Philip Roth Didn't Deserve the Booker International Prize

[malignd at aol.com]

You have your head up your ass.  And please, define beauty, so we can all know it when we see it.


It's rarely if ever stunningly beautiful. Applying Nabokov's silly
formula for the great writer, we find that Roth is a master story
teller and a teacher, but he lacks that which, according to Nabokov,
"predominates and makes a major writer." Looking at my list, I find
that I've read more Roth than nearly any other American, but none
(other than_The Breast_ and  _The Dying Animal_) is stunningly
beautiful or poetic in style. Roth simply does not have real magic. He
is great story teller, though I tire of his Jewish NJ fair, and he can
instruct, but he's a sorcerer's apprentice still.







-----Original Message-----
From: alice wellintown <alicewellintown at gmail.com>
To: pynchon -l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Mon, May 23, 2011 1:52 am
Subject: Re: Philip Roth Didn't Deserve the Booker International Prize


It's rarely if ever stunningly beautiful. Applying Nabokov's silly
formula for the great writer, we find that Roth is a master story
teller and a teacher, but he lacks that which, according to Nabokov,
"predominates and makes a major writer." Looking at my list, I find
that I've read more Roth than nearly any other American, but none
(other than_The Breast_ and  _The Dying Animal_) is stunningly
beautiful or poetic in style. Roth simply does not have real magic. He
is great story teller, though I tire of his Jewish NJ fair, and he can
instruct, but he's a sorcerer's apprentice still.



> Roth's work is stunningly great.
>
> If that's what the prize is about, then it's well-deserved.  A lot of
> times these prizes go to somebody who's relatively unknown and help
> that person's career along.  Obviously, awarding it to Philip Roth
> will not have that effect.  But sometimes it's good to be reminded how
> great somebody is, even if you already knew it.
>

 
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