May 11, 2006

NYT Book Review poll.

Beloved This may not be directly movie-related, but we do get a preview, in a roundabout sort of way, of the book AO Scott was working on during those weeks he went missing from the movies section of the New York Times: "Early this year, the Book Review's editor, Sam Tanenhaus, sent out a short letter to a couple of hundred prominent writers, critics, editors and other literary sages, asking them to please identify 'the single best work of American fiction published in the last 25 years.'"

The results are in, Scott has sorted through them, offers various takes from various angles and concludes: "[L]ate-20th-century American Lit comprises a bustling menagerie, like Noah's ark or the island of Dr Moreau, where modernists and postmodernists consort with fabulists and realists, ghost stories commingle with domestic dramas, and historical pageantry mutates into metafiction. It is, gratifyingly if also bewilderingly, a messy and multitudinous affair."

Again, if you're wondering whether this really is hefty enough as a cultural event to warrant its own entry on a film blog, scan the list of voters.

Update: Elif Batuman for n+1.



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Posted by dwhudson at May 11, 2006 1:54 AM

Comments

What do you want to bet that, a year ago, J.T. LeRoy would have been on that list...

Posted by: dvd at May 11, 2006 1:10 PM

I dunno, David. Looking at that list, I see texts that, with the exception of a few at the bottom there, have established themselves over many, many years (and even most of those come from writers already well-situated in the pantheon, e.g., Roth).

AO Scott writes, too, "In sifting through the responses, I was surprised at how few of the highly praised, boldly ambitious books by younger writers - by which I mean writers under 50 - were mentioned. One vote each for The Corrections and The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, none for Infinite Jest or The Fortress of Solitude, a single vote for Richard Powers, none for William T. Vollmann, and so on."

A more interesting wager might be: Suppose we see JT Leroy on the list in 2030 despite - or because of - what we already know about who he is/isn't?

Posted by: David Hudson at May 11, 2006 3:29 PM

In the past 25 years, there are only 5 authors worthy of mention? And only one female author? Politics. It's always politics. Search for your own information. Make your own booklists.

Posted by: bluesgroove at May 12, 2006 6:17 PM

To recognize the worth of American fiction in the last 25 years with just one author or even a few, does no justice and has no point in the study of literature.

Posted by: bluesgroove at May 12, 2006 6:23 PM

Suppose we see JT Leroy on the list in 2030 despite - or because of - what we already know about who he is/isn't?

I can't see it happening unless the book contained some actual merit independent of the pseudo-backstory of the author. We had a similar thing happen in Australia a number of years ago with a book called The Hand That Signed The Paper by Helen Demidenko. Helen Demidenko turned out to actually be Helen Darville and a considerable number of people were made to look exceedingly foolish. She hasn't been forgotten or forgiven all these years later, and I don't think LeRoy will be either.

Posted by: James Russell at May 13, 2006 1:12 AM