Yesterday was the litworld equivalent of Osars night–the National Book Awards. No real surprises. I mean, I suppose William T. Vollman wasn’t entirely expected to walk away with the fiction award for Europe Central, but once you’ve been nominated, you’re only a stone’s throw from winning.
Hey, no takers on that litquiz? Here’s a clue. The character’s remark was edited in many editions of this classic work of fiction, on the assumption that it was the author’s error rather than a deliberate attempt to reveal something about the character. Only fairly recently, in a text that also restored 1100 of the author’s original commas, did the San Francisco midwest comment make it back into the novel.
I don’t know. The idea of Vollmann getting a mainstream award is truly incongruous with the types of books the NBF generally gives its awards to (“The Great Fire,” “Three Junes” and “The Corrections” — all of which were middlebrow darlings).
Gatsby? I recall something about the “Middle-west”.
Vince…you win a toaster! Indeed, it was the great Jay Gatsby himself.