‘A dazzling exploration of the ideas and experiences at the roots of modern life’: that’s how The Independent billed Paul Verhaeghen’s Omega Minor in its shortlist for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize earlier this year. Now the Flemish author’s 700-page novel about cognitive psychology, quantum physics, Nazis, Neo-Nazis, stormtroopers and scientists has been awarded said Prize. And a fine Prize it is: 13,500 euros, to be divided between author and translator. So that’s killing two birds with one stone for Verhaeghen, who acted as his own translator for the American edition of Omega Minor. That’s no small task: in fact it’s writing a novel twice. Maybe out of practical necessity, as Matt Thorne suggested in his review for The Independent (11 January 2008): he reckons Verhaeghen might have found it hard to find another translator prepared to take on an ambitious 700-page novel with such a wide scope. The author himself claims he didn’t recognise his own voice in some of the trial translations commissioned by the Flemish Fund for Literature. It was the first time he realised he could have an English voice: ‘The resulting book is maybe more American than the original, but I can still recognise it as my novel.’
The book has sold well in Germany, the Netherlands and France and in the wake of the prize hopes are now up for the UK market. The Guardian quotes Antonia Byatt, director of literature strategy at award sponsor Arts Council England and the non-voting chair of the judges, saying to be ‘delighted Paul Verhaeghen has won ... It is a highly ambitious novel which tackles some of the major issues of our time. He deserves such recognition in England, not only for his remarkable writing but also for his huge achievement in translating his own work.’
Boyd Tonkin, the Independent’s literary editor and one of the judges, described the book as a fantastic, big, rich exciting novel, comparable to the the Don DeLillo of Underworld and Thomas Pynchon's Gravity’s Rainbow: ‘It is vast and sprawling - and I think it's OK to say that it is quite uneven, because 80% of it is absolutely brilliant.’ Matt Thorne too pointed in his review at the slightly flawed nature of the novel and even indicated that some readers might be alienated by certain quirks of Verhaeghen, such as a ‘bizarre fixation with ejaculation, prompting phrases such as "pearly liquid", "creamy harvest", "frothy broth"’ . Nevertheless he also admitted that ‘for all its flaws, this is an uncommonly intellectually stretching- and satisfying – experience’ and expressed his admiration for an an author who challenges both the structural limitations of the novel and the limitations of our understanding of the universe.
Equally and more prosaically admirable is the author’s attitute to pecuniary matters. Verhaeghen may have killed two birds with a stone, but he’s not taking home (which is the US, where he lectures in Cognitive Psychology) the catch: ‘Part of this book is about the rise and aftermath of Fascism in Nazi Germany. And it's hard to miss the analogous things happening in the US. I refused the Flemish Culture award after I realised around $5,000 of the winnings would go to the US treasury. So this time, I decided to give the money to the American Civil Liberties Union, which works for civil rights. The money won't be liable for tax.’ And thereby he’s in fact killing a third bird, giving a nice non-profit twist to John Maynard Keynes’ saying that ‘the avoidance of taxes is the only intellectual pursuit that carries any reward.
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