Judging literary prizewinners

Every so often in an attempt to expand my fiction horizon, I will pick a book from one of the literary prize lists. I am disappointed enough by these selections to wonder if I am missing something. What do the panels look for when judging whether a book is commendable?
—David Friedricks, Albany, N.Y.
 
The word "panels" is important to keep in mind when judging the judges of literature. If you have ever been on a jury or a board, you know that group decisions almost always involve negotiation and compromise. Or as David Lodge, who has been a judge for Britain's most prestigious literary prize, the Man Booker, put it, "A committee is a blunt instrument of literary criticism." Another British novelist, Julian Barnes, called the Booker "posh bingo."

The original description of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction (first awarded in 1918 to the forgotten "His Family" by Ernest Poole) was for the novel "which shall best present the wholesome atmosphere of American life, and the highest standard of American manners and manhood." That was later changed to the novel that "shall best present the whole atmosphere of American life."

Like many people who consider themselves alert readers of fiction, I was taken by surprise by the recent announcement that "Tinkers" by Paul Harding had won this year's fiction Pulitzer. Fortunately, my library was ahead of me. I read and admired "Tinkers"—it's a small (in size), highly polished gem, a dying man's ruminations on clocks, fathers and nature. And it's unusual, a trait I suspect may be especially valued when facing down a mountain of contemporary fiction ("No! Not another disintegrating marriage! Not another kid goes bad on drugs!")

I read literary prizewinners because I like to compare my opinion to that of the judges—critics, scholars, other authors. I often applaud their choices (and sometimes am appalled). A few Pulitzer-winning novels that I also loved: "Lonesome Dove" by Larry McMurtry; "Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides; "Olive Kitteridge" by Elizabeth Strout; "Empire Falls" by Richard Russo; "The Stone Diaries" by Carol Shields; "A Thousand Acres" by Jane Smiley; and "The Known World" by Edward P. Jones.

But it's worth recalling what Sinclair Lewis wrote when he refused the 1925 Pulitzer Prize for "Arrowsmith": "By accepting the prizes and approval of these vague institutions, we are admitting their authority, publicly confirming them as the final judges of literary excellence, and I inquire whether any prize is worth that subservience."

2 very different questions

Yesterday a patron asked me for books on creativity in education. She insisted she did not want the usual suspects, the predictable, but, ratherm, wanted something unusual. I plugged in creativity and conducted a keyword search. I talked with her about subject headings, showed her how to move around in the OPAC, and left her to her own efforts. She wound up with an interesting choice: The spark: igniting the creative fire that lives within us all / created by Lyn Heward ; and written by John U. Bacon. Lyn Heward is the former president and COO of Cirque du Soleil’s Creative Content Division.

She was very excited about finding the book. When I mentioned the Big Apple Circus, and remarked about the man who started it, she responded that she did not like animals being in the circus. Clearly she had found precisely what she wanted. It seemed to be material for making an in-class presentation.


Today's question was decidedly different. A patron who seemed in her teens asked me for books on child abuse.  This was clearly not a school project. Whether about herself or about someone she knows, it seemed to be quite personal. Concerned, I tried to find a way to probe gently without overstepping my bounds. I asked if there were other issues or if she simply wanted books, and she left it at wanting books. I gave her 4 works: Understanding child abuse and neglect. Cynthia Crosson-Tower.
Child abuse / Jean Leverich, book editor.
The encyclopedia of child abuse / Robin E. Clark and Judith Freeman Clark 
Recognizing child abuse : a guide for the concerned / Douglas J. Besharov.

She stayed here for moer than an hour, and read. When she left she quietly gave me back the books, and went on her way. In fact, her aunt just (5.45pm) came in looking for her: said she was 15, shy. I said it probably had been her, and that she seemed serious. I can't figure out how much to say, and it seems better to err on the side of caution.

Things fall apart

A student was doing research on this book by Chinua Achebe. Found some interesting material.

A Library That Most Can Only Dream Of

Money talks, and buys.

A Reference library

Reading Alan Schom biography of Napoleon Bonaparte; as he set sail on Egyptian invasion, described on page 96. "As part of a theoretically semiacadmic mission, polymath Monge, chemist Claude Louis Berthollet, and their colleagues had ordered dozens of crates of astronomical, chemical, physical, survey, surgical, and pharmaceutical instruments, accompanied by by a reference library of several hundred tomes of science, philosophy, history, and geography, not to metion an array of what proved to be antiquated and all-but-useless maps of Egypt." p.96

Says much about weeding and keeping the collection fresh and current.

Watchmen

Requested today. Alan Moore, writer; Dave Gibbons, illustrator/letterer; John Higgins, colorist.

Texas textbooks rewrite U.S. history

A fascinating look at how conservatives wield their power.

Last week, the Texas Board of Education debated the statewide curricula, most notably the social studies curriculum. These board members are elected officials— not experts or professional historians— though according to the March 12 issue of The New York Times, “some members of the conservative bloc held themselves out as experts on certain topics.”

Certain ones? Which?

What upset people, however, was not the makeup of the Board, but its decisions. The aforementioned bloc (10 of the 15 members) espouses conservative values— they question Darwin, they believe the founding fathers were guided by Christian principles and they dislike Thomas Jefferson for coining the term “separation of church and state.”

Imagine conservatives disliking Jefferson, he of states's rights.

On this last point, the Board decided to replace Jefferson on a list of Enlightenment thinkers students should know with Calvin, Aquinas and Blackstone. It also neglected to add notable Hispanics to the history of the Mexican-American War. Nuanced defenses of McCarthy and criticism of Johnson’s Great Society were included in the curriculum, however, comprising a neat, Republican package that passed along party lines, 10-5.

History according to the conservatives.

The influence of this decision goes beyond Texas. Since Texas is the second most populous state, textbook publishers tailor their American History texts to Texan standards. And since the most populous state, California, is so persnickety about its curriculum, Texas really sets national standards for what students will learn. This is especially true given the primacy of the textbook in America. Indeed, the textbook is the cornerstone of public secondary civics education and far more influential than the teacher. The teachers who write test questions from their own words and research are far fewer than the mass of underpaid, overworked, non-history majors who pull test questions straight from the book. In too many classrooms, practice questions at the end of chapters stand a good chance of becoming actual test questions.

The saving grace is that most high school students don't give much attention to history class, ignore much of what terachers say, and forget the answers they've provided to test questions as soon as the test is over.

So if most students are simply learning by rote in public schools, what they are memorizing is very important. Since these schools are public, it is not just a matter of what parents want students to learn, but what parents and special interest groups can lobby politicians to include in curricula and thus force students to learn (unless attentive parents intervene). Because make no mistake— anything run by the government is ultimately backed by a monopoly of coercive force. Thus, this debate about an American history curriculum is really a battle over what will be the state-sanctioned, monolithic account of how things were.

Clearly this article comes from a liberal viewpoint, but, anything run by the government is ultimately backed by a monopoly of coercive force? What exactly does that mean? What the right wing says?

Everyone ought to stop fooling themselves. There is no one authoritative history, in America or anywhere else. Bias is inherent to historiography. No matter how closely a historian scrutinizes sources and attempts to balance one account with another, by the very selection of some sources over others, a particular account is written; not all sources can be included, and that is OK.

Truth must still be sought, though, and certain histories will do this better than others. Simply because there is no one irrefutable account does not make all accounts equally valid or valuable. It would behoove the people of this nation to start compiling the truths of their own stories and presenting them alongside many others, rather than jostling to write their own pages in the state-approved story book of what really happened. This can take the form of textbook-free classrooms that rely on articles and primary sources or free association of like-minded individuals to educate their children in a certain tradition (read: private schools). Embracing our differences has always made us stronger as a nation, and it is what will keep us ahead in the coming decades, even as European countries wrestle to redefine what it means for them to no longer be ethnic nations. The beauty of this civic nation is forged in the fires of pluralism. E pluribus unum: “Out of many, one.”

By NATHAN STRINGER

Published: Thursday, March 25, 2010

Amazon gives way on e-Book pricing

By JEFFREY A. TRACHTENBERG

Facing the specter of Apple Inc.'s iPad launch, Amazon.com Inc. has agreed to halt heavy discounting of e-book best sellers in new pricing deals with two major publishers.

The e-book agreements, with CBS Corp.'s Simon & Schuster and News Corp.'s HarperCollins Publishers, mirror deals struck this year with Apple for the iPad: Some new best sellers will be priced at $9.99 but most will be priced at $12.99 to $14.99.

The new deals ensure that Amazon will have the same array of titles that rival what Apple will offer on its digital bookstore. Apple has forged deals with five of the six major publishers to provide titles on the iPad, which will compete with Amazon's popular Kindle e-reader.

Amazon declined to comment.

Other deals between publishers and Amazon could follow ahead of Saturday's iPad debut. The online retailer is in advanced talks with Lagardere SCA's Hachette Book Group, and Pearson PLC's Penguin Group, according to people familiar with the situation. Bertelsmann AG's Random House has yet to sign a deal with Apple.

Amazon, which launched its Kindle e-book reader in November 2007, has been a leader in pricing new best sellers at $9.99 in the digital format. Publishers objected to that price, fearing that consumers will come to believe that all books are worth only that much.

The issue of digital book pricing heated up earlier this year after the five major publishers, which also include Macmillan, a unit of Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck GmbH; Hachette, and Penguin reached an agreement with Apple to make their digital books available for sale on the iPad.

Macmillan then butted heads with Amazon by insisting on the same control over pricing.

HarperCollins Chief Executive Brian Murray said the deal with Amazon followed a month of negotiations. "Our digital future is more assured today than it was two months ago," said Mr. Murray, calling the agreement "fair" for both sides.

News Corp. owns The Wall Street Journal.

One digital publishing executive warned that there will likely be some near-term glitches. "People shouldn't overreact if an e-book isn't immediately available on one site or another," said Maja Thomas, senior vice president of Hachette

Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page B