Bukka-Schmukka

[Paul Nightingale]

The only thing that puzzles me is why anyone takes this nonsense seriously.
Angela Carter failed to make the short-list with either of her last novels,
Nights At The Circus and Wise Children. Currently, the 'best' English
novelist in my view (worth very little, I agree) is Adam Thorpe; not a word
down the years from Bukka & co. All of this is subjective, of course; Carter
and Thorpe might be as bad as Pynchon when writing his shitty essays (or
indeed AtD). I agree with John about Jonathon Coe, and I would also give a
vote for Christopher Priest, whose main crime is that he can be denounced as
a science-fiction writer. Perhaps the same is true of Ballard, who almost
won the Bukka for something masquerading as proper literature. Also worth a
moment of your time are the Iains Sinclair and Pears, and Jim Crace.
Banville is Irish, Kelman Scottish. Undeniably the 'English' novel is
parochial and dull; in that respect, I thought The Corrections a very good
example of the 'English' novel.