Re: JCO: Nobel Prize

In a message dated 10/13/2005 9:23:36 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, RFoley7292@aol.com writes:

They are derivative from absurdist drama and actually far less impressive than the work of other absurdists who might have won (Eugene Ionesco, (if he were still alive) and Edward Albee who, if they were giving the prize to a dramatist, should have been a major contender. Nothing in Pinter's theatrical output comes even close to the depth achieved by these writers. 

I'd like to second the motion for Edward Albee. I don't know Pinter's work very well so I won't comment, but I do know Albee's work thoroughly. I would call him a deserving recipient. Some of his more experimental works are less successful (from the late 1960s and 1970s, mostly), but A Delicate Balance, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Goat: Or Who Is Syliva, The Zoo Story, and Seascape are all amazing theater.

 

I'm glad to hear History Boys is coming to the US. I saw it summer of 2004 in England and thought it was excellent.

 

--Andy

Re: JCO: RE: Nobel Prize

JCO has been interviewed today at KCRW's Bookworm. The show can be accessed through their web or itunes (podcast).

Silvia

jandsmerritt <jandsmerritt@earthlink.net> wrote:

Hi Bob:

 

I would have been far happier with Updike, Roth, or certainly Pahuk, the brilliant Turkish novelist.  Snow is one of the finest novels I've read in recent years.   

 

 

I agree that Orhan Pamuk deserves the prize.  This year would have been a good time to give it to him, as his legal position is precarious, and he could use whatever protection that the status of Nobel prizewinner might have offered.  However, he's younger than most people are when they get the prize, while his Turkish nationality may be poison in the present climate in Europe, and even specifically in Sweden (where I gather that they're having a lot of trouble accepting the existance of a significant immigrant community, which is a new experience for them). 

 

Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I don't think that any Americans will win the literature prize while the Iraq war is still going on.  I'm reminded of how Steinbeck won shortly before the U.S. got heavily involved in Vietnam, and then no American won until Bellow did right after the Vietnam war ended.  Stay healthy, JCO!

 

Steve

JCO: RE: Nobel Prize

Hi Bob:

 

I would have been far happier with Updike, Roth, or certainly Pahuk, the brilliant Turkish novelist.  Snow is one of the finest novels I've read in recent years.   

 

 

I agree that Orhan Pamuk deserves the prize.  This year would have been a good time to give it to him, as his legal position is precarious, and he could use whatever protection that the status of Nobel prizewinner might have offered.  However, he's younger than most people are when they get the prize, while his Turkish nationality may be poison in the present climate in Europe, and even specifically in Sweden (where I gather that they're having a lot of trouble accepting the existance of a significant immigrant community, which is a new experience for them). 

 

Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I don't think that any Americans will win the literature prize while the Iraq war is still going on.  I'm reminded of how Steinbeck won shortly before the U.S. got heavily involved in Vietnam, and then no American won until Bellow did right after the Vietnam war ended.  Stay healthy, JCO!

 

Steve

Re: JCO: Re: Nobel for literature to be awarded Thursday, 10/13/2005

Hi, Silvia. My vote for a Canadian contender would be Alice Munro.
Cyrano

In a message dated 10/13/2005 9:38:31 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
smorales_es@yahoo.es writes:

<< I do hope that too. Also I love Margaret Atwood's work as much as JCO's.

Hope some day both of them receive it.
Silvia >>
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Re: JCO: Snow

THanks, Bob. I'll check that one out too.
Cyrano

In a message dated 10/13/2005 9:23:36 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
RFoley7292@aol.com writes:

<< Snow is one of the finest novels I've read in
recent years. >>
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Re: JCO: Re: Nobel for literature to be awarded Thursday, 10/13/2005

I do hope that too. Also I love Margaret Atwood's work as much as JCO's.

 

Hope some day both of them receive it.

Silvia

NotEnoughKittens@aol.com wrote:

I too can't complain about Pinter---but I do hope next year is JCO's year.

 

Best,

Christa

JCO: Nobel Prize

How ironic that after all our talk about prolificity, the award should go to Harold Pinter, known for his "pregnant pauses" and ecocnomy of language. 

 

I have no feeling one way or another toward his work, although I have followed his output through the years....As far as I'm concerned, he wrote two or three seminal plays toward the beginning of his career - The Caretaker, his finest endeavor by far; The Birthday Party and Homecoming, two works of questionable merit dependent upon consummate acting and direction to make them work at all.  They are derivative from absurdist drama and actually far less impressive than the work of other absurdists who might have won (Eugene Ionesco, (if he were still alive) and Edward Albee who, if they were giving the prize to a dramatist, should have been a major contender. Nothing in Pinter's theatrical output comes even close to the depth achieved by these writers.  Virtually all of Pinter's later theatrical output has been a rehashing of his original ideas, stolen from Beckett. 

 

His, I believe, "sole novel" is The Dwarfs, which like all of his screenplays hints at greatness but in the end is full of Shakespeare's "sound and fury".

 

I have not read his recent volume of political protest poetry.

 

Actually, I can think of half a dozen British playwrights from David Hare, Peter Shaffer, to Alan Bennett, whose most recent stunning work The History Boys heads for American shores later this year. 

 

In short, not a good choice.  Should I take consolation in the fact that Pinter is one of the few recent winners whom I have actually heard of and been exposed to prior to their winning the prize?  I think not.

 

I would have been far happier with Updike, Roth, or certainly Pahuk, the brilliant Turkish novelist.  Snow is one of the finest novels I've read in recent years.  I take consolation that an American didn't win, which would have made JCO's chances dimmer for the next few years.

 

As with many past selections, I am not happy, but I am surprised.

 

Bob   

Re: JCO: Re: Nobel for literature to be awarded Thursday, 10/13/2005

I too can't complain about Pinter---but I do hope next year is JCO's year.

 

Best,

Christa

Re: JCO: Re: Nobel for literature to be awarded Thursday, 10/13/2005

I can't complain at all about Pinter having won. I've been a fan of his for years.

Too bad for JCO but a worthy choice nonetheless.

--
Kimberly Starrett
"Sharing an office is like being in a Beckett play...after everything has been said you still must go on talking."
Edmund White, in "The Farewell Symphony".

> And the prize goes to Harold Pinter! A nice surprise.
>
> Next year for Oates I guess.
>
> Eric
>
>
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RE: JCO: Re: Harold Pinter Wins Nobel Prize

It seems Pinter was a real surprise winner maybe even to himself.

Here's a link to the story in today's Guardian.

http://books.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,5308539-99819,00.html

--
Kimberly Starrett
"Sharing an office is like being in a Beckett play...after everything has been said you still must go on talking."
Edmund White, in "The Farewell Symphony".

> Hi Everyone:
>
> As Randy said, all the reputable papers were reporting on speculation. I
> don't recall anyone mentioning Pinter.
>
> Steve
>
>
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RE: JCO: Re: Harold Pinter Wins Nobel Prize

Hi Everyone:

As Randy said, all the reputable papers were reporting on speculation. I
don't recall anyone mentioning Pinter.

Steve

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Re: JCO: List of journals and other literary publications + JCO nomination

Hi, Cynthia. In the US the New York Review of Books and "small" journals
like the Virginia Review, Tri-Quarterly, the Massachusetts Review are very good.
If you visit your local university library, you will probably find a number
of monthly or quarterly lit journals to peruse.
Best,
Cyrano

In a message dated 10/12/2005 11:28:52 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
pcdennis@adelphia.net writes:

<< Also, someone on this list mentioned that many popular literary reviews
are for the purpose of publicizing a work, and that those reviews are
not necessarily the best for analysis of a particular book. would like
to know which literary journals you recommend for reading more about
fictional works and their authors.

Thank you for any information you have time to share.

Cynthia >>
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Re: JCO: Re: Nobel for literature to be awarded Thursday, 10/13/2005

And the prize goes to Harold Pinter! A nice surprise.

Next year for Oates I guess.

Eric

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Re: JCO: Re: Nobel for literature to be awarded Thursday, 10/13/2005

Hi, Cindi. I believe Varieties of Religious Experience was in the Atlantic,
but it was a fairly long story in four sections. The line you quote there is
the striking simile Updike makes to the appearance of the first tower
collapsing -- as seen from distant Brooklyn on that crystal clear September morning.
Cyrano

In a message dated 10/12/2005 7:42:53 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
pcdennis@adelphia.net writes:

<< Was that the one in The Atlantic? Very, very short? ". . .as abruptly
as a girl letting fall her silken gown. . ." ??? I think that may have
been it.
>>
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