Today, the Pulitzer committee will announce the winners of the 2009 Pulitzer Prizes. This year, Tree of Smoke, by Denis Johnson, and Shakespeare's Kitchen, by Lore Segal, were nominated for the fiction award. (I wonder when they'll add a Pulitzer for blogging?) Sometimes the committee picks classics. And sometimes the books they pick have legs: they make a lasting impression on America.
But sometimes the committee picks less impressive volumes. And sometimes the books they select disappear with a whimper. Over at the fabulous book selling site, abebooks, they've come up with a list of the Top 10 Forgotten Pulitzer Prize-Winning Novels. They put Joseph Gould Cozzen's Guard of Honor (1948) first. Alan Drury's Advice and Consent (1959) was next. I didn't know most of these books - who, after all, can recall Lamb in His Bosom (that 1933 classic.) But I do know, and much love, Steven Millhauser's Martin Dressler (1997) and I commend it to anyone who wants to unearth an (apparently) forgotten classic.
All of this year's Pulitzer finalists are here. Past Pulitzer winners and finalists are here.
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