The Murderer (novel)

The Murderer is a 1978 novel by Guyanese writer Roy A. K. Heath. The author's second novel, it was first published in London by Allison and Busby, with Margaret Busby as editor, and was the winner of the Guardian Fiction Prize.[1][2]

The Murderer
AuthorRoy Heath
CountryUK
LanguageEnglish
Published1978
PublisherAllison and Busby
AwardsThe Guardian Fiction Prize
Preceded byA Man Come Home 
Followed byFrom the Heat of the Day 

Reception

The Murderer was well reviewed on first publication and in its later reissues, being described by The Observer as "mysteriously authentic, and unique as a work of art" and by Publishers Weekly as "an impressive study of a man's descent into paranoia and madness."[3]

Wilson Harris, reviewing the novel in World Literature Written in English, wrote: "What is impressive about The Murderer is the execution of a style that truncates emotion...."[4]

In 2008, David Katz appraised Roy Heath's writing career in Caribbean Beat, noting: "His 1978 book The Murderer, which won the Guardian Fiction prize, was a haunting account of the paranoid protagonist’s descent into madness and the inevitable outcome that gives the book its title; this, and the compelling Armstrong Family trilogy that followed (From the Heat of the Day (1979), One Generation (1980) and Genetha (1981)), helped establish his reputation, drawing comparisons to Joseph Conrad, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky."[5]

The Murderer was listed in 1999's The Modern Library: 200 Best Novels in English since 1950 by Carmen Callil and Colm Tóibín.[1]

Editions
  • 1978: London: Allison and Busby
  • 1984: Fontana Paperbacks
  • 1986: New York: Persea Books
  • 2022: Penguin Books (Penguin Modern Classics), ISBN 9780241552728[6]

References
  1. Busby, Margaret (20 May 2008). "Roy AK Heath (obituary)". The Guardian.
  2. "Roy Heath (1926 – 2008)". Elise Dillsworth Literary Agency. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
  3. "The Murderer | Roy Heath, Author Persea Books", Publishers Weekly, 3 March 1993.
  4. Wilson Harris, "Roy Heath. The Murderer. London: Allison and Busby, 1978" (review), World Literature Written in English, Volume 17, 1978 – Issue 2, pp. 656–658.
  5. Katz, David (September–October 2008). "Roy Heath: a man goes home". Caribbean Beat. No. 93. Retrieved 22 April 2022.
  6. "The Murderer". Penguin.co.uk. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.