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Norris, Sharon (1995) "Simply the Best (Better Than All the Rest?)" : an Investigation Into the Booker Prize, 1980-198

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Norris, Sharon (1995) Norris, Sharon (1995) "Simply the best (better than all the rest?)" : an investigation into the Booker Prize, 1980-1989, with particular regard to the general rise in business sponsorship of literary awards during the eighties, and the likely effects of the Booker on fiction. PhD thesis. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/2398/ Copyright and moral rights for this thesis are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Glasgow Theses Service http://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] 'Simply the Best (Better than All the Rest? )' An investigation into the Booker Prize, 1980-1989, with particular regard to the general rise in business sponsorship of literary awards during the Eighties, and the likely effects of the Booker on fiction. A thesissubmitted for the degreeof Doctorof Philosophyat the Departmentof EnglishLiterature, University of Glasgow by SharonNorris, M. A. APRIL 1995 (c) SharonNorris 1995 2 SUMMARY The thesiswas planned as an attemptto investigatethe generalincrease in thenumber of literaryprizes in the 1980sand particularly those sponsored by business.However it is alsoan investigationinto the specificworkings of the BookerPrize as the bestknown literary award of its kind in Britain, andinto the effectsthat prizessuch as the Booker may have had on fiction. Part 1 deals initially with the history and founding of the Booker Prize. Then in Chapter Two it covers some of the broaderissues involving literary awardsin general,such as the tendencyamong them to encourage a conflation of businessand aestheticideals. Part2 dealswith theissue of patronagefor the artsand with the predominanceof particularsocial groups among the authors,judges and membersof theManagement Committee of the BookerPrize. I also examinehow certaintypes of supposedlyaesthetic evaluations arise and how they subsequentlycome to predominate. In the final partof the thesisI look at the issueof standardisationas it relatesto the novelswhich won theBooker Prize during the 1980s. 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS As with anyonewho embarksupon a researchproject, there are many peoplewhom I haveto thankfor makingthis finishedthesis possible. I havereceived a greatdeal of help,some of a practicalnature, some of the natureof 'moralsupport'. I am gratefulto all of thosewho helpedin any way andwould hopeI havenot offendedanyone by singlingout the following: I shouldlike to acknowledgethe financialsupport of theCarnegie Trust for the Universitiesof Scotland,without whom this thesisquite literally would not havebeen possible. Special thanks are also due to Book Trust, to BookerP1c, to Whitbread,and to KallawayLtd. In addition, I am very gratefulto all of thoserepresentatives of companiesand other prize- awardingbodies who took time to answermy manyquestions and thus to provideme with essentialinformation for this thesis. I am alsoextremely gratefulto Mr Allan Schiachof Glenlivetwho took the time to meetme in person,and to Mr David Grantof Glenfiddichwho gaveme the chanceto experiencea top-levelprize ceremony at first hand. I shouldlike to thankMrs Betty Bums andmy mother,both of whom helpedme out financiallywhen I wasin dire straitsduring the first yearof my studies,and also Mr Philip Attenboroughof Hodderand Stoughton, who contributedseveral of his company'sBooker winners and who encouragedme greatly during this period. I shouldalso like to thankmy employersover the last few years. In particular,thanks are due here to Mrs Ann Karkalasof the Departmentof Adult andContinuing Education at the Universityof Glasgow,to all the staff at the University'sAccommodation Office, andespecially to Mr Alan Barr of the EFL Unit at the University. I shouldalso like to expressmy thanksto The OpenUniversity in Scotland. Thanksare due to the following peoplefor the help andadvice which they providedduring the courseof my research:Mary Haightof the Department of Philosophyat the Universityof Glasgow; Dr Ian Thomsonof the Departmentof Psychology;Valerie Wills, fort-nerlyof the Marketing Departmentat theUniversity of Strathclyde;the ScottishHome and Health Department;and the Scottish Health Education Group. 4 In addition, specialthanks are due to Amal Chatterjeefor his patience and computing expertise,to Debby Murphy for typing up Chapter Four while I had a broken wrist, to Jan Green for helping with some proof reading, and to Mrs Margaret Greenfor advice on formatting and for general moral support and friendship. My thanks are due also to Judith Harriman of the University of Glasgow'sComputing ServicesUnit for advice on the presentationof a very troublesomegraph. I should like to offer my heartfelt thanks to the many friends, colleagues and studentswho have encouragedme through the "difficult" times which are the lot of the researchstudent. Finally I shouldlike to offer my specialthanks to ProfessorPhilip Hobsbaum,my supervisorand my own 'patronsaint of lost causes'.His toleranceand forbearance of a difficult andat timeserratic student have beengreatly appreciated. This thesisis dedicatedto my fellow pupilsat LevemPrimary School, Nitshill, Glasgow,1967-1971. ýl TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION p7 PART 1 INTRODUMON p24 CHAPTERONE p25 CHAPTERTWO p47 CONCLUSIONTO PART I p75 PART 2 INTRODUCI'ION p83 CHAPTER THREE p85 CHAPTER FOUR p106 CONCLUSION TO PART 2 P129 PART 3 INTRODUCTION p134 CHAPTERFIVE p135 CHAPTERSIX p175 CONCLUSIONTO PART3 p210 CONCLUSION p217 POSTSCRIPT p224 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY p235 TABLES TABLE1 p247 TABLE2 p249 TABLE3 p260 FIG. I p262 FIG. 2 p263 APPENDICES APPENDIX 1 p266 APPENDIX 2 p309 6 'The basic idea Js that the concordance of liking evoked by is due certain works of art .... to something other than a single excellence inherent in the quality of the work itself; rather it is the product of a complex process in which a variety of forces - some ideological, some highly material - contend with one another and ultimately produce something that is in itself far from immune to the actions of chance. ' LEVIN SCHUECKING, The Sociology of Literary Tastel 1 SCHUECKING,L., (1966).The Socioloaut-LiterarvTaste. Und Edition). Routledgeand Kegan Paul,London, pvii. - 7 INTRODUCTION 'The historians tell us that the decade is far too brief a time- span to reveal an historical trend or manifest any significant process of change or evolution. In artistic and cultural history it has a good deal more importance, for it is about the time it takes for a particular artistic generation to coalesce,or a particular style or mannerism to become central. ' 2 It is customaryat thestart of a thesisto outlinethe argumentwhich follows for the reader,and also to providea generalintroduction or overviewfor thosenot intimatewith thecontext within which the chosen topic is to be discussed.'Ibus in this introductionI proposeto outlinethe basicargument to be presentedin the following chaptersand I shall also indicateto thereader the contextin which this argumenthas arisen. For well over a centurythere have been fears about the growing commercialismand commoditising of literature.These are not new, nor areliterary prizes. In fact someof theearliest literary prizeswere given by the ancientGreeks at the originalOlympic Games. However over the last thirty yearsor so therehas been a largerise in the numberof new prizes, andwith this havecome renewed fears that suchprizes have had theeffect of commoditisingfiction in a way andto an extentnot previously anticipated. The lastquarter century in particularhas seen a sizeableincrease in the numberof prizes,awards and bursaries on offer for all kinds of literature. These from range thosewith conventionaltypes of remit - to rewardthe 'best'in any givencategory - to prizeswith a moreesoteric approach, suchas the QuatrefoilAward, which seeksto honourthe: 2 BRADBURY,M., (1988), "Closingtime in the Gardens!', or What happenedto writingin the 1940s!', Ho. Not Bloomsbu[y,Columbia University Press, New York, p67. 8 '... authors of the book or books judged to have contributed the most towards an understanding and/or love and appreciation of oriental rugs. '3 During the 1980sin particular therewas a significant rise in the number of awards and this went hand-in-handwith, firstly, a general increase throughout the decadein the level of the businesscommunity's involvement in the setting up and sponsoringof awards, and, secondly, with a correspondinglylarge increasein the amountoffered by the sponsorsto the author of the winning novel, poem or work of non-fiction. The Booker Prize may be said not only to be representativeof thesetrends; it becamethe most successfulaward of its kind during this period. On thesegrounds alone it deservesa fuller investigation, for to datelittle work has been done on the implications of literary prizes. Malcolm Bradburyhas argued that a decadeis a suitableperiod of time in which to makean assessmentof theimportance of anycultural or artistictrend. Certainlythe rise in boththe numberand value of literary awardsmay be seenin theseterms. However,the prize phenomenonmay alsobe seento havebeen a usefulbarometer of theeconomic climate over the ten yearsfrom 1980-1989as well asreflecting trends and innovations
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