Best novel of the quarter century

[rich]

In retrospect, who really cares?

I will say this:  that M&D is probably one of the best sci-fi horror fantasy
novels of the last 25 years

w/i my 4th reading of M&D--still a very strange book

rich


On 5/22/06, Paul Di Filippo <pgdf at earthlink.net> wrote:
>
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> Not So 'Beloved'
>
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> by Karen Holt, PW Show Daily -- 5/19/2006
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> The New York Times Book Review may have just anointed Beloved as the
> best work of American fiction in the past 25 years, but not all of the
> judges thought so highly of Toni Morrison's slavery novel, as some
> prominent writers made clear during a panel yesterday afternoon.
>
> Thomas Mallon says he voted for Don DeLillo's Underworld, which did
> make the list of four runners-up. As for Beloved, it wasn't even
> Morrison's best book, Mallon said, deeming Song of Solomon a superior
> work.
>
> Cynthia Ozick said she was "flabbergasted" by the choice of a book she
> believes works better as history or political science than as
> literature. She referred to the narrative prose as "elliptical" and
> "poeticized."
>
> The three other runners-up were American Pastoral by Philip Roth, Blood
> Meridian by Cormac McCarthy and Rabbit Angstrom: The Four Novels by
> John Updike. While McCarthy also received a couple of swipes from the
> panelists—Mallon commented that he "can't stand any of his work"—Roth
> apparently could do no wrong. In addition to enthusing about his energy
> and skill, the panelists pointed out that he led all other writers in
> receiving multiple votes for his books, with six of his titles being
> cited by more than one judge as the best of the half-century.
>
> The NYTBR sent letters to about 200 leading authors, critics and
> editors, asking them to identity the best American fiction since 1980.
> The results are published in the May 21 issue of the Book Review.
>
> While the selections provide plenty of fodder for debate, just as
> notable is what's absent—work by younger writers. "Who knew that all
> these baby-boomer judges were so respectful of people born in the
> 1930s?" said NYTBR editor Sam Tanenhaus.
>
> Ozick commented, "The younger ones have come at the end of these 25
> years and perhaps they just need another 25 years to see how they stack
> up."
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