 제가 가장 좋아하는 책으로는 2022년 후보작인 그레임 맥레이 버넷의 “사례 연구”가 있는데, 여동생의 갑작스러운 죽음에 연루된 것으로 의심되는 불명예스러운 심리치료사를 조사하는 익명의 화자의 이야기를 그녀가 노트에 기록하는 형식으로 풀어냈습니다. 제가 좋아하는 또 다른 작품은 학교 총격 사건의 여파를 다룬 블랙 코미디로 2003년 부커상을 수상한 DBC 피에르의 “버논 갓 리틀”입니다. 앞서 언급한 남아프리카공화국의 작가 J. M. 쿳시는 부커상을 두 번이나 수상했으며, 그의 두번째 수상작인 소설 “추락”는 최고의 걸작으로 저처럼 신뢰하기 어려운 화자의 이야기를 좋아하는 독자라면 꼭 읽어봐야 할 작품입니다.

마지막으로, 앞서 언급했듯이 부커상 상금은 5만 파운드로 소설 분야에서 상금이 가장 후한 상 중 하나입니다. 상금 외에도 최종 후보에 오른 소설은 그 판매량이 증가하고 매진되어 출판사가 신속하게 재판을 내는 경우도 흔합니다. 직업적인 작가가 되기는 몹시 어렵고 대부분의 작가들은 생활비를 벌기 위해 여러가지 다른 일을 해야 합니다. 부커상 후보로 선정되어 돈이 들어오면 무명 작가의 삶은 완전히 바뀔 수 있습니다. 예를 들면 DBC 피에르는 데뷔 소설로 부커상을 수상한 후 삶의 궤적이 완전히 바뀌었습니다. 2020년 수상자인 스코틀랜드 작가 더글라스 스튜어트는 글래스고의 노동자들이 사는 지역에서 자랐으며, 그가 겨우 16살이었을 때 알코올 중독자인 어머니가 중독과 관련된 이유로 사망하기 전까지 어머니와 보낸 어린 시절에서 영감을 받아 쓴 첫번째 소설 “슈기 베인”으로 부커상을 수상했습니다. 콘월 공작부인과의 인터뷰에서 그는 부커상이 자신의 삶을 “탈바꿈”시켰다고 말했습니다.

한강의 “채식주의자”와 논란

부커상은 늘 논란이 따르는 상으로, 그 중 가장 의견이 양분되었던 논란 중 하나는 2016년 한국 작가 한강과 그의 영어 번역가 데보라 스미스가 그해 국제 부커상 수상자로 선정되었을 때입니다. 한국 언론은 데보라 스미스를 비난했고 차스 윤교수는 그녀의 작품은 번역이라기 보다는 “각색”이라고 했습니다. 이에 데보라 스미스는 “로스앤젤레스 리뷰 오브 북스”에 자신의 번역을 옹호하는 글을 기고했습니다: “두 언어의 문법이 일치하지 않고, 어휘가 다르고, 심지어 구두점의 비중도 다른 상황에서 진정 문자 그대로의 번역이란 있을 수 없으며 ‘창의적’이지 않은 번역이란 있을 수 없습니다. 그리고 저희 대부분의 번역가들은 스스로를 원문에 ‘충실하다’고 생각하지만, 충실함에 대한 정의는 저마다 다를 수 있습니다.” 한강은 스미스를 옹호하여 후속 소설 “소년이 온다"와 “흰”의 번역자로 스미스를 선택했는데, 이는 간과해서는 안될 연대의 표시입니다. 번역은 대단한 위업이며 특히 소설과 시를 번역하는 것은 번역가에게 가장 부담스럽고 까다로운 작업 중 하나로 널리 알려져 있습니다. 데보라 스미스의 번역이 원문에서 벗어난 것은 사실이지만, 한강을 서양에 알리고 이러한 담론을 당대의 문화적 초점으로 끌어들인 것은 바로 작가와 번역가의 부커상 수상이었습니다.

다른 상과 마찬가지로 부커상도 논란에서 자유롭지 않습니다. 자체 규정을 어설프게 이해하거나 번역가의 역할을 둘러싼 논쟁이 계속되는 등 여러가지가 있습니다. 그럼에도 불구하고 부커상은 계속 유지될 것이며, 저는 부커상을 지지하는 제 주장이 충분히 설득력이 있기를 바랍니다. 새 책을 찾아 동네 서점의 서가 사이를 다니는 것은 결정이 쉽지 않은 혼란스런 경험일 수 있습니다. 책 표지마다 금세기 가장 유망한 소설 작품이라는 문구가 적혀 있는 신인 작가의 신간이 너무 많습니다. 그러므로 올해 읽을 만한 좋은 책을 찾고 있으시다면 부커상 최종 후보작 중 하나를 고르시기를 권합니다. 분명 현대 문학의 최첨단에 있는 흥미로운 책일 것이라고 장담합니다.

Discussion Questions
Q1
In your own words, please briefly summarize the article.
여러분의 언어로 교재를 간단히 요약해 주세요.
Q2
What part of the reading resonated with you most?
이번 교재에서 가장 공감하는 내용은 무엇인가요?
Q3
Have you heard of the Booker Prize before?
부커상에 대해 들어본 적이 있나요?
Q4
What are the advantages and disadvantages of literary prizes?
문학상의 장점과 단점은 무엇인가요?
Q5
When buying a book to read, how much attention do you pay to reviews and accolades?
읽을 책을 구매할 때 리뷰와 평가에 얼마나 많은 관심을 기울이나요?
Q6
Have you read Han Kang’s The Vegetarian? If yes, what did you think?
한강의 『채식주의자』를 읽어보셨나요? 그렇다면 어떻게 생각하셨나요?
Q7
What do you make of the controversy surrounding the translation of The Vegetarian?
채식주의자 번역을 둘러싼 논란에 대해 어떻게 생각하시나요?
Q8
How much creative license should translators take when translating fiction?
번역가는 소설을 번역할 때 어느 정도의 창작의 권리를 가져야 하나요?
Q9
What difficulties might a translator face when translating Korean fiction into English?
번역가가 한국 소설을 영어로 번역할 때 어떤 어려움에 직면할 수 있나요?
Q10
If you have a question or questions that you'd like to discuss during your class, please write them down.
궁금한 점이 있거나 수업 중에 얘기해 보고 싶은 질문이 있으면 적어주세요.
Expressions
sequester
to separate or isolate someone often with the goal of protecting them
例句
1

The judge ordered the jury to be sequestered in the interest of protecting them from outside influence.

例句
2

The team was sequestered in a secure room to prevent information outflow.

shortlist
a list of preferred candidates from a longer list.
例句
1

Most candidates came from the hiring manager’s shortlist.

例句
2

We will create a shortlist of the most impressive speakers.

trailblaze
to be an innovator
例句
1

The startup trailblazed new paths for analyzing patient blood.

例句
2

I wanted to trailblaze a new road in the field of pharmacy.

commendable
worthy of praise, deserving of admiration
例句
1

The actions of the firefighters were commendable.

例句
2

The commendable job performed by the team resulted in their receiving an award.

lucrative
profitable
例句
1

If it weren’t for how lucrative this work was, I would never do it.

例句
2

While the industry on the whole was lucrative in the late ‘90s, I think much has changed since that time.

divisive
causing disagreement or conflict
例句
1

The new policy was especially divisive among young tenants.

例句
2

Divisive policies always lead to fights in court.

onerous
burdensome or difficult
例句
1

The task was onerous, but I was up to a challenge.

例句
2

The onerous terms and conditions of the contract made it impossible to move forward.

flimsy
weak, (often) cheap, or poorly constructed
例句
1

The flimsy radio I bought from the store fell apart after two months.

例句
2

The structure of the tent seemed a bit flimsy, but I slept in it anyways.

본 교재는 당사 편집진이 제작하는 링글의 자산으로 저작권법에 의해 보호됩니다. 링글 플랫폼 외에서 자료를 활용하시는 경우 당사와 사전 협의가 필요합니다.

Early in September I march down to my local bookshop, reusable cotton tote in hand, to buy every book shortlisted for the Booker Prize. This ritual is accompanied by several weeks of feverish reading sequestered [1] in various libraries and coffee shops around my city, in anticipation of the winner being announced. I regret to inform you, reader, that I have never once correctly guessed the winner, but each shortlisted book I have read has proven to be truly excellent, which is why I have become something of a Booker fanatic. In the modern age of YouTube and TikTok book reviewers, as well as sites such as Goodreads that allow every reader to post reviews and star ratings, some see literary prizes as a relic from the snooty and elitist past of the literary establishment. This bookworm, however, seeks to champion the merits of the Booker Prize, and encourage you to use it to find your next read.

What is the Booker Prize?

Although it has had various names since the prize was founded in 1969, the Booker is a literary prize awarded to fiction published in the English language by writers from within the commonwealth. It has a sister prize, the International Booker, whose board of judges choose the best work in translation from all over the world. Past winners of the Booker include John Berger, J.M. Coetzee, and Margaret Atwood. Each year a panel of judges, comprised of literary giants from all genders, races, and creeds, first puts forth a ‘longlist’, then a shortlist [2], of the best books of the year, from which a winner is ultimately announced. The winner is awarded £50,000 in prize money, as well as the title of ‘Booker Prize winner’ which carries considerable weight and prestige within the literary sphere.

A Defence of the Booker

The very concept that a ‘number one book’ can be decided upon by a group of literary insiders is a controversial one. On the face of it, we award prizes for all manner of things in the UK, such as for racing a giant cheese down a hill (Google: Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling), for growing the largest turnip at the village fête (UK National Giant Vegetables Championship), and for closely resembling your pet dog (Country Living Magazine). What is so different about awarding writers for literary excellence? Differing opinions are inevitable, and the coming-together of minds to select a single title as the champion is fraught with arguments and controversies. At no other time of the year are people fighting tooth and nail to defend a book or rip another to shreds. It sparks a public discourse like no other, and I follow along with rapt attention year after year.

My defence of the Booker against its critics is threefold. Firstly, the Booker has long championed women, awarding a prize to Bernice Rubens in its second year, all the way back in 1970, and many more women since. As you can imagine, this is unfortunately not the norm when it comes to literary awards (or, in fact, awards of most kinds). The Nobel Prize for Literature, for example, has been awarded to 15 women (and 101 men) since its inception. The Booker counts 18 women (and 35 men) among its past winners. The Booker has trailblazed [3] not only in regards to gender equality; both the panels and the winners feature writers from a diverse range of ethnic backgrounds. This should not be considered exceptional, but sadly, it is.

The second commendable [4] feature of the Booker is arguably the most relevant point: the books that make it onto the shortlist, and by extension the winner too, are excellent. Some of my favorites include Case Study by Graeme Macrae Burnet, from 2022’s list, which tells the story of an unnamed narrator in the form of her notebook entries as she investigates a disgraced psychotherapist who she suspects of involvement in her sister’s untimely death. Another favorite is DBC Pierre’s Vernon God Little, which won the 2003 Booker prize, a black comedy about the aftermath of a school shooting. The previously mentioned South African author J.M. Coetzee has won the Booker twice, and his second winning novel Disgrace is a masterclass in fiction, and a must-read for fellow lovers of an unreliable narrator.

Lastly, as previously mentioned, the prize money for the Booker is £50,000, making it one of the most lucrative [5] prizes in fiction. Besides the prize money, sales are boosted for the shortlisted novels, and they often sell out and reprints are expedited by publishing houses. It is incredibly difficult to become a professional writer, and most need to take on odd jobs to make enough money to get by. The cash injection that a Booker nomination brings can be life changing for an unknown author. Take DBC Pierre, who won with his debut novel and had the course of his career permanently altered. 2020’s winner, Scottish writer Douglas Stuart, grew up in a working-class area of Glasgow and won with his first novel Shuggie Bain, inspired by his childhood raised by an alcoholic mother before her addiction-related death when he was just sixteen years old. In an interview with the Duchess of Cornwall, he stated that the Booker prize had ‘transformed’ his life.

Han Kang’s The Vegetarian & Controversy

The Booker Prize is nothing if not controversial, and one of the most divisive [6] controversies occurred in 2016 when South Korean writer Han Kang, and her English translator Deborah Smith, were declared the winners of the International Booker Prize for that year. The Korean media rallied against Deborah Smith, with academic Charse Yun describing her work as an ‘adaptation’ rather than a translation. Deborah wrote a defence of her translation for the Los Angeles Review of Books, explaining that; ‘there is no such thing as a truly literal translation — no two languages’ grammars match, their vocabularies diverge, even punctuation has a different weight — there can be no such thing as a translation that is not “creative.” And while most of us translators think of ourselves as “faithful,” definitions of faithfulness can differ’. Han Kang has defended Smith, and chosen her as the translator for her subsequent novels Human Acts and The White Book, a display of solidarity that should not go unremarked upon. Translation is no mean feat, and translating fiction and poetry is widely considered to be one of the most onerous [7] and challenging tasks for translators. While Deborah Smith’s translation does indeed deviate from the original text, it was the Booker Prize’s recognition of both writer and translator that brought Han Kang to the west and brought this conversation to the cultural zeitgeist.

As with any prize, the Booker is not immune to controversy. Whether that be a flimsy [8] grasp of their own rules, or the ongoing debate surrounding the role of translators. Nevertheless, the Booker is here to stay, and I hope that my argument in favour of it was suitably compelling. Strolling through the aisles of your local bookshop in search of a new book can be a dizzying experience. There are so many new titles from first-time authors, with each book jacket proclaiming that this is the most promising work of fiction so far this century. So, if you are searching for something good to read this year, I recommend selecting a book from the Booker Prize shortlist for a guaranteed page-turner at the cutting edge of modern literature.

*本教材是專爲使用Ringle學習英文的學員設計。