The Bookseller.com

2nd December 2008

« Headlines

McEwan defends short novel

09.10.07

British author Ian McEwan defended himself against criticism that his book, On Chesil Beach, which has been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, is too short to count as a novel. At just over 200 pages, the book's action unfolds over one evening as a newly wed couple embark on their honeymoon.

''You allow yourself the possibility of writing in real time,'' McEwan told an audience at the New Yorker Festival. ''It could never be a long novel.'' He brushed off discussion in the British press whether ''On Chesil Beach'' was a novel or novella and questions over whether it should have been entered for the Man Booker prize. ''That's their problem, not mine, I think,'' he said.

NYTimes

Ian McEwan Booker Prize