pulitzer prize info

[Brian D. McCary]

Alan Ballow queries:  Would someone  fill me in on the Pulitzer
debacle?  Was  TRP up for a Pulitzer at some time?

The Pynchon bio at http://www.pomona.edu/pynchon/bio/facts.html sez:

"In 1974, it shared the National Book Award for fiction with Isaac
Bashevis Singer's A Crown of Feathers. It was also unanimously selected
by the judges for the Pulitzer Prize in literature, but the selection
was overruled by the Pulitzer advisory board whose members called it
"unreadable," "turgid," "overwritten," and "obscene." No prize was
given that year."

I thought this was fairly unusual, but there have been 10 years since
1917 that no Pulitzer was awarded in fiction; three of those were in
the seventies (71, 74, 77).  1977 was the last year no award was
given.  (See http://www.pulitzer.org/navigation/index.html)

Still, even though he is not unique in his achievement, Pynchon does
fall in a class even more exclusive than that of Pulitzer Fiction Prize
Winners:  that of "Fiction Authors not mearly passed over, but actively
rejected by the Pulitzer Prize" ie, not preterite, but damned.

Now, I don't care a whole lot about prizes.  I've liked most, but not all
of the Pulitzer winners I've read, and most of the stuff I've really loved
in my life probably wasn't even nominated.  I figure Pynchon cares even less
than I do.  However, he's clearly proud of what he did, and he was a young
writer in the era when people were trying to write The Great American Novel, 
(does anyone aspire to that anymore?) and he was young enough to be susceptable
to that kind of hype, so it's entirely possible that he at least got his
hopes up.  The fact that the following year he (in turn) rejected the 
Howell medal suggests two possibilities:  he would have also rejected
the Pulitzer, or that he was pouting over the Pulitzer rejection.  I hate
to say it, but I think the fact that he did accept the National Book
award in '74 suggests the latter.  Only he knows for sure, and I'm pretty 
sure he won't tell me.  I do think that the differance in Pointsman's and
Mason's dreams of glory indictes a real shift in perception of day-dreams.

Now for the kind of useless speculation this list is so good at, guarenteed
to make a few people cranky:  Has anyone on the list read anything yet published
this year which they feel is a viable competitor with M&D for the annual book type 
awards?  (I haven't read anything else published this year, so I can't really
comment).  You Delillo fans out there?

Brian McCary