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Monday, April 18, 2011

News / Books / Theater Pulitzer Prizes Announced

Posted by Paul Constant on Mon, Apr 18, 2011 at 12:45 PM

First things first, because this is why I pay attention to the Pulitzer: Jennifer Egan's novel A Visit from the Goon Squad won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature. (In other news, I guess I'm going to have to finally read Jennifer Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad.)

Other literary winners: The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery, by Eric Foner, wins the Pulitzer for history; Ron Chernow's Washington: A Life wins for biography; The Best of It: New and Selected Poems by Kay Ryan wins for poetry; and The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, by Siddhartha Mukherjee, wins for general non-fiction. In theater, playwright Bruce Norris's Clybourne Park is the winner.

For a list of all the news winners (generally the usual suspects—New York Times, Boston Globe, L.A. Times, Wall Street Journal, and so on, with one big win for ProPublica) you should go here.

Comments (13) RSS

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Really? I found Goon Squad to be pretty damn underwhelming. It probably suffered from the fact that I read it immediately after Cloud Atlas, which is one of the best books I've read in the past few years, and dealt similarly in time-jumping, interconnected yet not necessarily directly related narratives. Also the fact that I am apparently constitutionally incapable of enjoying books about bands/musicians, even though I keep trying. But still. Pulitzer? Really?

Posted by Levislade

on April 18, 2011 at 12:50 PM

Breaking News! there is no Pulitzer for Breaking News this year.

Oh, and Zillow just filed for IPO.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on April 18, 2011 at 1:24 PM

I liked the work Jesse Eisinger did at the WSJ and I'm happy for him and ProPublica.

Posted by PA Native on April 18, 2011 at 2:00 PM

I'm absolutely delighted that the Sun-Times crime reporters won. This is that paper's first Pulitzer since 1989!

Here's a link to the first of their series "Area 5":
http://www.suntimes.com/pulitzer/3004853…

(P.S. I'm surprised Cienna hasn't won yet for her series "Things I Believe From Today's English Tabloids".)

Posted by gloomy gus on April 18, 2011 at 2:00 PM

Goon Squad was wonderful and deserves the awards (National Book Critcs Circle winner too) and the hype. It reminded me a lot of Cloud Atlas, which I want to re-read now.

Posted by energydelay on April 18, 2011 at 2:03 PM

It's nice that so many journalists look at it as a mark of respect and honor to participate in the continued whitewashing of the reputation of one of the primer yellow journalists of his time.

Posted by OuterCow on April 18, 2011 at 3:57 PM

OuterCow, I'd argue that the awards keep us, and more to the point journalists and editors, aware of Pulitzer's shortcomings in a way we might too easily forget if his name had faded.

Plus, I have a soft spot for him thanks to Nicholson Baker and Margaret Brentano's publication of "The World on Sunday", an homage to the graphic art Pulitzer put into his papers between 1989-1911:
http://www.slate.com/id/2126420/

Posted by gloomy gus on April 18, 2011 at 4:19 PM

Er, not 1989, of course - 1898.

Posted by gloomy gus on April 18, 2011 at 4:21 PM

Paul, thank you for telling us a few months back about A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee. I read it, got a lot out of it, and have recommended it on to others.

Posted by Mrs Jarvie on April 18, 2011 at 5:05 PM

Eric Foner is the man.

Posted by the idiot formerly known as kk on April 18, 2011 at 5:17 PM

I'll give you Nobel, Gus, most everybody knows the TNT-obit story, but not Pulitzer. The name Pulitzer is synonymous with quality journalism now, and you have to be either a student of journalism or history to know about his yellow days.

Posted by OuterCow on April 18, 2011 at 8:43 PM

OuterCow, we may have to agree to disagree on this. I think you're kind of making my point for me by showing how the likes of you and me - just ordinary joes on the internet - know of Pulitzer's adventures in yellow journalism and think of it every year when the awards come up.

I'd say something like "QED", but I was never good at math so am not sure that's quite right.

Posted by gloomy gus on April 18, 2011 at 11:43 PM

Well I did study journalism for a bit in college and always have been a bit of a history nerd, plus life has certainly never given me enough excuses to consider myself normal, but you got me realizing this question is best answered by a good survey of the population, instead of what two yokels on the interwebs think the population thinks. Sir, I recuse myself until I have better data!

Posted by OuterCow on April 18, 2011 at 11:55 PM