Carmen Callil has resigned as a judge on the Man Booker International prize panel. She disagreed with its decision to award a special prize to Philip Roth.

Speaking of Roth’s writing, which includes Portnoy’s Complaint and The Human Stain, Callil said he “goes on and on and on about the same subject in almost every single book. It’s as though he’s sitting on your face and you can’t breathe”.

I thought Roth’s obsession was slightly different from that…