Libraries worldwide have selected 147 novels for the €100,000 award, writes EILEEN BATTERSBY,Literary Correspondent
WITHIN HOURS of being nominated by 20 libraries from around the world for the 2012 International Impac Dublin Literary Award with her Man Booker contender Room, Ireland's Emma Donoghue was declared winner of the WH Smith Paperback of the Year award for the same book. Also on this year's longlist, which comprises 147 novels, is Paul Murray's bittersweet tragic comedy Skippy Diesand Tana French's thriller Faithful Place.
Several of the most established writers represented are from the US: Paul Auster is again nominated, this time for Sunset Park, which takes the global economic collapse as a theme. Jonathan Franzen's bestselling tale of a family from hell, Freedom, and Michael Cunningham's By Nightfall, are high-profile books, while Don DeLillo should make the shortlist with the complex elegy Point Omega.
Readers will applaud the inclusion of Willy Vlautin's poignant coming-of-age story Lean on Pete. Another American novel, also set in the world of racing, this year's National Book Award winner Lord of Misruleby Jaimy Gordon will be going head to head with Jennifer Egan's Pulitzer Prize-winning A Visit from the Goon Squad.Nicole Krauss's Great Housewas well reviewed on publication and, as the author of The History of Love(2005), she is considered one of America's most promising younger writers.
Less well known is Julie Orringer, whose debut novel The Invisible Bridgeis a brave, ambitious work – and an interesting nomination.
Howard Jacobson's Man Booker winner The Finkler Questionhas been nominated, while two former Man Booker winners, Ian McEwan and Canadian Yann Martel, feature respectively with Solarand Beatrice and Virgil. But with all respect to Jacobson, McEwan and poet Blake Morrison, whose menacing tale The Last Weekendimpressed readers, by far the most exciting British nomination is that of Jon McGregor with his brilliant third novel about the marginalised elements of contemporary UK society, Even the Dogs.
Also impressive is David Mitchell's historical novel The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. One of the debut novels of 2010 that was surprisingly overlooked, Serious Menby Indian journalist Manu Joseph, has a good chance of making this shortlist. Aminatta Forna, who was previously Impac nominated with Ancestor Stones, also has a strong chance of progressing to the shortlist with The Memory of Love.
Tana French is not the only thriller writer nominated. Among the translated titles are international bestseller Norwegian Jo Nesbo's The Snowmanand Italian Massimo Carlotto for Bandit Love. There will be immense support for Israeli David Grossman's To the End of the Land, in which a mother sets off on a long trek in the hope that as long as she remains on the move, her soldier son will defy death.
Although it is unlikely to make the shortlist it is good to see the young German Daniel Kehlman nominated for Fame, a wry exploration of celebrity which followed his internationally celebrated Measuring the World(2007). Former International Impac Dublin Literary Award winner Norwegian Per Petterson is nominated for I Curse the River of Times, which is unlikely to replicate the success of Out Stealing Horses.
As ever with Impac one looks to works in translation and, aside from Grossman is the mighty historical seafaring epic We, The Drownedby Denmark's Carsten Jensen. The young Colombian Juan Gabriel Vasquez was hailed by reviewers, including John Banville, for The Informers, the first of Vasquez's novels to be translated into English. It was shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. The Secret History of Costaguanatakes a bold look at Conrad's literary geography and traces the story behind the writing of the book that became Nostromo. This looks another good bet for the shortlist.
With only 34 of the 147 nominations in translation, it again appears that English is dominating the international language of fiction. Of the only three novels translated from French is Afghani Atiq Rahimi's shockingly eloquent novella The Patience Stone, which won the 2008 Prix Goncourt. As a study about the plight of women as victims of a warped notion of honour, it should be read by everyone – whether or not it reaches the shortlist, never mind win, is irrelevant. The point is that a library nominated it – such is the power of libraries – and by association, Impac – as a communicator.
An Australian, David Malouf, won the inaugural Impac; now, 17 years later, another Australian, Jeremy Chambers, may well make the shortlist with his assured debut The Vintage and the Gleaning.
Can Emma Donoghue win this prize with Room?Possibly. Her novel about the ultimate nightmare is an international book, exploring fear, oppression and survival.
Almost as interesting is how Murray's deceptively profound Skippy Dieswill translate to a global stage.
View the full longlist at irishtimes.com