Could a woman who declared "thank you for your presidency, thank you for your testament of belief" really have been at loggerheads with him for so long?
He also highlighted that both 2012 and 2011's Clarke awards were won by female authors – Lauren Beukes for Zoo City, and Jane Rogers for The Testament of Jessie Lamb – and that of the 82 books submitted for the award, just 16 were written by women, and one by a woman and man team.
Her work stems from a desire to create a safe space for testaments outside of the mainstream media and looks to create alternate spaces for maneuvering and exploring sociopolitical traumas via group identity, cultural propriety, and individualism".
Only two authors on the list have been nominated for the prize before: Jim Crace is listed for his 11th novel Harvest, 16 years after he was shortlisted for Quarantine; and Colm Tóibín, shortlisted twice before, is in the running for The Testament of Mary, which came out last year.
For "The Testament of Mary" is a beautiful and daring work.
For The Testament of Gideon Mack, he introduced a framing device, footnotes, and a direct address to the reader – warning against hurrying through long novels, for example – which seems quite natural to readers of Alasdair Gray.
Toibin is shortlisted for The Testament of Mary.
Paddy Power installed Crace's Harvest as the slightest of favourites at 6/4, with Toibin just behind at 13/8 for The Testament of Mary.
Producer Seymour Nebenzal felt that creating this alternative version would enhance international sales for The Testament of Dr. Mabuse.
The 2011 shortlist includes some big names: Haruki Murakami, nominated for 1Q84, Stephen King for 11.22.63, James Frey for The Final Testament of the Holy Bible, and Chris Adrian for The Great Night, among others.
For Mr. Brantley, I was surprised by his lukewarm reviews for both "The Testament of Mary" and "The Nance".
