塞巴斯蒂安·巴里

塞巴斯蒂安·巴里（英语：Sebastian Barry，1955年7月5日—），出生于都柏林，毕业于都柏林三一学院，为著名爱尔兰剧作家、诗人以及小说家。

巴里于1982年开始其文学生涯，当时主要写诗及剧本，包括较为人熟识的《基督国的总管》，90年代他开展了小说的工作，2005年首次凭《漫漫长路》入圈布克奖，2008年，他终于以《秘经》一书一举赢得了科斯塔图书奖及詹姆斯·泰特·布莱克纪念奖，2016年，他凭《无尽的岁月》再次赢得了科斯塔图书奖。

Sebastian Barry (born 1955) is an Irish novelist, playwright and poet. He was named Laureate for Irish Fiction, 2018–2021. The French government named him a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in 2024. He is considered "one of Ireland’s most acclaimed and accomplished novelists", with "a distinctive place in contemporary Irish culture".

Barry's 2005 novel A Long Long Way was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. His follow-up novel, 2008's The Secret Scripture, won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the Costa Book of the Year and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. His 2011 novel, On Canaan's Side, was longlisted for the Booker. Days Without End received the 2017 Costa Book of the Year, meaning Barry became the first novelist to win the prestigious prize twice.

Early life and education

Barry was born in Dublin. His mother was acclaimed actress Joan O'Hara. One of Barry's grandfathers belonged to the British Army Corps of Royal Engineers. His other grandfather was a painter, a Nationalist, and a devotee of Éamon de Valera.

He was educated at Catholic University School and Trinity College Dublin, where he read English and Latin.

Career

Academia

Barry's academic posts have included Honorary Fellow in Writing at the University of Iowa (1984), Heimbold Visiting Professor at Villanova University (2006) and Writer Fellow at Trinity College, Dublin (1995–1996).

Works

Barry's first literary publication was the novel Macker's Garden in 1982. His first play, The Pentagonal Dream, starred Olwen Fouéré and debuted in the Damer Theatre in March 1986. This was followed by several books of poetry and a further novel, The Engine of Owl-Light in 1987, before his career as a playwright began with his first play produced in the Abbey Theatre, Boss Grady's Boys, in 1988.

Barry's maternal great-grandfather, James Dunne, provided the inspiration for the main character in his most internationally known play, The Steward of Christendom (1995), which won the Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize, the Lloyd's Private Banking Playwright of the Year Award and other awards. The main character, named Thomas Dunne in the play, was the chief superintendent of the Dublin Metropolitan Police from 1913 to 1922. He oversaw the area surrounding Dublin Castle until the Irish Free State takeover on 16 January 1922.

Both The Steward of Christendom and the novel The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty (1998) are about the dislocations (physical and otherwise) of loyalist Irish people during the political upheavals of the early 20th century. The title character of the latter work is a young man forced to leave Ireland by his former friends in the aftermath of the Anglo-Irish War.

His novel A Long Long Way was shortlisted for the 2005 Man Booker Prize, and was selected for Dublin's 2007 One City One Book event. The novel tells the story of Willie Dunne, a young recruit to the Royal Dublin Fusiliers during the First World War. It brings to life the divided loyalty that many Irish soldiers felt at the time following the Easter Rising in 1916. Willie Dunne, son of the fictional Thomas Dunne, first appears as a minor but important character in The Steward of Christendom.

Barry's 2008 novel The Secret Scripture won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction (announced in August 2009), the oldest such award in the UK, the 2008 Costa Book of the Year (announced 27 January 2009), and (in French translation Le testament caché) the 2010 Cezam Prix Littéraire Inter CE. The Secret Scripture was also a favourite to win the 2008 Man Booker Prize, narrowly losing out to Aravind Adiga's The White Tiger.

Barry's play Andersen's English is inspired by children's writer Hans Christian Andersen coming to stay with Charles Dickens and his family in the Kent marshes. Directed by Max Stafford-Clark and produced by Out of Joint and Hampstead Theatre, the play toured in the UK from 11 February to 8 May 2010.

Our Lady of Sligo was directed in 1998 by Max Stafford-Clark at the Royal National Theatre, co−produced by Out of Joint.