Eric Thayer/ReutersPhilip Roth, photographed in New York in September 2010, was awarded the Man Booker International Prize on a 2-to-1 vote.Calling him the “most decorated living American writer,” a panel named Philip Roth the winner of the Man Booker International Prize on Wednesday, an honor awarded every two years to an author for extraordinary work in fiction.
But it was one of the judges, Carmen Callil, who stole the headlines from Mr. Roth when she stormily withdrew from the panel in protest over its 2-to-1 decision on the winner.
Ms. Callil, the founder of the feminist publishing house Virago, told The Guardian that Mr. Roth “goes on and on and on about the same subject in almost every book,” adding, “I don’t rate him as a writer at all.” She also wondered aloud if, “in 20 years’ time, will anyone read him?” (The publishers who keep his books from the 1960s and ’70s in print might have an answer.)
Rick Gekoski, chairman of the judging panel, said in an interview that he was displeased by Ms. Callil’s comments, which she promised to explain more fully in an essay in The Guardian Review on Saturday. She did not respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.
“I am very regretful that she would go public in this way because I think it’s disrespectful to the winner,” said Mr. Gekoski, speaking from a writers’ festival in Sydney, Australia. “In literary life we all have extraordinarily strong opinions. Frankly, this all sounds to me like the plot of a Philip Roth novel.”
Mr. Gekoski defended Mr. Roth as a worthy pick for the award and said he and the third judge, the novelist Justin Cartwright, felt “strongly and passionately” that Mr. Roth should win.
“He’s a novelist through and through,” he said. “The range and depth of his work strikes me as utterly remarkable.”
Mr. Roth, a Pulitzer Prize winner who has written dozens of novels, including “Goodbye, Columbus,” “Portnoy’s Complaint” and “The Human Stain,” declined to comment Wednesday through his literary agent, Andrew Wylie. In a statement released by the Booker judging panel, Mr. Roth called the award a “great honor” and said that he hoped it would introduce his work to readers around the world who were unfamiliar with it. His most recent novel, “Nemesis,” was published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2010.
The winner of the Booker International Prize receives £60,000, or about $97,000. The previous winners are Ismail Kadare, Chinua Achebe and Alice Munro. It is awarded every other year to a living author for a body of work published originally in English or widely available in translation. (The Man Booker Prize, in contrast, is awarded for a novel written by a citizen of the British Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland.)
The international prize this year has attracted an unusual amount of discord. John le Carré was chosen as one of the 13 finalists but in March asked that his name be withdrawn so that “less established” authors would have the opportunity to win. (The chairman of the judges responded by saying that Mr. le Carré’s name would remain on the list.)
The finalists this year included the American writers Marilynne Robinson and Anne Tyler, the British author Philip Pullman, the Spanish writer Juan Goytisolo and two Chinese writers, Su Tong and Wang Anyi.
Mr. Roth will be formally awarded the prize at a dinner in London on June 28.