Boring Books Win Awards

“There was a great fashion in the last century, and it’s still with us, of the unenjoyable novel,” says Martin Amis. “And these are the novels which win prizes.” “During an hour-long talk Amis also criticised the work of James Joyce and Samuel Beckett — considered by many to be among the most influential writers of the 20th century — for not being entertaining enough. He said of the penchant for rewarding ‘unenjoyable’ novels: ‘It all started with Beckett, I think. It was a kind of reasonable response to the horrors of the 20th century – you know, ‘No poetry after Auschwitz’.”