No Pulitzer Prize for Fiction this year

[kennyc]

Hmmm....

Pulitzer Prize board doesn't choose a fiction winner. That's all kinds of wrong
by Stephan Lee

Wow, Pulitzer committee. That’s cold.

For the first time in 35 years, no Pulitzer Prize was awarded in the fiction category. The message from the committee to any author who published a novel or short story collection in 2011 seems to be: Sorry, you’re just not good enough. The Pulitzer Board failed to reach a necessary majority to determine a winner based on the three fiction finalists determined by a panel of three jurors.*

The fiction jurors were Susan Larson, former book editor of The Times-Picayune, Maureen Corrigan, book critic for Fresh Air on NPR, and the novelist Michael Cunningham, who won the 1999 Pulitzer for his novel The Hours.

The jurors chose three finalists — Train Dreams by Denis Johnson, Swamplandia! by Karen Russell, and The Pale King by David Foster Wallace — and it was up to the Pulitzer Board to make the final decision. To be fair to the Board, the jurors may have made the decision more difficult than it should have been. Johnson’s Train Dreams is a novella that was re-issued from 2002, and the board may have felt as though it was something they’d seen before. The posthumously published, incomplete The Pale King wasn’t the late Wallace’s best work. But why not give the award to Russell? Swamplandia! isn’t the typical Pulitzer winner, but it’s an intelligent, inventive, and thoroughly entertaining read. In a time when people aren’t buying books — especially literary adult novels — it seems counterproductive and insulting not to hand out a Pulitzer Prize, which translates into sales. Last year’s winner, Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad, got a huge boost in paperback after the announcement.....

http://shelf-life.ew.com/2012/04/16/...fiction-award/

[howyoudoin]

Wow. Just wow. Kick in the teeth to all honest writers out there.

[kennyc]

Pretty piss-poor selection of finalists if you ask me. There was great stuff published last year.

Amazon popular list: http://www.amazon.com/BEST-Fiction-2...R3H6RMBDHJLJIF

Goodreads list: http://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/2011-fiction

NPR: http://www.npr.org/2011/12/14/143293...novels-of-2011

Kirkus: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/best-of/2011/fiction/

[poohbear_nc]

Double wow! They couldn't find anything good enough to consider? Swamplandia was a fun, fresh read. What about Joyce Carol Oates?

[stonetools]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Pretty piss-poor selection of finalists if you ask me. There was great stuff published last year.

Amazon popular list: http://www.amazon.com/BEST-Fiction-2...R3H6RMBDHJLJIF

Goodreads list: http://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/2011-fiction

NPR: http://www.npr.org/2011/12/14/143293...novels-of-2011

Kirkus: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/best-of/2011/fiction/

I agree with you about selection. Still, the panelists need to just "man (woman?) up and pull the trigger. Making a decision is always better than no decision in any case like this.

[trandism]

The Pale King wasn't FDW's best work but still it's miles above the others. It would be a great way to introduce him to wider audiences

[abookreader]

Well, how odd. And pretentious. And downright snobby and judgmental.

In other words, perfect for the reputation of the Literary Fiction world.

[jhempel24]

Originally Posted by abookreader

Well, how odd. And pretentious. And downright snobby and judgmental.

In other words, perfect for the reputation of the Literary Fiction world.

LOL!

Wow...just no winner...well, one is a short story (novella), one guy is dead, and I've never heard the other, but I want to now...Swamplandia!

[carpetmojo]

Originally Posted by abookreader

Well, how odd. And pretentious. And downright snobby and judgmental.In other words, perfect for the reputation of the Literary Fiction world.

Absolutely - I find this absurd.

And they also seem to be saying all (not just the ones we may personally have doubts about !) other prestigious book awards in the world are wrong, and they are the only ones who have it correct.

Think what you like about them, the majority do have at least one interesting/"good"/worthy work in their list.
Does the Pullitzer even have/publish a shortlist, to show they're thinking about it ?

[Apache]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Pretty piss-poor selection of finalists if you ask me. There was great stuff published last year.

Amazon popular list: http://www.amazon.com/BEST-Fiction-2...R3H6RMBDHJLJIF

Goodreads list: http://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/2011-fiction

NPR: http://www.npr.org/2011/12/14/143293...novels-of-2011

Kirkus: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/best-of/2011/fiction/

So true.
Apache

[Barty]

If they didn't like the finalists, they should've come up with another list. To say nothing was good enough for our stamp of approval is just staggeringly stupid and arrogant.

[kennyc]

Some additional opinion here: http://www.salon.com/2012/04/16/pulitzers_snub_fiction/

[Kali Yuga]

Originally Posted by carpetmojo

And they also seem to be saying all (not just the ones we may personally have doubts about !) other prestigious book awards in the world are wrong....

Erk?

They aren't saying "there was no good literature written in 2011." They're just saying the Board didn't line up behind one of the three finalists.

It's not the first time this has happened, either. It's not common, but it's not unprecedented either.

Originally Posted by carpetmojo

Does the Pullitzer even have/publish a shortlist, to show they're thinking about it ?

Uh, yes. There are 3 finalists, and they were mentioned in the article linked by the OP.

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by Barty

If they didn't like the finalists, they should've come up with another list.

There is no provision for giving out multiple fiction awards. Maybe they thought the finalists were equally good.

Three times in the 1970's they failed to agree on a fiction award winner, and didn't even bother naming finalists. I wonder if there was criticism of the judges then, or is this just an internet-age thing?

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Some additional opinion here: http://www.salon.com/2012/04/16/pulitzers_snub_fiction/

Thanks for the link. Very informative.

I didn't know that authors submit their own work for consideration.