The aim of this study is to study the construction of literary values. I have been looking at how literature awarded with sponsored literary prizes has been reviewed in four major English and American newspapers. I have been studying the reception of literature by Ian McEwan, Hilary Mantel, Colm Tóibín and Zadie Smith between 2000 and 2012. The prizes in focus are the Man Booker Prize, the Orange prize for fiction and the Costa Awards. There seems to be an increasing number of articles related to each author after they have been awarded a prize, however with little change in the content of the reviews.

Utgångspunkten för uppsatsen är att studera relationen mellan vissa aspekter av form och innehåll i tre kortare prosatexter. Dessa aspekter är framförallt berättarinstans, berättelsens uppbyggnad, och det i två av texterna utryckliga temat förändring. De valda texterna är kortromanen På Chesil Beach av Ian McEwan (2007), novellen ?Döden i Damaskus? av Anna-Karin Palm (2001) och kortromanen Berömmelse av Daniel Kehlmann (2010).Litteraturvetenskapliga perspektiv och analysredskap är valda med tanke på att en av texterna påstår något om berättarens funktion, och att en av de andra texterna resonerar kring vad en berättelse är. De narratologiska verktygen faller sig därför naturliga.

The aim of this study is to study the construction of literary values. I have been looking at how literature awarded with sponsored literary prizes has been reviewed in four major English and American newspapers. I have been studying the reception of literature by Ian McEwan, Hilary Mantel, Colm Tóibín and Zadie Smith between 2000 and 2012. The prizes in focus are the Man Booker Prize, the Orange prize for fiction and the Costa Awards. There seems to be an increasing number of articles related to each author after they have been awarded a prize, however with little change in the content of the reviews.