Howard Jacobson
| Howard Jacobson | |
|---|---|
| Born |
25 August 1942 Manchester, England |
| Occupation | Novelist, columnist, broadcaster |
| Nationality | British |
| Period | 1983–present |
| Genre | Biographical |
| Subject | Jewishness, humour |
| Notable awards | Man Booker Prize (2010) |
| Spouse | Barbara (m. 1964) Rosalin Sadler (1978–1995) Jenny De Yong (m. 2005) |
Howard Eric Jacobson (born 25 August 1942) is a British novelist and journalist. He is known for writing comic novels that often revolve around the dilemmas of British Jewish characters. He is a Man Booker Prize winner.
Jacobson was born in Manchester, Lancashire, brought up in Prestwich, and was educated at Stand Grammar School in Whitefield, before going on to study English at Downing College, Cambridge, under F. R. Leavis. He lectured for three years at the University of Sydney before returning to Britain to teach at Selwyn College, Cambridge. His later teaching posts included a period at Wolverhampton Polytechnic from 1974 to 1980.
Although Jacobson has described himself as "a Jewish Jane Austen" (in response to being described as "the English Philip Roth"), he also states, "I'm not by any means conventionally Jewish. I don't go to shul. What I feel is that I have a Jewish mind, I have a Jewish intelligence. I feel linked to previous Jewish minds of the past. I don't know what kind of trouble this gets somebody into, a disputatious mind. What a Jew is has been made by the experience of 5,000 years, that's what shapes the Jewish sense of humour, that's what shaped Jewish pugnacity or tenaciousness." He maintains that "comedy is a very important part of what I do."
Jacobson has been married three times. He married his first wife, Barbara, in 1964, when he was 22, with whom he has one son, Conrad. He married his second wife, Rosalin Sadler, in 1978; they divorced in 1995. In 2005, Jacobson was married for the third time, to radio and TV documentary maker Jenny De Yong. He stated, "My last wife. I'm home, it's right".
In August 2014, Jacobson was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to September's referendum on that issue.
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