Prize Winners and Prize Not-in-the-Runnings

Books that win prizes, genres that don't

Petrona touches on one, but those of us who are longtime fans of SF wonder why the likes of Doris Lessing gets praise for the Canopus in Argos archives (Middling books, and as science fiction, nothing thrilling) whereas Mary Doria Russell's The Swallow gets virtually ignored despite the compelling "universal" things it has to say.  It's an old gripe, but one that never loses its validity.  Let us hope that it will in the future.

Comments

  1. FredJune 30, 2010 at 11:16 AM

    Could it be that Lessing also writes "literary stuff"?

    Reminds me of the recent fuss over _The Road_, also by one with literary credentials--a work that I didn't find that impressive.

    ReplyDelete
  2. StevenJune 30, 2010 at 11:25 AM

    Dear Fred,

    Yes. Doris Lessing is a Nobel Prize Winner.

    shalom,

    Steven

    ReplyDelete

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