'We love because we know our lives are going to end'

Howard Jacobson, the Man Booker Prize 2010 winner for The Finkler Question, on love, loss and what it means to be Jewish

Living in the heart of London's bustling Soho is integral to the writing process of British-Jewish author, and this year's Man Booker Prize winner, Howard Jacobson.
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"Writing is about being in the heart of life. I like to take breaks, go into the streets and be affected by the noise and vitality outside," he says over the telephone from London.


Jacobson was 'longlisted' for the Booker Prize in 2002 and 2006 as well. But, this is the firstu00a0 time he got the award

Though Jacobson has been longlisted (the Booker committee longlists participants first and then makes a shortlist from there) twice for the prize, first in 2002 for Who's Sorry Now, and then in 2006 for Kalooki Nights, this is the 68-year-old author's first Booker.

"Winning the Booker prize is quite a pay-off, but the sheer joy of the work is my biggest pay-off."

Deemed a 'comic' writer, the author says he dislikes being boxed into a category. "It makes me feel I do less than I do.
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My comedies are serious. My ambition is to write comedy that is on the edge. I want tears in my laughter, and fear, and shock."

Tragedy in comedy

Jacobson achieves this by taking comedy into places where it typically "can't go". Places including 'death, sorrow, heartbreak and grief'. "That's where we need comedy most; we need it to live.
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Comedy reaffirms life in the face of tragedy. Comedy is a great human shout of defiance," says Jacobson.

The revelation is unlikely to come as a surprise to regular readers of his writings, but is still surprising given that his novel, The Finkler Question, has been branded "the first comic novel" to win the prize in the award's 42-year history.
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"I won't spoil a good news story. (But) There've been several. You could, argue, though that there haven't been enough," he quips.

Question of identity

Having been a student of English literature, and later au00a0 teacher of the subject, including at the University of Sydney and then the Selwyn College in Cambridge, UK, Jacobson says that he always had a sense that the language meant something different to him. "Being Jewish was something that I had to think about.

My imagination had a slightly different colouration. I hear it differently. I want to make English dance to a slightly different tune," shares the author.

According to Jacobson, the quality that defines the Jewish sense of humour is self-deprecation, often bordering on masochism. "We will be crueler to ourselves than anybody else.

What we're really saying is, listen, listen to this joke, because we pride ourselves on our cleverness, because cleverness is all we have."

Pleasure principle

Jacobson considers comedy the most challenging form of writing. "Comedy is similar to writing poetry, in that it needs music," he says, adding, "Good writing and pleasure are not a contradiction.
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I want people to read my books, to enjoy them, and for the books to give them the highest possible pleasure."

Before signing off, he says, "The only thing I know to be true about life is that it comes to an end. Life is short. Cruel. Fragile.
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But if life did not come to an end, there would be no art, we would not fall in love. We love because we know our lives are going to end."

Winning entry

The Finkler Question explores the question of 'Jewish' identity. Julian Treslove, a former BBC radio producer; Sam Finkler, a popular Jewish philosopher, writer and television personality; and their former teacher Libor Sevcik meet for dinner on an evening that will force them to address questions of loss, longing and identity.