Russian Booker Prize | |
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Awarded for | Best Russian-language literary work |
Country | Russia |
Presented by | Russian Telecom Equipment Company (RTEC) |
First awarded | 1992 |
Last awarded | 2017 |
Website | http://www.russianbooker.org ![]() |
The Russian Booker Prize (Russian: Русский Букер, Russian Booker) was a Russian literary award modeled after the Booker Prize. It was awarded from 1992 to 2017. It was inaugurated by English Chief Executive Sir Michael Harris Caine.[1] It was awarded each year to the best work of fiction, written in the Russian language, as decided by a panel of judges, irrespective of the writer's citizenship. From 2003 to 2011 the chairman of the Russian Booker Prize Committee was British journalist George Walden. In 2012 David Gowan has been appointed to this position.[2]
The prize was the first Russian non-governmental literary award since the country's 1917 Revolution.[3][4]
Each year, a jury choose a short list of the six best novels up for nomination from a "long list" of nominees. Initially, the winner received £10,000, roughly 48,000 RUB or $16,000.[4] This was increased to 600,000 rubles in 2011,[5] roughly $20,000 (roughly £13,000), while each of the short listed finalists earned $2,000 (roughly £1,300).[6] The criteria for inclusion included literary effort, representativeness of the contemporary literary genres and the author's reputation as a writer. Length was not a criterion, as books with between 40 and 60 pages had been nominated.[4] From 1997 to 2001, the award was renamed the Smirnoff–Booker Literary Prize, in honour of entrepreneur and Smirnoff founder Pyotr Smirnov. From 2002 to 2005, Open Russia NGO was the general sponsor of the Booker Literary Prize in Russia, leading to its name change to the Booker–Open Russia Literary Prize during that time.[7] Before the announcement of the 2005 winner, the Booker Foundation decided to end its partnership with Open Russia after the foundation's chairman, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, was sentenced to nine years in prison for tax evasion.[8] In 2005, the committee signed a five-year contract with London-based BP. In 2010, the prize ran into funding problems and preparations for the 2010 prize were suspended because no new sponsor could be found.[9] Since 2011 new sponsor is Russian Telecom Equipment Company (RTEC).[7]
In 2011, a "novel of the decade" was chosen due to lack of sponsorship to hold the customary award. Five finalists were chosen from sixty nominees selected from the prize's past winners and finalists since 2001.[10] Chudakov won posthumously with A Gloom Is Cast Upon the Ancient Steps, which takes place in a fictional town in Kazakhstan and describes life under Stalinist Russia.[11][12] Lyudmila Ulitskaya holds the record for most nominations (five, winning once), followed by Andrei Dmitriev (four, winning once) and Alexey Slapovsky (four, no wins). No person has won the award more than once.
On 19 September 2019 Foundation Board and the Аward committee of the Russian Booker Prize officially announced the termination of the award. However, the Russian Booker Fund was not closed, "leaving the opportunity for the renewal of the award".[13]
Winners and nominees
1990s
* Winners
2000s
* Winners
2010s
* Winners
Criticism
The Russian Booker was famous for unpredictable and paradoxical decisions that did not always attract the approval of Russian literary experts.[61]
A number of writers expressed their fundamental rejection of the "Russian Booker". Already the first decision of the jury, as a result of which the award in 1992 was not received by the generally recognized favorite — the novel "The Time Night" by Lyudmila Petrushevskaya, met with almost unanimous disapproval.[62] Vladimir Novikov (ru) in 2000, describing the very first Booker prize winner - the novel "Lines of fate, or the chest of Milashevich" by Mark Kharitonov as boring, stated: "From the very beginning, the Booker plot did not succeed, it was failed to nominate a leader through the award, which modern prose writers would passionately want to catch up and overtake. But it is precisely in this [...] the cultural function, the cultural strategy of any literary prize"[63] Elena Fanaylova noted in 2006: "The Russian Booker does not correspond to its English parent either from a moral or from a meaningful point of view (it can be compared with the translated version of the Booker already available in Russia). The prize focuses on literature that is not interesting either on the domestic or foreign market, or, if it is a convertible author (Ulitskaya, Aksenov), it is awarded not for 'novel of the year', but 'for merits'."[64] Yuri Polyakov in 2008 pointed out that "people receive awards not for the quality of a literary text, not for some artistic discovery, not for the ability to reach the reader, but for loyalty to a certain party, mainly experimental-liberal direction. [...] Almost all the books that were awarded with the prize, [...] did not have any serious reader's fate, [...] [these books] received the award and were immediately completely forgotten."[65] Dmitry Bykov in 2010 noted the Booker jury's "amazing ability to choose the worst or, in any case, the least significant of six novels".[66]
Literary critic Konstantin Trunin, describing the 2018 crisis of the award, noted: "For all the time of its existence, the prize did not justify itself, each year choosing the winner as a writer who created work that is far from understanding by Russian people of the reality surrounding him. There was a direct propaganda of Western values, not Russian ones. Or on the contrary, to the West was shown literature that was not destined to create a close resemblance to the works created in Russia during the 19th century. And it is not surprising that year after year, the Russian Booker lost its authority among the emerging awards. Being handed twenty-six times, he faced the rejection of sponsors, as a result of which it became necessary to reconsider the meaning of existence, having found the transformation required by the reader to a truly Russian humanistic value system».[67][68]
References
- ^ Ion Trewin (24 March 1999). "Obituary: Sir Michael Caine". The Independent. Independent Print Limited. Retrieved 4 February 2013.
- ^ Новости, Р. И. А. (15 March 2012). "Победитель "Русского Букера" в этом году получит 1,5 млн рублей". РИА Новости (in Russian). Retrieved 28 March 2024.
- ^ Создание и создатели [Establishment and founders] (in Russian). Russian Booker Prize. Retrieved 2 November 2011.
- ^ a b c d David Braund: The New Russia, "Lucrative literature: the Booker Prize in Russia", Sally Dalton-Brown, D. M. Pursglove, Intellect Books, 1995, ISBN 9781871516876, pp.23–33
- ^ Новости, Р. И. А. (December 2011). "Александр Чудаков стал лауреатом премии "Русский Букер десятилетия"". РИА Новости (in Russian). Retrieved 28 March 2024.
- ^ Процедура премии [Awarding procedure] (in Russian). Russian Booker Prize. Retrieved 2 November 2011.
- ^ a b Попечители [Trustee] (in Russian). Russian Booker Prize. Retrieved 2 November 2011.
- ^ "Booker Prize Dumps Khodorkovsky". Kommersant. ZAO "Kommersant. Publishing House". 7 December 2005. Retrieved 2 November 2011.
- ^ von Twickel, Nikolaus (18 March 2011). "No Money for Russian Booker Prize". The Moscow Times. Sanoma. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
- ^ Новости, Р. И. А. (November 2011). "Премия "Русский Букер десятилетия" выбрала пять финалистов". РИА Новости (in Russian). Retrieved 28 March 2024.
- ^ Teri Tan (2 December 2011). "Russian Booker of the Decade Goes to Chudakov". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
- ^ a b 'Русского Букера десятилетия' посмертно присудили Александру Чудакову ['Russian Booker Prize of the century' awarded posthumously to Alexander Chudakov] (in Russian). Lenta.ru. Retrieved 7 June 2012.
- ^ "О ПРЕКРАЩЕНИИ ПРЕМИИ «РУССКИЙ БУКЕР»". russianbooker.org (in Russian). 23 October 2019. Archived from the original on 23 October 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f "Archive – 1992" (in Russian). Russian Booker Prize. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f Pavel Vasysky (1993). В пустом саду [In the Empty Garden]. Pravda Литературное обозрение (in Russian): 14.
- ^ Seward, Deborah (8 December 1992). "Kharitonov awarded first Russian Booker Prize". Associated Press News. Retrieved 5 June 2013.
- ^ a b c d e "Archive – 1993" (in Russian). Russian Booker Prize. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
- ^ "Vladimir Makanin". Words Without Borders. Retrieved 5 June 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f "Archive – 1994" (in Russian). Russian Booker Prize. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f "Читающая Россия". Читающая Россия (in Russian): 1. 1994.
- ^ a b c "Archive – 1995" (in Russian). Russian Booker Prize. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
- ^ McMillin, Arnold (11 November 2003). "Georgi Vladimov". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 June 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f "Archive – 1996" (in Russian). Russian Booker Prize. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
- ^ Alexander Deriev, ed. (7 December 2003). Ars Interpres: An International Journal of Poetry, Translation and Art: No. 1. Forfattares Bokmaskin. p. 226. ISBN 978-9179105495.
- ^ a b c d e f "Archive – 1997" (in Russian). Russian Booker Prize. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
- ^ Indian Review of Books, Volume 7. Acme Books Pvt. Limited. 1997. p. 48.
- ^ a b c d e "Archive – 1998" (in Russian). Russian Booker Prize. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
- ^ Transition, Volume 6, Issues 1–3. Open Media Research Institute. 1999.
- ^ a b c d e f "Archive – 1999" (in Russian). Russian Booker Prize. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
- ^ "Mikhail Butov". University of Iowa. Retrieved 5 June 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f "Archive – 2000" (in Russian). Russian Booker Prize. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f "Archive – 2001" (in Russian). Russian Booker Prize. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
- ^ Sonkin, Victor (6 August 2004). "Doctor's Plot". The Moscow Times. Retrieved 5 June 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f "Archive – 2002" (in Russian). Russian Booker Prize. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
- ^ a b Stolyarova, Galina. "booker winner beats the odds". The St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved 5 June 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f "Archive – 2003" (in Russian). Russian Booker Prize. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f "Archive – 2004" (in Russian). Russian Booker Prize. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
- ^ Meklina, Margarita (13 July 2009). "Soviet Mammoth: Vasily Aksyonov, 1932–2009". Words Without Borders. Retrieved 5 June 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Archive – 2005" (in Russian). Russian Booker Prize. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
- ^ Sharpe, M. E. (2008). Russian Studies in Literature, Volume 44, Issue 4. Retrieved 5 June 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f "Archive – 2006" (in Russian). Russian Booker Prize. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
- ^ "Olga Slavnikova". Words Without Borders. Retrieved 5 June 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f "Archive – 2007" (in Russian). Russian Booker Prize. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
- ^ Ballard, Alisa (1 May 2008). "Aleksandr Ilichevsky. Matiss.(Book review)". World Literature Today. HighBeam Research. Archived from the original on 15 April 2016. Retrieved 5 June 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f "Archive – 2008" (in Russian). Russian Booker Prize. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f "Archive – 2009" (in Russian). Russian Booker Prize. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
- ^ Basinsky, Pavel (6 April 2011). "Russians return to serious literature". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 22 April 2014. Retrieved 5 June 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f "Archive – 2010" (in Russian). Russian Booker Prize. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
- ^ Tan, Teri (3 December 2010). "Koliadina Wins Russian Booker". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 5 June 2013.
- ^ a b c d e Объявлены Финалисты "Русского Букера Десятилетия" 2001–2010 гг. [Announcement of the finalists for the 10th Anniversary of the Russian Booker, 2001–2010] (in Russian). Russian Booker Prize. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
- ^ Tan, Teri (2 December 2011). "Russian Booker of the Decade Goes to Chudakov". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 5 June 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f Объявлены Финалисты "Русского Букера"-2012 [Announcement of the finalists for the 2012 Russian Booker] (in Russian). Russian Booker Prize. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
- ^ Olga Bugrova (5 December 2012). "Russian Booker goes to The Villager and the Teenager". Voice of Russia. All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company. Retrieved 6 December 2012.
- ^ "Русского букера" за 2012 год получил Андрей Дмитриев. Newsru (in Russian). 4 December 2012. Retrieved 6 December 2012.
- ^ Лауреатом "Русского Букера"-2012 Стал Андрей Дмитриев [Andrey Dimitriev wins 2012 Russian Booker] (in Russian). Russian Booker Prize. Retrieved 6 December 2012.
- ^ ЛАУРЕАТОМ "РУССКОГО БУКЕРА"-2013 СТАЛ АНДРЕЙ ВОЛОС (in Russian). russianbooker.org. 4 December 2013. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
- ^ ЛАУРЕАТОМ «РУССКОГО БУКЕРА»-2014 СТАЛ ВЛАДИМИР ШАРОВ (in Russian). russianbooker.org. 5 December 2014. Retrieved 8 December 2014.
- ^ a b c d e f Alexandra Guzeva (4 December 2015). "Best Russian book of the year has been announced". Russia Beyond the Headlines. Retrieved 28 December 2015.
- ^ ЛАУРЕАТОМ «РУССКОГО БУКЕРА»-2016 СТАЛ ПЕТР АЛЕШКОВСКИЙ (in Russian). russianbooker.org. 1 December 2016. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
- ^ ЛАУРЕАТОМ «РУССКОГО БУКЕРА»-2017 СТАЛА АЛЕКСАНДРА НИКОЛАЕНКО (in Russian). russianbooker.org. 5 December 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
- ^ ""Дневник читателя". "Убить Бобрыкина" за Букер". Радио Sputnik (in Russian). 12 December 2017.
- ^ П. Рыжова. «Время ночь» Л. Петрушевской // «Полка», 2018.
- ^ Вп. Новиков «Скукер» // «Время и мы». 2000 — № 147. — C. 187
- ^ Елена Фанайлова Русский Букер и все-все-все // «Критическая Масса». 2006. — № 2
- ^ Юрий Поляков: «Букеровская премия нанесла ущерба литературе не меньше, чем КГБ» // Православие.Ru, 4 февраля 2008 г.
- ^ Dmitry Bykov (6 December 2010). "Как выбирает "Букер"? Да как все: худшее…". «Novaya Gazeta», № 137, 6 December 2010.
«Букер» в России появился в 1992 году и сразу же обозначил тренд — удивительную способность выбрать из шести романов худший или, во всяком случае, наименее значимый.
- ^ Трунин К. Лауреаты российских литературных премий, 2018. — 765 стр. ISBN 978-5-4493-9805-5
- ^ "О премии "Русский Букер"". 22 November 2018.
External links
- (in Russian) Russian Booker Prize, official site