Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty (2004)
From Angl-Am
The Line of Beauty is a novel written by Alan Hollinghurst and published by Picador in 2004.It traces a decade of change and tragedy in Nick Guest's life after he moves in with the Feddons in 1983, gets caught up in their world and his own fascination with beauty. The portrayal of 1980s Thatcherite London touches upon the emergence of HIV in the 1980s and is often labeled under 'gay fiction'.
Awards, Reception and Reviews
- 2004-Man Booker Prize for Fiction
- 2004-Costa Book Awards shortlist
- 2005-British Book Awards Author of the Year shortlist
- 2005-Commonwealth Writers' Prize (Eurasia Region, Best Book) shortlist
Adaptations
- A three-part mini-series for BBC Television, directed by Saul Dibb and adapted by Andrew Davies in 2006.
Further Reading
- Eastham, Andrew. "Inoperative Ironies: Jamesian Aestheticism and Post-Modern Culture in Alan Hollinghurst's The Line of Beauty." Textual Practice 20.3 (2006 Sept):509-27.
- Rivkin, Julie. "Writing the Gay '80s with Henry James: David Leavitt's A Place I've Never Been and Alan Hollinghurst's The Line of Beauty." Henry James Review 26.3 (2005 Fall):282-92.
- Flannery, Denis. "The Powers of Apostrophe and the Boundaries of Mourning: Henry James, Alan Hollinghurst, and Toby Litt." Henry James Review 26.3 (2005 Fall):293-305.
Links
- Alan Hollinghurst at ContemporaryWriters.com
- BBC News, "Hollinghurst's rise to Booker glory", 19 October, 2004 (Hollinghurst referred to as "one of the leading authors of gay fiction in the UK")
