LONDON (The Thursday Times) — Science fiction mein khaas maqbooliyat rakhne wale 81 saala Bartanvi adeeb M John Harrison ne apne novel "The End of Everything" par 2026 ka Booker Prize jeet liya hai, aur woh is inaam ki tareekh ke sab se moammar fateh ban gaye hain.
Harrison ko Peer ko London mein ek taqreeb mein 50 hazar pound ke is inaam ka fateh qarar diya gaya. Unhon ne Margaret Atwood ko peechhe chhor diya hai jo ab tak Booker jeetne wali sab se moammar adeeba thin. Yeh inaam 1969 mein shuru hua tha aur har saal English mein likhe gaye behtareen novel ko diya jata hai.
"The End of Everything" England ke junoob mashriqi sahil par ek na-maloom tabahi ke baad ke barson mein tarteeb diya gaya hai jis ne Bartanvi muashre ko gira diya hai. Yeh ek shakhs aur us ki khala ki kahani hai jo pur-asrar khalai makhlooq ki aamad ke dauran apni zindagi jari rakhne ki koshish karte hain.
‘Wazahat ki tabahi’
Harrison keh chuke hain ke unhon ne jaan boojh kar jitni ho saki wazahat hazf kar di taake qari bhi kirdaron ki uljhan mein shareek ho. Un ka kehna hai: “The End of Everything is bare mein hai ke yun jeene ki koshish ki jaye jaise kuch ghalat nahin hua. Yeh ek aisi tabahi ki kahani hai jis mein tabahi samajh na pana hai.”
Mangal ko ek radio interview mein unhon ne kaha ke woh “maloomat ki us yalghar par tanz karna chahte thay jis ka hum sab shikar hain” aur “wazahat ki tabahi, aaj ki duniya ko na samajh pane ki tabahi” dikhana chahte thay.
Judges ki sarbarah, classical uloom ki mahir Mary Beard ne ise “ek mushkil mutalia, magar behtareen fiction aksar mushkil hota hai” qarar diya. Unhon ne kaha ke yeh kitab “aap ko ulat palat kar deti hai, halki si muskurahat lati hai, aur mauzoo ke bawajood hairat angez taur par umeed ki ek kiran chhor jati hai.”
Makhsoos halqe ki pasand se Booker tak
Harrison ne 1960 ki dahai mein likhna shuru kiya aur 13 novel, mukhtasar kahaniyon ke paanch majmoo'e, aur ek “anti-memoir” likh chuke hain. Woh science fiction aur fantasy jaise label pasand nahin karte, magar taweel arse se is sinf ke sab se munfarid adeebon mein shumar hote hain.
Booker Prize Foundation ki chief executive Gaby Wood ne kaha ke woh “baqaida science fiction ki duniya se aane wale pehle Booker fateh” hain aur unhein “ek haqeeqi munfarid mufakkir, sinf ki hadein torne wala adeeb jo khayalat ko sanjeedgi se leta hai” qarar diya.
Beard ke mutabiq judges ne, jin mein novel nigar Patricia Lockwood, shayar Raymond Antrobus, mauseeqar Jarvis Cocker, aur naqqad Rebecca Liu bhi shamil thay, poora din behes ke baad muttafiqa faisla kiya. “Bohat behes, ikhtilaf, aur mubahisa hua. Magar koi naraz ho kar nahin gaya.”
Shortlist mein shamil deegar adeeb Elizabeth Strout, Luke Kennard, Rebecca Perry, Marlon James, aur Douglas Stuart thay. Guzishta saal yeh inaam David Szalay ko un ke novel "Flesh" par mila tha.
