Slap author Christos Tsiolkas takes swipe at 'dry' European fiction

The author of the Booker-longlisted novel The Slap – which has been published to a storm of both dazzled praise and furious accusations of misogyny – has hit out at the quality of European fiction, calling it "dry" and "academic in a cheap, shitey way", writes Charlotte Higgins.

Christos Tsiolkas, the Australian author of the most divisive book to have been chosen for the Man Booker longlist in years, contrasted American masterpieces such as John Updike's Couples ‑ "a fantastic book, a lacerating book about relationships" ‑ with recent European fiction.

"A friend of mine gave me a book of the best European short stories of 2009. I was instantly struck by how dry and academic they were, and not in the best way, in a cheap, shitey way," he told the Edinburgh international book festival.

He added: "They didn't talk about the real. I want something more rigorous, more challenging than I am finding at the moment."

By contrast, the great books about the American suburban experiences, such as Couples, have "a fearlessness that I am hungry for", he said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/15/christos-tsiolkas-slap-author