Chabon mentions Pynchon

[Bekah]

Likely because the "test of time" figures into the books on a typical syllabus.   I don't believe many "dead white males"  are eligible for the NBCA awards - I think they're for books written in the year of the award.  

Now I'm guessing at the bit about the syllabus  -  I had exactly one lit class in college - required. 

Bekah


On Oct 27, 2012, at 4:16 PM, alice wellintown <alicewellintown at gmail.com> wrote:

> Looking into the winners of the National Book Critics Circle Award we
> find women, such as
> Pearlman, Egan, Mantel ...winners of the award these last three years,
> and, women of color, men of color, Jewish men ...not too many dead
> white males or soon to be dead white males. This trend is not only
> obvious at NBCA. so I wonder why the white men, DFW, Pynchon ,
> Delillo, McCarthy...seem to get the academic nod, the spot on the
> syllabus? Has it more to do with how literature is studied and less to
> do with who reads across the sexes?