The Controversy Surrounding David Szalay’s Novel Flesh
Canadian-Hungarian author David Szalay, winner of the Booker Prize, has recently found himself in the spotlight due to questions about the inspiration behind his novel Flesh. Readers have raised concerns that the book may have been influenced almost “beat for beat” by a 1975 film directed by Stanley Kubrick. This speculation has sparked a broader discussion about authorial influence, homage, and the boundaries of literary inspiration.
Flesh, Szalay’s sixth novel, was released in March 2025. It follows the life of István, a young man from Hungary who rises from poverty to become part of London’s elite. The novel is notable for its sparse prose and the repeated use of the word “OK” over 500 times. It won the 2025 Booker Prize, with judges describing it as “never read anything quite like it.”
However, some readers and critics have pointed out striking similarities between Flesh and Kubrick’s film Barry Lyndon, which is based on William Makepeace Thackeray’s 1844 novel The Luck of Barry Lyndon. While the protagonist of Barry Lyndon is Irish, the character’s journey mirrors that of István in Flesh: both enlist in the army, marry wealthy women, grieve their sons, clash with their stepsons, and ultimately lose everything they have earned.
Despite these parallels, Szalay has not cited Kubrick’s film as an explicit source of inspiration for Flesh. This has led some readers to speculate that he may be embedding subtle references to Barry Lyndon within the text. For example, in Kubrick’s film, Barry Lyndon is shown a painting and comments on the use of the color blue. In Flesh, István visits the National Gallery and makes a similar observation about a different painting.
Critical Reactions to the Similarities
While Flesh received widespread acclaim upon its release, few critics initially highlighted the connections between the novel and Barry Lyndon. The first mention of this link came from Aled Maclean-Jones in June 2025 on the Substack publication The Republic of Letters. He described Flesh as “quite clearly, a near beat-for-beat mirror – both of the novel and of Kubrick’s film adaptation, to such a level I’d almost call it a retelling.”
In July, The New Statesman published a cultural reexamination of Barry Lyndon, where writer David Sexton argued that the similarities between Flesh and Kubrick’s film were a sign of the story’s “continued potency.” He claimed that Flesh is “nothing less than a thorough revision and updating of Barry Lyndon (Kubrick’s movie, not Thackeray’s novel).”
Sexton later doubled down on his argument in The Standard, stating that Flesh was “Barry Lyndon updated, relocated, re-imagined, but the same.” He emphasized that while the novel is not plagiarism, it could be seen as a tribute to Kubrick’s work.
Szalay’s Response to the Claims
When asked about the similarities between Flesh and Barry Lyndon, Szalay did not directly acknowledge the connection. On Dua Lipa’s Service95 Book Club podcast, he listed several books that influenced Flesh, including Hamlet, Virginia Woolf’s Jacob’s Room, Joseph Conrad’s Lord Jim, Michel Houellebecq’s Platform, and Katherine Faw’s Ultra Luminous. Notably, he did not mention Kubrick’s film or Thackeray’s novel.
In an interview with The Observer from November, Szalay said he had seen Barry Lyndon when he was 20 and acknowledged that the rags-to-riches arc was an influence. However, he denied that Flesh was written in homage to the film.
Szalay will be asked about the similarities in a forthcoming episode of BBC Radio 4’s This Cultural Life. When pressed, he stated that he would not go as far as calling Flesh a direct reference to Barry Lyndon. He added that the film “wasn’t really at the front of my mind,” though he admitted it could have influenced him in some way.
