IT WON the prestigious Booker prize once, but leading British publishers now find a novel by celebrated Indian-origin author Sir V S Naipaul worth only for the reject pile.
Typed manuscripts of the opening chapters of the Nobel laureate’s ‘In a Free State’ and ‘Holiday’, a novel by Stanley Middleton, were sent to 20 publishers and agents by a leading newspaper guised as written by aspiring authors but none “appeared to have recognised them as Booker prize winners from the 1970s that were lauded as British novel writing at its best.”
Naipul’s novel had won the Booker in 1971, while Middleton’s was chosen for the prize in 1974. Of the 21 replies from the publishers, all but one were rejections, The Sunday Times reported, seeking to draw attention to concerns that the “industry has become incapable of spotting genuine literary talent.”
