October 14, 2010
What worth an award? The poll.
by Melville House
We have a love/hate relationship with literary prizes.
On one hand, we’re overjoyed they exist since they instigate heated literary debate. On the other hand, they often seem maddeningly opaque and often arbitrary. Still, despite their capricious nature, literary prizes have undeniable and real impact on novel’s sales and author’s reputations.
Clearly, readers are influenced by these prizes. But with hundreds of prizes out there, what makes one prize superior or inferior to another? (Laura Miller at Salon makes a case for The Booker being the best of the bunch.) To determine which prizes matter most we ask you to vote in our literary prize poll (below). More importantly, we ask you to explain why these prizes matter in our comments section.
(We realize that we have listed only a few of the many literary prizes. If we have not mentioned the prize you value most, please vote “other” and then elaborate in our comments section.)
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8 Comments
I personally like The Morning News’s “Tournament of Books” because all the literary debates and decisions are available for all to see. It might not always choose the “best” book, but it’s the only one where you have some sense of what the prize signifies.
I personally like The Morning News’s “Tournament of Books” because all the literary debates and decisions are available for all to see. It might not always choose the “best” book, but it’s the only one where you have some sense of what the prize signifies.
I interpret “respect” to mean that it influences me not only to purchase but read a book. That would be the Booker. I am something of an Anglophile & I find that the Booker tends to shortlist authors whose work I either already adore (A.S. Byatt, Chimamanda Adichie) or am likely to (Banville, Galgut, Sarah Hall). In the second category, other outfits introduce me to the authors (Elegant Variation-Banville, Paris Review-Galgut) then the Booker gives them the extra boost, either convincing me to buy it or reminding me that I plan to. I became a little dismissive after one panel’s daft reasoning for ignoring Coetzee’s “Diary of a Bad Year” but it still has some relevance.
As for the Nobel…I cannot deny the prestige but it is too distant from my literary life. The media discussion around the Booker is very involved & it often continues, in a smaller way, out of season. Nobel coverage is so perfunctory that it is very much about authors I should read but mostly don’t.
I also take note of the James T Black Memorial prize because it awards fabulous contemporary novelists who slip from the Booker’s grasp (Sarah Hall) or, in days past, awarded authors who now miss Penguin Classics status but get picked by Virago and NYRB classics (Radclyffe Hall, L.P. Hartley, Kate O’Brien).
I interpret “respect” to mean that it influences me not only to purchase but read a book. That would be the Booker. I am something of an Anglophile & I find that the Booker tends to shortlist authors whose work I either already adore (A.S. Byatt, Chimamanda Adichie) or am likely to (Banville, Galgut, Sarah Hall). In the second category, other outfits introduce me to the authors (Elegant Variation-Banville, Paris Review-Galgut) then the Booker gives them the extra boost, either convincing me to buy it or reminding me that I plan to. I became a little dismissive after one panel’s daft reasoning for ignoring Coetzee’s “Diary of a Bad Year” but it still has some relevance.
As for the Nobel…I cannot deny the prestige but it is too distant from my literary life. The media discussion around the Booker is very involved & it often continues, in a smaller way, out of season. Nobel coverage is so perfunctory that it is very much about authors I should read but mostly don’t.
I also take note of the James T Black Memorial prize because it awards fabulous contemporary novelists who slip from the Booker’s grasp (Sarah Hall) or, in days past, awarded authors who now miss Penguin Classics status but get picked by Virago and NYRB classics (Radclyffe Hall, L.P. Hartley, Kate O’Brien).
I don’t have a preferred award, though I do admire the Tournament of Books, if only because it seems the one least tainted by the corporate publishing industry.
Given that four of the five NBA fiction nominees are women, will Jennifer Weiner and Jodi Picoult be issuing a formal public retraction of their recent jeremiad? I expect at least a Miss Emily Littella-ish “Oh…never mind!”
I don’t have a preferred award, though I do admire the Tournament of Books, if only because it seems the one least tainted by the corporate publishing industry.
Given that four of the five NBA fiction nominees are women, will Jennifer Weiner and Jodi Picoult be issuing a formal public retraction of their recent jeremiad? I expect at least a Miss Emily Littella-ish “Oh…never mind!”
Oh, I noticed that everyone is posting their prize comments at the Poll Code site. Just for the record, I’l re-post them here:
From steev on October 14, 2010 at 2:53 pm.
The Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year is best. Or maybe it’s the Literary Review’s 2009 bad sex in fiction prize.
From Maggie on October 14, 2010 at 12:04 pm.
It seems to me that the Nobel is one of the most comprehensive awards of the bunch, often assessing a body of work rather than an isolated project. I like the idea of rewarding and celebrating an author’s development through literature, as well as the literature itself.
From Steve on October 14, 2010 at 10:13 am.
“Respect” is one thing, actual reading is another! I find the respected books often go unread, but there are some prizes that continually come up with amazing books to read.
From Erin Clarkson on October 14, 2010 at 10:12 am.
The Hugo Award
From Bruce on October 13, 2010 at 11:22 pm.
Not the Booker Prize
Oh, I noticed that everyone is posting their prize comments at the Poll Code site. Just for the record, I’l re-post them here:
From steev on October 14, 2010 at 2:53 pm.
The Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year is best. Or maybe it’s the Literary Review’s 2009 bad sex in fiction prize.
From Maggie on October 14, 2010 at 12:04 pm.
It seems to me that the Nobel is one of the most comprehensive awards of the bunch, often assessing a body of work rather than an isolated project. I like the idea of rewarding and celebrating an author’s development through literature, as well as the literature itself.
From Steve on October 14, 2010 at 10:13 am.
“Respect” is one thing, actual reading is another! I find the respected books often go unread, but there are some prizes that continually come up with amazing books to read.
From Erin Clarkson on October 14, 2010 at 10:12 am.
The Hugo Award
From Bruce on October 13, 2010 at 11:22 pm.
Not the Booker Prize