JG Farrell's Lost Man Booker prize for Troubles – a literary resurrection
Winning the Lost Man Booker prize is a deserved reward for an author whose reputation is still growing 30 years after his death
Claire Armitstead
Thu 20 May 2010
I
n the post-Warhol world, where any wannabe can grab 15 minutes of literary fame, it's a rare writer indeed whose reputation is still growing 30 years after his death. All the more reason to raise a glass to JG Farrell, the curmudgeonly Irish Liverpudlian whose posterity began in earnest when his novel The Siege of Krishnapur became the word-of-mouth discovery of the Booker of Bookers in 2008.
News that Troubles – the precursor to The Siege of Krishnapur in Farrell's Empire trilogy – has secured the public vote to win the Lost Booker will not come as a surprise to any who read their way through all the shortlisted novels. But to say that Farrell is a predictable winner is to undervalue his extraordinary resurrection and what it says about readers' continuing ability to recognise a great book when they see one. Troubles is a work of characteristic depth and humour, which views the decline of the British empire through the prism of a decaying seaside hotel – pointedly named the Majestic – in Wexford.
Farrell's gift was the ability to immerse himself so thoroughly in his worlds, whether early 20th-century Ireland or mid-19th century India, that he never seems to preach as he tackles the big issues of race, culture and class. His drowning at 44 came when his star was at its height, after decades toiling away in obscurity. It is wonderful that his writing is winning new admirers.
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