Michael Frayn- Prediction

 

Michael Frayn is a delightful person.  He has a cleverness and a wit that could match Tom Stoppard (which coming to think of it probably should have a place on this list).  He deals with the philosophical with a light touch, a perfect mixture of comedy and seriousness.  I don’t remember what I read first the play ‘Benefactors’ or the novel ‘Sweet Dreams’?  I read both of them a long time ago but I remember them both with pleasure.  ‘Benefactors’ is about one man planning to knock down a block of flats while his friend decides to protect it.  It’s a serious farce taking domestic politics to a whole new level.  There’s a line I remember distinctly: ‘“Don’t scrape the skies, sweep the streets”, there a whole political philosophy in seven words’, intellectual turnarounds and cerebral juggling is the name of the game for Frayn.  Comedy for him is not a distraction from the difficult world but a way of investigating it.  I said it was time for another Dario Fo.  ‘Sweet Dreams’ takes the idea of a heaven that designs and creates the whole by human beings, a satire of working in an office, so when the main character tries to have a revolution for an alternative life things start to get complicated, especially when the unassuming God turns up.  It’s a playful novel with big ideas.  It’s what I love, knockabout comedies that satirises human beings and the world they live in. 

  He is without question an immensely talented and resourceful writer with keen insight and a sharp sense of humour.  He would, on my fantasy list of dinner guests, sit quite happily beside Sandi Toksvig and Stewart Lee and no doubt be very interesting to talk to.  He seems to have done just about everything in writing, journalism, plays, novels, philosophy, screenplays, in fact I think the only thing he has got left to do is poetry, but I expect he does that privately and for fun.  Yes, philosophy with ‘Constructions’ and ‘The Human Touch’, philosophy that is that rare thing of being enjoyable to read as he is an amusing and informative guide around life’s conundrums.  Really you get the feeling that he is just playing games and that the serious work of life has yet to be done and he’ll get round to it after he’s had his fun.  He is what you want as a communicator, enthusiastic while being erudite, having things to say without being a bore.  So his chances of getting the Nobel Prize are pretty good then, right?

  Well possibly but it depends on who else is around as a candidate at the time.  There are candidates on this list that are arguably conduct themselves more seriously and may look like the better candidate compared to his jesting, but again this comes back down to the fact that humour can get forgotten by the committee.  Understandable but to put Frayn at this disadvantage would be, in my opinion, overlooking his other considerable gifts that he has to offer.  In my mind Frayn is more in the ‘ideal direction’ than, say, Howard Barker, as he provides laughter and hope amidst the complexities found in life, private, public, personal and political, philosophical as well as psychological, every P going.  I think he would be a very good candidate, though he may be embarrassed at the fact people think of him as the year’s best writer as he comes across as a humble writer doing what he does best and not deserving of any special reward for it.  What I would like to see is Frayn awarded the prize only for him to dismiss it with a quip that puts the stupid prize in it’s stupid place.  That would be the best of both worlds.   

Think Michael Frayn should win the Nobel Prize?  Leave a comment to say why.

Next week I'll be looking at Kazuo Ishiguro.