The Literary Review‘s Bad Sex in Fiction Award, hailed as the U.K.’s “most dreaded literary prize” was announced Monday, with the rather embarrassing honor going to Rowan Somerville for some steamy passages in his new novel, The Shape of Her. The award, in its 18th year, was created to humiliate the “most embarrassing passages of sexual description in a literary novel.”
Somerville’s novel out-sexed the nominees, which included Freedom by Jonathan Franzen, The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas, The Golden Mean by Annabel Lyon, Maya by Alastair Campbell, A Life Apart by Neel Mukherjee, Heartbreak by Craig Raine, and Mr Peanut by Adam Ross.
I have not personally read The Shape of Her, but it seems the award was well-deserved. Here is one especially killer passage: “like a lepidopterist mounting a tough-skinned insect with a too blunt pin he screwed himself into her.” Another favorite is: “He unbuttoned the front of her shirt and pulled it to the side so that her breast was uncovered, her nipple poking out, upturned like the nose of the loveliest nocturnal animal, sniffing the night. He took it between his lips and sucked the salt from her.” I am generally one to give the author the benefit of the doubt, assuming there is a deeper meaning or an important character development in awkward passages, but this one is not negotiable. And while I do not liken myself to a sex-in-books expert, I can say on pretty good authority that this passage is far from sexy.
On a brief side note, I am happy to see that Freedom has gained some recognition for the phone sex passages that did more to turn my stomach than serve a higher purpose. They may be a bit too explicit for the blog, but feel free to check them out if you are curious.
Somerville accepted the award with grace saying, “There is nothing more English than bad sex, so on behalf of the entire nation I would like to thank you.” The award seems to have turned into a big event, although it was not created in the goofy spirit it has morphed into. The original goal was to discourage writers from resorting to crude, tasteless passages, but some recent authors have turned the uncomplementary attention into a joke. This year, it is reported that Alistair Campbell was disqualified for his apparent excitement at the prospect of winning. The judges shied from awarding him the dishonor, afraid it would only encourage him. Similarly, in 2003, Aniruddha Bahal recieved the award for his novel Bunker 13, and his publishers were so excited that they flew him from Delhi to accept the award in person.
Some other recent winners include Rachel Johnson for her novel Shire Hell and The Kindly Ones, by Jonathan Littell.
With The Living Reed, Ms. Buck has created a story of Korea in transition to the modern world through her characters. The sweep of history and the excitement of great events provide only part of the book’s power: The story is of a closely knit family dedicated to the salvation of their homeland, the preservation of their culture, and a move into the modern world from the archaic ways of the past. Korea, the golden pawn in the midst of the past. Korea, the golden pawn in the midst of centuries of struggle between China, Russia, and Japan, is finally on the brink of becoming independent.
