The Booker goes blokey: what David Szalay's Flesh tells us about masculinity in fiction

David Szalay's Flesh is many things: stark, relentless, deeply bodily. But above all, it may be the most blokey Booker winner we've ever seen. With its monosyllabic protagonist István, a Hungarian immigrant who becomes a strip-club bouncer, chauffeur, and then a mysteriously wealthy man, Szalay has brought back something long missing from the literary stage: the unvarnished, working-class male.

Not since the heyday of Martin Amis, David Storey or even Alan Sillitoe has literary fiction made space for this kind of protagonist. 

The Great American Novel: 15 books that define a nation

Last time I wrote about what the Great American Novel is, where it came from and whether it was still needed or even possible.

Everyone, including me, has their own definition of the Great American Novel. But at its heart, the idea is simple: a book that captures the spirit, contradictions, and complexity of America.

An important qualifying factor is that it is not only about literary brilliance. It’s more than that. It’s about resonance. The novels below reflect the American psyche, telling us who we are, who we were, and sometimes who we want to be.