British author Antonia Susan Byatt has died at the age of 87, the broadcaster said. BBC Referring to Penguin Random House.
“He died peacefully at home, surrounded by his close family. A Sheffield girl with a strong European sensibility, Antonia has a remarkable mind that gives birth to a unique creative vision, the statement said.
The publisher called Byatt “one of the most important writers and critics of our time.”
“We mourn his loss, but we are pleased to know that his soulful works will dazzle, shine and refract in the minds of readers for generations to come.” commented Death of writer and broadcaster Clara Farmer.
“Deeply unhappy child”
Antonia Susan Byatt (née Drabble) He was born on August 24, 1936 in Sheffield, England. His first novel, The Shadow of the Sun, was published in 1964, and he has since written more than two dozen works, including novels, short stories, and short story collections.
Recalling his childhood, the author described himself as “an extremely unhappy child.” Her father was a district court judge and her mother was an academic who “felt trapped by being a housewife.” According to the author, her mother “screamed and screamed and screamed.”
Byatt was one of four children, and her sister, Margaret Drabble, is also an author, and her first novel, The Aviary, became a bestseller after being published in 1963. In an interview Paris Review Byatt admitted that when she started publishing, she was more afraid of the constant comparisons to her sister than the bad reviews.
“He wrote more novels and wrote them faster. <…> I was horrified when they called me someone’s sister. That’s why it was so important to start the next book every time it came out. “It was very important not to read a single review for a long time,” said the author.
From the 1960s to the 1980s he taught at the University of London, the Central School of Art and Design, and University College London.
“The biggest fear is family life”
“I am not a scientist who writes novels by chance. Byatt said to herself in an interview: “I’m a writer who turned out to do very well in school.” New York Times Magazine In 1991.
Byatt won the Booker Prize for her novel in 1990. “Have” (Possession: A Romance) follows contemporary scholars as they explore the works of two fictional Victorian poets. The book was the basis for the film Whiplash, directed by Neil LaBute and released in 2002. Starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Aaron Eckhart.
Also based on the short story collection “The Genie in the Glass Bottle in the Nightingale’s Eye” The movie ‘Three Thousand Years of Wishes’, starring Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton, was shot and released in 2022. Byatt is also the winner of the Shakespeare Prize, the Hans Christian Andersen Literary Award, and other prestigious literary awards.
Another famous Byatt novel is “Children’s book” – Released in 2009. It was also nominated for the Man Booker Prize. Talking about work in an interview Guardian The author said in 2009 that it reflected his “greatest horror – simple family life”.
“I had this dream of getting out of the ground and seeing the light for a little while and then locking myself in the kitchen, which I think happened to women of my generation,” she said.
“You can die at any moment”
In an interview in 2016 trouw Byatt, who was 80 at the time, admitted that he felt “old enough to die”:
“If you turn 80, you can die at any time. “I’m very surprised that other people over 80 don’t think more about how they could die at any moment.”
The author added that he sometimes thinks about “images of the universe on TV” and the Earth: “I really like the feeling that I don’t really exist.” But he added that “it’s not enough yet.”
“I’m working on a great book, I put a lot of research into it and I’m going to have to bring it back because I keep forgetting about it.” <…> So I’m going to keep writing like I’m going to live long enough to write well enough,” Byatt shared.
Antonia Susan Byatt’s latest book was published in 2021, a collection “Medusa’s Ankles. “Selected Stories” (“Ankles of Medusa. Selected Stories”) contains some of the stories he wrote throughout his writing career.