On October 19, Alan Hollinghurst's novel, The Line of Beauty, won the Man Booker Prize, Britain's most prestigious literary award.
This was the first time a novel focusing on the life of gay people won the prestigious literary honour.
The book is set in the 1980s and tells the story of Nick Guest, a gay 20-year-old Oxford graduate. He takes a room in the home of an ambitious Conservative politician and his wealthy family. As the novel unfolds, Nick explores a world of cocaine, looking for other gay men,and the self-confidence of wealth. This is set against a background of social problems, including AIDS.
This is a gay-growing-up story. It covers a lot of situations, from innocence to experience, and does not ignore the threat of AIDS. As a study of the 1980s, it shows the rise and fall of that evil, egotistical time. It is not, however, much of a criticism of the Thatcher era in Britain. Nick, after all, is too much of an admirer of the moneyed lifestyle. And he's not even an unconscious critic of the politics that supported the wealthy classes so unapologetically.
Hollinghurst, 50, was born in Gloucestershire, western England. He studied at Oxford, and once served as deputy editor of the Times Literary Supplement. He lives in London and often writes on gay themes.
He was named one of Britain's Best Young Novelists by the journal Granta in 1993. His first novel, The Swimming Pool Library (1988) was selected as one of the greatest gay and lesbian novel of all time by judges of the Publishing Triangle in 1999. His other novels are The Folding Star, in 1994, shortlisted for the Booker, and The Spell, in 1998.
Set up in 1968, the prize is open to writers from Britain, Ireland and the Commonwealth.
