It’s always nice to be recognized by your peers. But what do you do when recognition comes in the form of livestock?
That’s what just happened to English novelist Ian McEwan, whose latest book Solar received the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction. The award, now in its 12th year, is given to the novel that best reflects the droll sensibilities of writer P.G. Wodehouse. Clearly, it’s an honor to have one’s work compared to the marvelously madcap Jeeves and Wooster books, especially for McEwan, whose Atonement was pretty much the opposite of hilarious. McEwan should be proud to know he can tickle the funny bone as well as he can tug on the heartstrings.
And now he’s got quite the reminder of his achievement, provided by the prize committee. A Gloucestershire Old Spot pig will take the name “Solar,” and it will join a literal stable of prize ungulates with names like Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi and Salmon Fishing in the Yemen.
To be fair, McEwan will also receive some fancy Champagne, and a complete set of the Wodehouse library. But we all know the real prize has four trotters and a curly tail.
If you like a little humor in your fiction, here are a few more titles to get you started:
What are your favorite comic novels?
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