John Banville
Overview
John Banville is an Irish novelist and screenwriter.
Banville's breakthrough novel The Book of Evidence
(1989) was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize
, and won the Guinness Peat Aviation
award. His eighteenth novel, The Sea
, won the Man Booker Prize in 2005. He was awarded the Franz Kafka Prize
in 2011. He also writes crime fiction under the pseudonym Benjamin Black.
Banville is known for his precise, cold, forensic prose style, Nabokovian
inventiveness, and for the dark humour of his generally arch narrators.
Banville's breakthrough novel The Book of Evidence
The Book of Evidence
The Book of Evidence is a 1989 novel by the Irish author John Banville. The book is narrated by Freddie Montgomery, a 38-year-old scientist, who murders a servant girl during an attempt to steal a painting from a neighbour...
(1989) was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize
Man Booker Prize
The Man Booker Prize for Fiction is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original full-length novel, written in the English language, by a citizen of the Commonwealth of Nations, Ireland, or Zimbabwe. The winner of the Man Booker Prize is generally assured of international renown and...
, and won the Guinness Peat Aviation
Guinness Peat Aviation
Guinness Peat Aviation was a Commercial Aircraft Sales and Leasing company set up in 1975 by Aer Lingus, the Guinness Peat Group and Tony Ryan, then an Aer Lingus executive.-History:...
award. His eighteenth novel, The Sea
The Sea (novel)
- Plot summary:The story is told by Max Morden, a self-aware, retired art historian attempting to reconcile himself to the deaths of those whom he loved as a child and as an adult....
, won the Man Booker Prize in 2005. He was awarded the Franz Kafka Prize
Franz Kafka Prize
The Franz Kafka Prize is an international literary award presented in honour of Franz Kafka, the German language novelist. The prize was first awarded in 2001 and is co-sponsored by the and the city of Prague, Czech Republic. At a presentation held annually at the end of October in the Old Town...
in 2011. He also writes crime fiction under the pseudonym Benjamin Black.
Banville is known for his precise, cold, forensic prose style, Nabokovian
Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov was a multilingual Russian novelist and short story writer. Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Russian, then rose to international prominence as a master English prose stylist...
inventiveness, and for the dark humour of his generally arch narrators.