Penelope Fitzgerald was one of the most elegant and distinctive voices in British fiction. Three of her novels, The Bookshop, The Beginning of Spring and The Gate of Angels have been shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Her last novel, The Blue Flower, was the most admired novel of 1995, chosen no fewer than nineteen times in the press as the 'Book of the Year'. It won America's National Book Critics' Circle Award, and this helped to introduce her to a wider international readership. She died in April 2000, at the age of 83.
英國女作家。畢業(yè)于牛津大學(xué)薩默維爾學(xué)院。20世紀(jì)60年代,曾和英國小說家A. S. 拜厄特共同執(zhí)教于威斯敏斯特輔導(dǎo)學(xué)校(the Westminster Tutors)。年近六十才開始職業(yè)作家的創(chuàng)作生涯。1977年發(fā)表第一部小說《金孩》(The Golden Child)后,便一發(fā)而不可收,連續(xù)創(chuàng)作了九部小說。由于其創(chuàng)作風(fēng)格獨特、主題新穎,九部長篇小說都獲得社會高度評價。1979年《離岸》(Offshore)獲布克獎,另有三部入圍布克獎決選名單,包括《書店》(The Bookshop, 1978)、《早春》(The Beginning of Spring, 1988)和《天使之門》(The Gate of Angels, 1990)。1995年發(fā)表的最后一部長篇小說《藍(lán)花》(The Blue Flower)十九次被媒體選為年度最佳圖書,并于1997年獲美國國家圖書獎批評家協(xié)會獎,使她成為首位獲得該獎項的非美國公民。