Anita Brookner, the British novelist and art historian who won the Booker Prize in 1984 for her novel *Hotel du Lac*, faced significant professional challenges following her unexpected literary success, according to her biographer Hermione Lee.
Brookner’s victory, widely regarded as surprising at the time, reportedly led to tensions within the Courtauld Institute of Art, where she held a senior academic position. Lee, speaking at a recent literature festival, revealed that some colleagues at the Courtauld reacted with jealousy and resentment to Brookner’s newfound fame and financial reward. The author was approached by a delegation, led by then-Courtauld director Peter Lasko, with proposals that she reduce her workload, take a pay cut, shift to part-time status, or retire early in light of the institute’s financial difficulties.
The biographer described this period as “ugly” and “disastrous," noting that Brookner was deeply hurt by her colleagues’ response. Lee stated that despite the roughly £15,000 prize money Brookner received—a significant sum during the academic budget cuts of the 1980s—the Courtauld community appeared unwilling to embrace her dual identity as both an art historian and a successful novelist. Brookner was reportedly urged to leave her academic duties, with some suggesting that her literary career precluded her from continuing in academia, a claim Lee describes as a “slightly unverifiable story” but supported by multiple accounts.
Brookner, who had established a distinguished scholarly career prior to her novelistic achievements—including becoming the first woman to hold the Slade Professorship of Fine Art at the University of Cambridge—found herself the target of what Lee terms as “jealous and resentful” attitudes, particularly from male colleagues. This sentiment, combined with the financial pressures on the Courtauld, contributed to an environment in which she was viewed as no longer fitting within the institution’s academic framework. According to Lee, there was an underlying assumption that her prize money and book royalties meant she no longer needed an academic salary.
The Booker Prize win itself was met with mixed reactions from the literary community and the media. Lee explains that many expected J.G. Ballard’s *Empire of the Sun* to be the winner, and that the critical response to Brookner’s success ranged from astonishment to overt sexism. Brookner reportedly told her agent that Ballard had approached her after the announcement saying, “You stole my Booker prize.”
The aftermath of her victory also included public scrutiny unrelated to her work. In 1981, Brookner had altered her birth year in *Who’s Who* from 1928 to 1938, which surfaced during media coverage and became a focus of ridicule and condescension that, according to Lee, persisted throughout her writing career.
Faced with pressure at the Courtauld, Brookner appears to have accepted a part-time role before announcing her intention to retire within two years. Lee concluded that Brookner’s departure was viewed by many as a forced exit and described the episode as one of professional rejection that left her “acutely wounded.” Brookner passed away in 2016, leaving behind a legacy both in literary and art historical circles marked by this complex and challenging period after her Booker recognition.