Shortlisted for the Booker with his dystopian novel J, the author explains it was time to leave satire and irony behind
Howard Jacobson has been shortlisted for the Man Booker prize for his dystopian 13th novel J. Photograph: Richard Saker/The Observer
At the age of 72 Howard Jacobson is clinging on to his natural pessimism in the face of persistent provocation. It may be difficult, but Jacobson is in for the long haul and will not be cheered up much. A "happy domestic situation" with his third wife, Jenny de Yong, coupled with growing acclaim for his work, including a Man Booker prize four years ago for The Finkler Question and another novel newly shortlisted, are doing their best to derail him. The most the writer will allow is that fresh critical esteem has "taken the edge off my anger".
With the post-apocalyptic J, his 13th novel, named one of the six books on the Man Booker shortlist last week, Jacobson says he is grateful that a work he regards as his most confident yet has been recognised, and for the sales boost that will follow. But he points out its subject is determinedly bleak not for literary effect, but because he really believes in its dark message. It is the duty of novelists to take a gloomy perspective, he argues. "I have never met an intelligent optimist. That is not to say I think pessimism makes you intelligent, but I have always felt like an Old Testament Jeremiah or Cassandra from ancient Greece. I want to run down the streets warning people."
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With the post-apocalyptic J, his 13th novel, named one of the six books on the Man Booker shortlist last week, Jacobson says he is grateful that a work he regards as his most confident yet has been recognised, and for the sales boost that will follow. But he points out its subject is determinedly bleak not for literary effect, but because he really believes in its dark message. It is the duty of novelists to take a gloomy perspective, he argues. "I have never met an intelligent optimist. That is not to say I think pessimism makes you intelligent, but I have always felt like an Old Testament Jeremiah or Cassandra from ancient Greece. I want to run down the streets warning people."
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