Howard Jacobson

William Baker (Northern Illinois University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Gina Lyle (University of York), Graham MacPhee (University of Manchester), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

Born 24 Aug 1942
Activity 1983-ongoing

Places

Born in England
Active in England

Cultural Identities

Jewish European

Activities

Primary

Novelist

Resources

Jacobson's Works

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Howard Eric Jacobson (1942-), novelist, journalist, broadcaster, was born on 25 August 1942 in a Manchester suburb. He has achieved recognition for his comic fiction that frequently includes Jewish characters, and for his work as a broadcasting personality. Jacobson’s first novel,

Coming from Behind

, appeared in 1983. His tenth novel,

The Finkler Question

, gained the prestigious Man Booker Award in 2010. Four years later, his dystopian novel

was short-listed for the award. His sixteenth and latest novel,

Live a Little

, was published on 4 July 2019.

Jacobson’s work is markedly different from that of his British contemporaries. For example, he is one of the few British, as opposed to American, novelists to draw upon Yiddish, the colloquial language of the now-decimated Eastern European

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4082 words

Citation: Baker, William. "Howard Jacobson". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 02 June 2021 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12309, accessed 04 December 2024.]

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