海角大神

The longlist for the 2014 Man Booker Prize was released, with authors from outside Britain, Ireland, and the Commonwealth being eligible for the first time this year.

According to the Guardian, four American writers made the cut out of the 13 writers who are now contenders. Richard Powers鈥� book 鈥淥rfeo鈥� is on the list as well as Siri Hustvedt鈥檚 鈥淭he Blazing World,鈥� Karen Joy Fowler鈥檚 鈥淲e Are All Completely Beside Ourselves,鈥� Joseph O鈥橬eill鈥檚 book 鈥淭he Dog,鈥� and Joshua Ferris鈥檚 鈥淭o Rise Again at a Decent Hour.鈥澛�

The British nominees are 鈥淭he Wake鈥� by Paul Kingsnorth, 鈥淭he Lives of Others鈥� by Neel Mukherjee, 鈥淗ow to Be Both鈥� by Ali Smith, 鈥淛鈥� by Howard Jacobson, 鈥淭he Bone Clocks鈥� by David Mitchell, and 鈥淯s鈥� by David Nicholls.聽

Irish author Niall Williams is nominated for the work 鈥淗istory of the Rain鈥� and Richard Flanagan of Australia made the list for his book 鈥淭he Narrow Road to the Deep North.鈥� Writer Joseph O鈥橬eill, who made the list for 鈥淭he Dog,鈥� was born in Ireland and is currently an American resident.

Several observers noted that author Donna Tartt did not make the cut for her novel 鈥淭he Goldfinch,鈥� which, since its release in the US last fall, has been both a critical and a popular success.

The decision to include all authors who write in English and had their books released in the UK in the prize met with some detractors when it was announced last year, and now that the list has been released, reaction to it seems to be mixed. 鈥淭here are no Indian or African authors and that will raise eyebrows among those who feared writers from some Commonwealth countries might get squeezed out by the new rules,鈥� noted BBC writer Rebecca Jones. Guardian writer John Dugdale wrote that 鈥渋f the first longlist under the new rules is any guide, it聽may have paradoxically become less international, not more, as a result of introducing them鈥�. So although non-western countries are depicted in works by Flanagan, Neel Mukherjee and Joseph O'Neill, there's a marked sense of restricted horizons when set against a聽2013 longlist full of聽travellers and immigrants, and in which Catton,聽NoViolet Bulawayo, Richard House,聽Jhumpa Lahiri聽and Ruth Ozeki all pulled off ambitious intercontinental narratives.鈥�

However, Telegraph writer Sameer Rahim called the list 鈥渟trong.鈥� 鈥淎ll the earlier chat about British writers being pushed out has proved unfounded,鈥� he wrote. 鈥淪ix high-calibre novelists are nominated including 2010 winner Howard Jacobson, David Mitchell and Ali Smith. I鈥檓 also pleased to see Neel Mukherjee, a real talent, make an appearance.鈥�

Some also objected to the gender divide on the list, with 10 men and three women writers making the cut. Guardian writer Mark Brown noted that 鈥渟ome eyebrows will be raised,鈥� and Entertainment Weekly writer Tina Jordan opined that 鈥淎t surface level, it seems inconceivable,聽not to mention dispiriting,聽that in this day and age that there鈥檚 still so much sexism in the literary prize world.鈥�

According to the The New York Times, A.C. Grayling, the author who led the panel of judges for the prize, said, 鈥淭he one guiding principle was to judge each book solely on its literary quality. There was no tokenism of any kind.鈥�

The shortlist will be announced in September and the prize will be bestowed in October.