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2007年的布克獎決選名單（shortlist）已經在昨天（9/6）揭曉了。

由於Ian McEwan 以 On Chesil Beach 再度入圍了決選名單，因此英國《衛報》說他 「is in the running to become only the third author to win the Man Booker prize for a second time.」

Ian McEwan上一次獲得布克獎的作品是1998年的《阿姆斯特丹》。不過，在2001年時，Ian McEwan也曾經以《贖罪》入圍過布克獎的決選名單，但該年的得獎者卻是Peter Garey的《凱利幫》。

至於其他兩位曾經奪過兩次布克獎的作家則是J.M. Coetzee（柯慈）和Peter Garey（彼得‧凱瑞）。柯慈的得獎作品分別是：1983年的《麥可·K的生命與時代》（The Life and Times of Michael K）和1999年的《屈辱》（Disgrace）。至於彼得‧凱瑞的得獎作品則是：1988年的《奧斯卡和露辛達》（Oscar and Lucinda）和2001年的《凱利幫》（True History of the Kelly Gang）。

（詳細請參考：http://books.guardian.co.uk/manbooker2007/story/0,,2164222,00.html）

The judges of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2007 have announced this year’s six shortlisted novels.

The six titles shortlisted are:

• Darkmans by Nicola Barker
• The Gathering by Anne Enright
• The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
• Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
• On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
• Animal’s People by Indra Sinha

（詳細請見：http://www.themanbookerprize.com/news/stories/82）

 我曾經寫過的Ian McEwan，請參考：

『愛無可忍』：http://blog.roodo.com/franwu/archives/1312147.html

『初戀異想、贖罪』：http://blog.roodo.com/franwu/archives/1726987.html

至於2007入圍布克獎的六本小說的大致內容，請見：

Darkmans, by Nicola Barker
The despised past revenges itself on the concrete culture of superstores and motorways which has been hurled on top of it at Ashford, Kent. The language of mediaeval jesters leaks into the estuary English of a group of inhabitants who begin to be plagued by mysterious darkmen. Barker, who lives in east London, has won the lucrative Impac award. Her novel Clear was longlisted for the 2004 Man Booker.

On Chesil Beach, by Ian McEwan
McEwan's story, both lyrical and explicit, only 166 pages long, opens with a honeymoon dinner overlooking the sea in the early 1960s. The couple love one another, but she has never felt sexual passion, he is anxious about coming too soon, worries neither of them can discuss. Neither, fatally, has a sense of humour. McEwan, a pre-eminent British novelist, was first shortlisted for the Booker prize with The Comfort of Strangers in 1981, won it with Amsterdam in 1991 and was shortlisted again with his bestselling Atonement in 2001

Mister Pip, by Lloyd Jones
The poor white is known as Pop Eye in his village on the south Pacific island of Bougainville. When civil war encroaches, he occupies the deserted schoolroom, teaching Matilda and her classmates from the only text available - Dickens' Great Expectations. Pip, Magwitch and Miss Havisham become legends to the villagers, keeping them company through atrocities. Lloyd Jones, a New Zealand author, has visted Papua New Guinea three times, once staying with the revoluitionary commnander of the real-life conflict in Bougainville.

Animal's People, by Indra Sinha
The youth's nickname is because the horrific poisons leak in Khaufpur (a thinly disguised Bhopal) distorted his spine so badly that he has to go about on all fours, rump stuck in air. Yet he has a witty, rude tongue, still hopes for love and can - in his unorthodox way - help his stricken neighbours in their crusade for compensation. Sinha was born and raised on India. He became an award-winning advertising copywriter. This is his second novel.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist, by Mohsin Hamid
Academically, with strings of straight As, Chiangez is the best that Pakistan and Princeton can offer; and his job with a blue-chip valuation company is the foremost dream America can offer an immigrant - so he is puzzled to find himself half-glad about 9/11. Hamid's background at Princeton and in US management consultancy gives him an unusually acute take on US business and global policy. He now lives and writes in Britain.

The Gathering, by Anne Enright

Liam, the bright, heavy-drinking one in the Hegarty family, has drowned himself, and his sister Veronica is home to mourn him. Her search for the key to Liam's stunted life takes her back to the sexual history of her grandparents and their suitors. Enright's third novel, What Are you Like?, was shortlisted for the Whitbread award. A winner of the Rooney short story prize, she lives in Dublin.

（轉貼自：http://books.guardian.co.uk/manbooker2007/story/0,,2163923,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=10）