Unsworth, Barry (1930-2012), was an English historical novelist acclaimed for the vivid renderings of historical periods in his fiction. He was also praised for his skill in incorporating important moral and ethical questions into his narratives. Unsworth shared the 1992 Booker Prize for his novel Sacred Hunger (1992). The other co-winner was Michael Ondaatje for his novel The English Patient. The Booker Prize is the United Kingdom’s highest literary award.
Unsworth set Sacred Hunger during the 1700’s. It describes a mutiny aboard a slave ship sailing to America. The mutineer slaves and crew set up a community in Florida based on equality. The community eventually fails, however, destroyed by the “sacred hunger” for power and money. Unsworth wrote a sequel, The Quality of Mercy (2011). Unsworth’s novel Sugar and Rum (1988) deals with a modern author struggling to write a historical novel about the slave trade. That work led to the writing of Sacred Hunger. Unsworth also used an author as a central character in Losing Nelson (1999), which tells the story of a modern biographer writing about the life of the English admiral Horatio Nelson.
Unsworth’s The Rage of the Vulture (1982) takes place in Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey) in the early 1900’s. Stone Virgin (1985) is set in Venice, Italy, during the Renaissance, the 1700’s, and the 1900’s. Morality Play (1995) takes place in England during the 1300’s. Unsworth set the action of The Song of the Kings (2003) in mythological ancient Greece at the start of the Trojan War. He placed the story in The Ruby in Her Navel (2006) in Sicily during the 1100’s. Land of Marvels (2009) is set in Mesopotamia (now Iraq) in 1914.
Unsworth was born on Aug. 10, 1930, in Durham, England. He received a B.A. degree from the University of Manchester in 1951. For several years, he was a university lecturer in England, Greece, and Turkey. Unsworth died on June 5, 2012.
