Howells Medal

[Curt Gardner]

Sorry if this has been posted before, but for the record here is TRP's 
"letter of non-acceptance" of the Howells Medal in 1975:
----
Dear Mr. Wilbur:
A couple of weeks ago I heard from Candida Donadio about the Howells 
Medal for Gravity's Rainbow.  I asked her then to decline for 
me--quietly, over the phone, in case you folks wanted to make other 
plans.  But now I have your official letter, and Candida tells me this 
means the Academy wants to go ahead and award the medal anyway.

The Howells Medal is a great honor, and, being gold, probably a good 
hedge against inflation too.  But I don't want it.  Please don't impose 
on me something I don't want.  It makes the Academy look arbitrary and me 
look rude.  There are plenty of fine books around, and since you haven't 
made any public announcement yet, I can't see how you'd have any problem 
allowing me to decline.

Please thank your selection committee for their kindness.  Thank you 
too.  I know I should behave with more class, but there appears to be 
only one way to say no, and that's no.
					Regretfully,
					Thomas Pynchon
----
This letter is reprinted in a transcription of a speech given by William 
Styron entitled "Presentation to Thomas Pynchon of the Howells Medal for 
Fiction of the Academy".  Styron finishes by saying:

"In conclusion I would like to add that, so far as I know, the Academy 
does not wish to impose an unwanted medal upon anybody.  But once 
bestowed, there are problems involved in repudiating the bestowal which 
seem so beyond solution as to verge on some of the mad fantasies in 
Gravity's Rainbow.  The Howells Mdal will therefore rest in the Academy's 
vaults, gathering luster there not simply because it is gold but by the 
honor that Thomas Pynchon, however unwillingly, has given it."

Curt Gardner
gardner at haas.berkeley.edu