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2006年英國布克獎的長名單（初選名單）於前幾日揭曉。短名單（決選名單）則預計在 September 14 ，October 10則會進行最後的頒獎儀式。

根據英國泰姆士報，Lee教授（Goldsmiths’ Professor of English Literature at Oxford and author of the prize- winning biography of Virginia Woolf）表示： “Judging the Man Booker Prize puts you through almost as many emotions as there are in the novels. We’ve tried to be careful and critical judges, as well as being passionately involved.

“It’s a list in which famous established novelists rub shoulders with little-known newcomers. We hope that people will make up their own shortlist.” Lee在1981也曾擔任過布克獎的評審，當年布克獎頒給了 Salman Rushdie的《午夜之子》。

今年被看好的是 Andrew O’Hagan ，Hagan才獲選英國前二十大最佳年輕小說家，不過，他顯然必須擊敗強敵 Peter Carey才有可能獲獎， Peter Carey已經獲得了兩屆的布克獎了！

（目前只有 Peter Carey 和 J.M. Coetzee曾拿下兩座布克獎；而Coetzee後來更是拿下了諾貝爾文學獎）

此外，曾經獲選諾貝爾文學獎的 Nadine Gordimer 這次也以Get a Life 入圍長名單，Robert Edric 和 Jon McGregor則都是第二次入圍布克獎， 戰況激烈可見一斑。

Andrew O’Hagan 被選上的小說是 Be Near Me， 是一有關愛與寂寞的故事。 Professor Lee 形容這部小說： “extraordinarily touching and very imaginative portrayal of someone who . . . hasn’t really understood why they’re living the life they’re living”.

Peter Carey 則是因為 Theft 獲選，Theft 也是一個與愛有關的故事，  which explores notions of responsibility and redemption.

在 2001, Peter Carey 以 True History of the Kelly Gang 擊敗了 Ian McEwan，Peter Carey的《凱利幫》在台灣由皇冠出版。

以下是長名單：

THE LONGLIST

Peter Carey for Theft: A Love Story (Faber & Faber). He has written nine novels, including the Man Booker Prize-winning Oscar and Lucinda and The True History of the Kelly Gang

Kiran Desai for The Inheritance of Loss (Hamish Hamilton). The Indian-born author wrote Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard

Robert Edric for Gathering the Water (Doubleday). He was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2002 for Peacetime

Nadine Gordimer for Get a Life (Bloomsbury). The South African received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1991

Kate Grenville for The Secret River (Canongate). She won the Orange Prize for The Idea of Perfection

M. J. Hyland for Carry Me Down (Canongate). The Londoner lives and works in Melbourne

Howard Jacobson for Kalooki Nights (Jonathan Cape). The novelist and broadcaster lectured at the University of Sydney for three years before returning to England where he taught English at Selwyn College

James Lasdun for Seven Lies (Jonathan Cape). The Londoner lives in New York and has published collections of poetry and short stories

Mary Lawson for The Other Side of the Bridge (Chatto & Windus). She was born and brought up in a farming community in Ontario and now lives in England with her husband

Jon McGregor for So Many Ways to Begin (Bloomsbury). The Bermudan-born author who lives in Nottingham was the only first-time novelist on the 2002 Man Booker longlist

Hisham Matar for In the Country of Men (Viking). He was born in New York and spent his childhood in Libya and Egypt. He has lived in London since 1986

Claire Messud for The Emperor’s Children (Picador). Her first novel, When the World was Steady, was shortlisted for the PEN/Faulkner Award

David Mitchell for Black Swan Green (Sceptre). He spent several years teaching in Japan and now lives in Ireland with his wife and two children

Naeem Murr for The Perfect Man (William Heinemann). His acclaimed first novel The Boy was published in 1998.

Andrew O’Hagan for Be Near Me (Faber & Faber). He was nominated in 2003 by Granta magazine as one of 20 Best of Young British Novelists

James Robertson for The Testament of Gideon Mack (Hamish Hamilton). His first novel, The Fanatic, was published in 2000.

Edward St Aubyn for Mother’s Milk (Picador). His previous novels include A Clue to the Exit

Barry Unsworth for The Ruby in her Navel (Hamish Hamilton). His Sacred Hunger won the Booker in 1992

Sarah Waters for The Night Watch (Virago). Her first novel, Tipping the Velvet, won the 1999 Betty Trask Award

以上轉貼/摘錄自：http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,923-2312553,00.html

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