Next Book, Nobels and nobility

[LARSSON at vax1.mankato.msus.edu]

About long-awaited books and disappointments--Surely the prize for One-Shot
Wonders goes to Margaret Mitchell (GONE WITH THE WIND--never needed any
sequels; one was more than enough!), Harper Lee (TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD),
and Ralph Ellison (INVISIBLE MAN).  Compared to them, Pynchon is as prolific
as Balzac!

Would TRP accept a Nobel?  His record on prizes is mixed.  He accepted that
MacArthur.  One version has it that he accepted the NBA only not to snub his
cowinner IB Singer.  He turned down the Howells.  The Pulitzer central committee
ruled out his chance to refuse them (which would have been the most tainted 
prize of them all).  The Nobels were created by dynamite inventer Alfred Nobel
as penance for his invention, which he had thought would be so destructive as
to put an end to war.  Didn't happen, of course, so he created the Nobel Peace
Prize in particular.  At least his intentions were good.

I just heard this morning that an *Irish* writer won this year's Lit. Award.
Anyone know about him?

Don Larsson, Mankato State U (MN)