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I'm happy to be mummy's boy

May 29, 2008 23:00

By

Simon Round,

Simon Round

1 min read

William Sutcliffe is a novelist concerned to celebrate an important relationship

William Sutcliffe is not anticipating a call from the compilers of the Man Booker Prize shortlist for his new novel, Whatever Makes You Happy (Bloomsbury £10.99). “If you are writing about young people, you are disqualified from every literary prize,” Sutcliffe claims. “You are also disqualified if you are funny, use lots of dialogue, or write about contemporary Britain — everything I tend to do.”

But Sutcliffe, 37, the fresh-faced author of cult success Are You Experienced?, says he is not unduly bothered — “some writers are poisoned by setting literary prizes as a goal”. But he adds somewhat acidly: “In fiction, being a bit boring can help you to appear a better writer.”

His new book addresses a theme Sutcliffe believes is taboo — the relationship between men and their mothers. “You’ll never see an A-list actor — George Clooney, Tom Cruise or Harrison Ford — have a relationship with his mother. If you did, the reaction would be: ‘Look at this guy, he is such as loser.’ A lot of men are quite close to their mothers. Why be ashamed?”