Hollinghurst was born in stroud, gloucestershire, the only child of james. R martin warns that life gets even grimmer in his next game of thrones book. It explores the social and sexual revolutions of the most pivotal years of the past century, whose lifechanging consequences are. It was all so new, the novelist alan hollinghurst once wrote, the pleasure flecked with its opposite, with little hurts and contradictions that came to seem as much a part of love as the clear gaze of acceptance. Oct 04, 2017 alan hollinghurst talks to anne mcelvoy and a proms extra audience about his new novel the sparsholt affair, which traces a family and changing attitudes to sexuality across generations. From oxford during the dark days of the second world war to contemporary london, this is a masterly novel about sexuality, art and.
Jun 17, 2011 alan hollinghurst talks to stephen moss about living alone, the allure of the upper classes and why hes not just a gay writer any more. The strangers child the title comes from tennysons in memoriam is hollinghursts fifth novel, and his first since the line of beauty won the booker prize in 2004. Alan hollinghurst is among britains most highlyrated literary novelists, whose bestknown book the line of beauty 2004, winner of that years man booker prize, is a tourdeforce envisioning of the thatcher years as an era of doomed romance. Alan hollinghurst sketches the evolution of gay rights in. The story surrounds the young gay protagonist, nick guest. Author alan hollinghurst on how his new novel the sparsholt.
The fictional scandal named in the title of alan hollinghursts new novel, the sparsholt affair, involves a minister of parliament, political corruption, and a tryst between two businessmen. Alan hollinghurst is one of the british novel s most admired stylists. Alan hollinghurst s sixth novel, the sparsholt affair, opens in oxford during the second world war and ends in london in 2012. Like the reallife profumo affair, it involves tory. Sep 30, 2011 the success of the line of beauty meant that alan hollinghursts next book was surely going to be eagerly anticipated. The friendship they develop enables the younger man to connect with queer history a hidden.
Harvard book store welcomes man booker prizewinning author alan hollinghurst for a discussion of his latest novel, the sparsholt affair. For the television adaptation, see the line of beauty miniseries. Mar 12, 2018 in alan hollinghursts latest, a hazy sex scandal looms over many lives. F or readers who can imagine english life thanks to college reading lists featuring books by evelyn waugh, e. The next installment in the series comes from alan hollinghurst, the british writer who won the man booker prize for the line of beauty. The swimmingpool library is a 1988 novel by alan hollinghurst plot introduction.
Both employ fivepart structures with large time jumps in. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. The title of alan hollinghursts new novel, the sparsholt affair, is the moniker given to a fictional british scandal from the 1960s. Sensibility overwhelms narrative in this story of homoerotic obsession, a second novel from the british hollinghurst the swimmingpool library, 1988. The sparsholt affair by alan hollinghurst, paperback. In alan hollinghursts latest, a hazy sex scandal looms over many. The folding star is the second of alan hollinghursts six novels, and the only one i hadnt read before.
I had the distinct sense, on finishing alan hollinghursts latest novel, that i might have read next years bookerwinner before this years had even been. Theres the beauty of the sentences jamesian sentences that somehow are both intensely shaped and effortlessly. Something is missing from alan hollinghursts the strangers child. The sparsholt affair may 03, 2018 hollinghurst, alan. The sparsholt affair confirms alan hollinghursts status. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 1989 somerset maugham award, the 1994 james tait black memorial prize and the 2004 booker prize. The sparsholt affair by alan hollinghurst pan macmillan. To read an alan hollinghurst novel is to encounter beauty in its many forms. Alan hollinghursts novel the sparsholt affair covers three generations of fiends who meet at oxford in 1940. When alan hollinghurst won the man booker prize in 2004 for his novel the line of beauty, londons daily. The strangers child, alan hollinghursts account of a fictional british poet martyred by world war i, initially approaches its subject with as much delicacy as if he were real. Why is alan hollinghursts new novel missing his usual sex. It ends in the present day in a world of iphones, body tattoos, samesex marriage, children from sperm donors, etc.
His new novel, the sparsholt affair, affirms the novelist as a master chronicler of england past and present. As with its predecessor, the strangers child 2011, much of. The sparsholt affair is a sweeping and intimate masterpiece, full of sensual pleasures and observational wisdom. Oct 12, 2011 something is missing from alan hollinghursts the strangers child. For alan hollinghurst, who has lived in london for the past 40 years, it is a plantation of poplars in the gloucestershire countryside, near to the house where he grew up. Geoff dyer alan hollinghursts the sparsholt affair is startling, radical, embedded in tradition but entirely new in final effect the novel that other novelists were all talking about this year. Alan hollinghursts hypnotic and exquisitely written novel tells the story of edward manners, a disaffected 33yearold who leaves england to earn his living as a language tutor in a flemish city. The sparsholt affair is alan hollinghursts sixth novel, and like his previous two the man booker prizewinning the line of beauty and, subsequently, the strangers child the story travels through a series of eras, capturing in each the nature of gay life in england. Oct 05, 2017 the sparsholt affair is a sweeping and intimate masterpiece, full of sensual pleasures and observational wisdom. When alan hollinghurst won the man booker prize in 2004 for his novel the line of beauty, londons daily express went with this scarehead. Forster, virginia woolf, and the like, alan hollinghursts new novel will be both. Touching, joyful, full of life and prose that reads like bachs music sounds, the man can hardly go wrong. In the pink city for his second visit to the zee jaipur literature festival he was at the jlf in.
Months back, when i heard that alan hollinghursts new novel was finally being printed and bound, i priced out flights to englandand then i looked up shipping rates on. Theres so much honest living going on in his pagesdesires, needs, regrets, sex, worries, beauty, ugliness, anxiety, humorthat the 63yearold british author is arguably the finest coiner of character at work today. In alan hollinghursts latest, a hazy sex scandal looms over. Alan hollinghursts first novel, the swimmingpool library, begins on the central line and ends in the subterranean showers of an underground swimming pool. Alan hollinghurst is the author of five novels, the swimmingpool library, the folding star, the spell, the line of beauty and the strangers child. Alan hollinghurst the man booker prizewinner, alan hollinghurst, discusses his latest novel, the sparsholt affair with dimitri. In the course of his writing career, hollinghurst has fashioned a unique literary voice at once considered, ruminative and hauntingly affective. Sep 25, 2017 alan hollinghursts sixth novel, the sparsholt affair, opens in oxford during the second world war and ends in london in 2012. His next novel, the strangers child, was longlisted for the man booker prize in 2011. In alan hollinghursts latest, a hazy sex scandal looms. These characters go to war, marry, divorce, remarry, have children.
Dec 01, 2016 an inspiring conversation with the awardwinning english novelist alan hollinghurst noted for his novel the line of beauty about being a sort of puppet master to his characters and. Hes left out the explicit sex scenes that were a signature feature of his four previous novels, and the absence amounts to. Months back, when i heard that alan hollinghursts new novel was finally being printed and bound, i priced out flights to englandand then i. As he publishes his new novel, the booker prize winner explains why he is looking back to an era before the sexual offences act. Longing, wronging, and belonging in alan hollinghursts the sparsholt affair. But the sevenyear wait for the strangers child and the steady unfurling. The sparsholt affair confirms alan hollinghursts status as a. Alan james hollinghurst frsl born 26 may 1954 is an english novelist, poet, short story. The difficulty is not so much with alan hollinghursts story, that of a poet like rupert brooke, perhaps. Whilst not hitting the same majestic heights as the swimming pool library or the line of beauty, the spell is still alan hollinghurst and thus still great a fun funny read about 1990s gay life and the gap or not between the generations.
Mar 21, 2018 the title of alan hollinghursts new novel, the sparsholt affair, is the moniker given to a fictional british scandal from the 1960s. Alan hollinghurst biography life, story, history, mother. Im not sure whether this profoundly english novel will resonate fully in america. Bbc radio 3 the essay, let me take you there, alan. But tales of our fight to exist are evolving into tales of our lives and loves the brilliant writer alan hollinghurst said at the hay festival this weekend that the gay novel was dead and had had its day. The sparsholt affair is a natural evolution from hollinghursts previous novel, the strangers child. And i think it quite quickly suggested itself as a subject to me. Mar 29, 2018 to read an alan hollinghurst novel is to encounter beauty in its many forms. The success of the line of beauty meant that alan hollinghursts next book was surely going to be eagerly anticipated. The sparsholt affair is the longawaited sixth novel from the supreme stylist of british fiction and previous winner of the man booker prize.
He employs a similar structure in his new novel, the sparsholt affair, another multigenerational saga, this time focusing on the sparsholts and the effect a highly. His latest, the line of beauty, last years booker prizewinner, starts on a hot summer day and ends with its protagonist and london bathed in the light of the moment. Author alan hollinghurst on secret affairs, narrative gaps. It explores the social and sexual revolutions of the most pivotal years of the past century, whose lifechanging consequences are still being played out to this day. Alan james hollinghurst frsl born 26 may 1954 is an english novelist, poet, short story writer and translator. Alan hollinghursts sixth novel, the sparsholt affair, opens in oxford during the second world war and ends in london in 2012. In his breakout novel, the swimmingpool library, a modern libertine befriends an elderly aristocrat after saving the older mans life during a heart attack in a public toilet.
Jul 24, 2015 it was all so new, the novelist alan hollinghurst once wrote, the pleasure flecked with its opposite, with little hurts and contradictions that came to seem as much a part of love as the clear gaze of acceptance. The sparsholt affair by alan hollinghurst, paperback barnes. Alan hollinghurst talks to stephen moss about living alone, the allure of the upper classes and why hes not just a gay writer any more. Geoff dyer on the strangers child by alan hollinghurst. In 1983 london, will, a privileged, gay, sexually irresistible 25yearold, saves. He has embarked on his next novel, and says it will. That, at least, would be one way to describe these works. In alan hollinghursts latest, a hazy sex scandal looms over many lives. Alan hollinghurst returns with variations on a gay quartet. Alan hollinghursts new gaygenerationgap novel vulture. In search of lost time lifestyle news,the indian express.
An inspiring conversation with the awardwinning english novelist alan hollinghurst noted for his novel the line of beauty about being a sort of puppet master to his characters and. Appearing at melbournes athenaeum theatre, he is joined in conversation by michael williams. The dense beauty of his prose emerges in languorous and knowing cadences, allowing ironies to accrete. The sparsholt affair by alan hollinghurst the work of a. If you think you know what to expect from an alan hollinghurst novel, then when it comes to the sparsholt affair, youll almost certainly be right. As with its predecessor, the strangers child 2011, much of the action takes place offstage, in the interstices between chapters. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading the folding star. The next installment in the series comes from alan hollinghurst, the british writer who won the man booker prize for the line of beauty in 2004. Alan hollinghurst is the author of the novels the strangers child, the swimmingpool library, the folding star, the spell, and the line of beauty, which won the man booker prize and was a finalist for the national book critics circle award. Alan hollinghursts masterly new novel evokes the intimate. The sparsholt affair by alan hollinghurst is an assured work of historical fiction tracing the evolution of gay rights, but it never quite coheres. Author alan hollinghurst on secret affairs, narrative gaps and writing gay sex the man booker prizewinning authors new novel, the sparsholt affair, follows a father and son over decades of.
Called the first piece of gay fiction ever to win the honor, the story was also a sprawling and haunting elegy to the 1980s, wrote entertainment weekly critic jennifer reese. Tutors, mentors and the transmission of knowledge across generations are abiding themes in the work of alan hollinghurst. Almost immediately he falls in love with one of his. The story is told by edward manners, an englishman who arrives in belgium to work as a language tutor. The folding star is the second of alan hollinghurst s six novels, and the only one i hadnt read before. It was adapted for bbc television by andrew davies in 2006. The next year, the line of beauty won the man booker award and if the 62yearold british writer ever had any reservations about his readership, all was set to rest.
The sparsholt affair confirms alan hollinghursts status as a literary master hollinghursts new domestic epic leapfrogs across seven decades to examine how the laws of social propriety shape. Penelope fitzgerald published her first book, a biography of the artist edward burnejones, when she was fiftyeight. Jun 30, 2011 months back, when i heard that alan hollinghursts new novel was finally being printed and bound, i priced out flights to englandand then i looked up shipping rates on. The fictional scandal named in the title of alan hollinghursts new novel, the sparsholt affair, involves a minister of parliament, political. Alan hollinghursts translation of racines play bajazet was first performed in 1990. Hollinghursts new domestic epic leapfrogs across seven decades to examine how the laws of. An alan hollinghurst novel comes into the world with a whole heart.
Gay lit icon alan hollinghurst on scandal, repression, and. Jun 19, 2018 and i think it quite quickly suggested itself as a subject to me. His novel, the line of beauty 2004, traces a decade of change and tragedy and won the 2004 man booker prize for fiction. Apr 29, 1999 alan hollinghurst returns with variations on a gay quartet. The author, who won the booker prize in 2004 for the line of beauty, said that though he, of course, welcomed the liberated times we lived in, they. Booker prize novel sparks free speech row in czech republic. In the pink city for his second visit to the zee jaipur literature festival he was at the jlf in 2011, hollinghurst is a bit out of sorts, no thanks to a cold. When given enough space, cecil valance, the poet whose legacy is developed in hollinghursts fifth novel, loses his heroic sheen. As with its predecessor, the strangers child 2011, much of the. Alan hollinghursts long journey his new novel, the sparsholt affair, affirms the novelist as a master chronicler of england past and present. The line of beauty is a 2004 man booker prize winning novel by alan hollinghurst. The novel is set in britain in three parts, taking place in 1983, 1986 and 1987.