The Pulitzer Prize

I’ve got less than 100 pages left in American Pastoral by Philip Roth, but will not write a review until after class next Wednesday.  American Pastoral won the Pulitzer Prize in 1998.  I thought I’d take a look at the Pulitzer list and see if I’d read any others.  I highlighted the ones I’ve read in green.  Sadly, American Pastoral will only be my fifth.  I’ve got several other in my stack of books to be read, so maybe after I’ve finished with Roth I will try another Pulitzer.  How many have you read? 

 The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction has been awarded since 1948 for distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life. It replaced the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel.

  1. ^ The fiction jury had unanimously recommended the 1974 award to Thomas Pynchon‘s Gravity’s Rainbow, but the Pulitzer board, which has sole discretion for awarding the prize, made no award.

2 thoughts on “The Pulitzer Prize”

  1. bermudaonion says:
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    BermudaOnion's avatar

    It looks like I’ve got some work to do as well – I’ve read 7 of those books.

    You are in better shape than me! Would you recommend any of those you read? I would recommend all four that I’ve read so far.

  2. Cliff Burns says:
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    Cliff Burns's avatar

    What the committee did to Pynchon is one of the reasons I NEVER put any store in awards. And let’s not forget, Don DeLillo’s magnificent UNDERWORLD lost the National Book Award to Frazier’s COLD MOUNTAIN. Travesty, anyone?

    I agree that these lists mean very little in saying which book is best every year. Maybe the winners aren’t the very best, but I have to think that they are at least among the best, so in that respect I think it’s a good list to look at for reading recommendations. I love lists and I’m always interested in what others have chosen. It’s a good starting place for conversation at the very least. I must admit that I don’t know what happened with Pynchon and now I’m curious.

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