Literary prizes form a fascinating interface between literature and society, in that particularly noteworthy works are awarded prizes, which usually enhance their sales and benefits both the authors, their publishers, and their sponsors; and the members of juries tend, in one way or another, often as writers themselves, to be intimately connected with the world of books and their dissemination. Bearing this in mind the present volume unites studies of award-winning novels as well as studies of the social, political and economic dimensions of gaining a prize, the individual contributions varying in their emphases. Four essays discuss the Booker Prize, embracing alongside literary aspects, in particular aspects of cultural politics. At the centre of the book is an in-depth study of the work of Rose Tremain, who has not only been awarded several prizes but has herself been actively engaged in awarding prizes on other occasions. Then there follow two studies of other important prizes for fiction, in turn followed by two analyses of the general social horizon of the British prize-giving system and its implications. The book is rounded off by an extensive bibliography of the subject and an index.

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