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John Banville

ジョン・バンヴィル

John Banville

Aliases: William John Banville / W. J. Banville
Pen Names: Benjamin Black（Pen name for crime fiction (Quirke series, etc.)）, B. W. Black（Alternate pen name used for works such as the 2020 alternative-history novel The Secret Guests）

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1945-12-08 （Wexford, Ireland）
Nationality
Ireland
Languages
English
Residence History
Wexford (birthplace) → Howth, Dublin

Career

Occupations
Novelist, Screenwriter, Editor, Short story writer
Active Years
1970-2025
Affiliations
The Irish Times (literary editor 1988–1999)
Memberships
Aosdána (former member), Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (Honorary Member)
Influenced By
W. B. Yeats, Henry James, Vladimir Nabokov, Samuel Beckett
Influenced

Education

St Peter's College, Wexford
Country: Ireland
Did not attend university; educated through secondary school.

Awards

James Tait Black Memorial Prize
1976
Result: 受賞
Booker Prize (Man Booker Prize)
2005
Work: The Sea
Organization: Booker Prize
Result: 受賞
Franz Kafka Prize
2011
Organization: Franz Kafka Prize
Result: 受賞
Austrian State Prize for European Literature
2013
Organization: Austrian State Prize
Result: 受賞
Prince (Princess) of Asturias Award for Literature
2014
Organization: Prince of Asturias Foundation
Result: 受賞
Order of the Star of Italy (Ordine della Stella d'Italia)
2017
Organization: Italian Republic
Result: 叙勲（Cavaliere）
Lannan Literary Award for Fiction
1997
Work: The Untouchable
Organization: Lannan Foundation
Result: 受賞
Allied Irish Banks' Prize
1973
Work: Birchwood
Organization: Allied Irish Banks
Result: 受賞
Guinness Peat Aviation Award
1989
Work: The Book of Evidence
Organization: Guinness Peat Aviation
Result: 受賞
Premio Nonino (International Nonino Prize)
2003
Organization: Nonino Foundation
Result: 受賞
RBA Prize for Crime Writing
2017
Work: Snow
Organization: RBA (Spain)
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Doctor Copernicus

1976 Novel

A long novel centred on the life and work of Nicolaus Copernicus; part of Banville's interest in scientific figures.

sciencehistorycharacter study

Kepler

1981 Novel

Deals with the life of Johannes Kepler; part of the Revolutions Trilogy exploring scientists' inner lives.

sciencelonelinesssearch for order

The Book of Evidence

1989 Novel

A novel that uses an unreliable narrator to examine crime and art; first book of the Frames Trilogy.

guiltartunreliable narrator

The Sea

2005 Novel 224 pages

A meditative novel on loss and memory, revisiting the past; winner of the 2005 Booker Prize.

lossmemoryfamily
Adaptations
  • [Film] The Sea (film) (2013)
Translations
  • The Sea (Japanese translation title varies)

Snow

2020 Crime fiction / Mystery

A crime novel featuring detective and forensic elements; related to the world of Quirke.

crimeinvestigationmemory

Bibliography

  • Long Lankin (short stories, 1970)
  • Nightspawn (1971)
  • Birchwood (1973)
  • Doctor Copernicus (1976)
  • Kepler (1981)
  • The Newton Letter (1982)
  • Mefisto (1986)
  • The Book of Evidence (1989)
  • Ghosts (1993)
  • Athena (1995)
  • The Untouchable (1997)
  • Eclipse (2000)
  • Shroud (2002)
  • The Sea (2005)
  • The Infinities (2009)
  • Ancient Light (2012)
  • Mrs Osmond (2017)
  • Snow (2020)
  • The Secret Guests (2020)
  • April in Spain (2021)
  • The Singularities (2022)
  • The Lock-up (2023)
  • The Drowned (2024)

Adaptations

  • Quirke (TV series, based on novels written as Benjamin Black)
  • The Last September (screenplay/adaptation involvement)
  • Albert Nobbs (screenplay involvement)

Translations of Works

  • Translations into multiple languages exist for major works (titles such as The Sea have Japanese translations)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
elegant, highly crafted proselyrical yet incisive observationphilosophical and poetic narration
Recurring Motifs
memory and lossart and aestheticsscientists and scienceunreliable narrators

Health

  • temporary 'brain fog' (grief-related writing slowdown)
    2021（数か月）
    After his wife's death he reported being unable to write for about six months.

Legacy

Regarded as a master stylist in English, celebrated for finely crafted prose and artistic inquiry; a major prize-winner and also widely known for crime fiction under the pen name Benjamin Black.

Academic Societies

  • Royal Society of Literature (Fellow)
  • American Academy of Arts and Sciences (Honorary Member)

Archives

  • Papers held at the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library (Emory University)

In Popular Culture

  • Quirke series (as Benjamin Black) adapted for television

Quotes

  • I hate them all ... I loathe them. They're all a standing embarrassment.
    Source: Interview (various; cited in profile/interviews) (2005)
  • When I was told in the hoax call that I had won the Nobel, I told my family 'Don't buy the champagne.'
    Source: News/interview regarding the Nobel Prize hoax call (2019)

Trivia

  • As a teenager he confessed to stealing a Dylan Thomas poetry book from the Wexford County Library.
  • He has said he writes quickly under the Benjamin Black name compared with his literary novels.
  • Former member of Aosdána; he voluntarily relinquished the stipend in 2001 to make way for another writer.