The Guardian‘s Books Blog is hosting a tournament to determine “The Great American Novelist,” and the list of the final 32 seeded contenders, as voted by the site’s readers, is enough to raise some eyebrows—not as much for who did make the cut as for who didn’t. Guardian readers, haven’t you heard of Richard Yates?
The Great American Novelist
In Dylan News
Time for an update on the Bob Dylan-Nobel Prize beat: While Dylan still won’t attend the award ceremony in Stockholm this weekend, he has submitted a speech to be read on his behalf, reports The New York Times. Patti Smith will also be on hand to perform one of Dylan’s songs. We bet Brian Burlage would say that suits him perfectly.
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Who She’s Writing For
Dispatch From the Future and The Fallback Plan author Leigh Stein explains that she is writing her forthcoming memoir, Land of Enchantment, for “everyone who’s been to more funerals than weddings, everyone who lurks on the Internet late at night looking at pictures of their lost loves, everyone who cries when a certain song comes on the radio because they think it must be a sign.”
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Borrow Harry Potter Electronically
Amazon has announced that all seven Harry Potter books will be available via its Kindle Lending Library starting on June 19th.
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Shattering the Short Story
Recommended Reading: Bailey Lewis’s short story at Paper Darts “When the South Wind Blows Glass Shatters and Disappears Like Rain.” “A young girl’s body hurtles through a stationery store window at top speed.”
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On Productive Friendships
Recommended Reading: Alexandra Alter on Greg Neri’s Tru & Nelle, an upcoming novel about Harper Lee and Truman Capote.
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Just to be clear – the 32 shortlisted authors were chosen by the guy running the “tournament”. Readers are supposed to vote on the match-ups he has created. There was a discussion about who should be in the 32 but he made the final call.
Yes, the omission of Yates strikes me as egregious as well, but then the whole idea is pretty silly. Writer matchups (see also: Tournament of Books) are even more ridiculous then prize shortlists.
What, No Mailer?!!!!!!
No Fitzgerald, either.
Mailer (and Capote) were excluded on the basis that their non-fiction is inadmissable. Hence neither has the tournament creator’s required “4 strong novels” to compete thru all the proposed rounds.
I did say already that it’s a ridiculous exercise….
Fitzgerald is there, but he’s not a “seed” for some reason.