In David Grossman’s heartbreaking, visceral novel, a stand-up comedian delivers a shockingly cruel routine about guilt and betrayal. Translated by Jessica Cohen.
Translated by Jessica Cohen
The Man Booker International Prize 2017
Author David Grossman and translator Jessica Cohen
David Grossman and his translator Jessica Cohen took the prize with a novel about a stand-up comic unravelling on stage – savage humour and excoriating pain proving to be mirror images.
The much-lauded Israeli novelist Grossman is a sometimes controversial figure in his homeland for his peace activism and criticism of his country’s attitude towards the Palestinians. Some of the opposing forces in Israeli society are captured in the person of Dovaleh Greenstein, his fictional stand-up comedian, whose two-hour set gives the novel its narrative arc. Jessica Cohen, Grossman’s regular translator, caused a stir when she announced she would donate half her prize winnings to a human rights group documenting Israeli actions on the West Bank.
- By
- David Grossman
- Translated by
- Jessica Cohen
- Published by
- Jonathan Cape, Vintage
In David Grossman’s heartbreaking, visceral novel, a stand-up comedian delivers a shockingly cruel routine about guilt and betrayal. Translated by Jessica Cohen.
The shortlist
Mathias Énard’s immersive, nocturnal, musical journey is a declaration of admiration, a hand reaching out, a bridge of words between West and East. Translated by Charlotte Mandell.
Translated by Charlotte Mandell
Samanta Schweblin creates an aura of strange psychological menace and otherworldly reality in this taut, unsettling ghost story for the real world. Translated by Megan McDowell.
Translated by Megan McDowell
Steeped in desire and curiosity, Amos Oz’s Judas is both a tragi-comic coming-of-age tale and a radical rethinking of the concept of treason. Translated by Nicholas de Lange.
By Amos Oz
Translated by Nicholas de Lange
An intelligent single woman’s life lacks focus. She should learn to drive. How hard can it be? Very, it turns out, in Dorthe Nors’ wry, poignant tale. Translated by Misha Hoekstra.
By Dorthe Nors
Translated by Misha Hoekstra
On a tiny island off Norway besieged by weather and the sea, the compelling story of one family unfolds, in Roy Jacobsen’s profound and haunting novel. Translated by Don Bartlett and Don Shaw.
By Roy Jacobsen
Translated by Don Bartlett Don Shaw
