Why wasn鈥檛 there a Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction this year?
| New York
The Pulitzer Prizes are usually big news for who wins. This year, they are big news for who didn鈥檛.
No Pulitzer Prize winner was announced on Monday for either fiction or editorial writing, despite a jury naming three finalists in each category.
鈥淲e are always sorry when people are disappointed,鈥� says Sig Gissler, administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes. 鈥淚 always like to think that giving an award is like sprinkling fairy dust on the recipients.鈥�
The lack of a prizewinner in fiction, a popular category, has gotten a lot of attention. But, Mr. Gissler says, 鈥淚t is not a statement about fiction in general 鈥� just a statement about the process.鈥�
The three finalists in a category are selected by a jury, which then sends the works to the 20-person Pulitzer Prize Board. The board meets over two days to choose the winners. As was the case this time, if a work fails to get the majority of the board鈥檚 vote, no award is given. (Not all 20 board members can vote. The number of voting members varies but is about 18.)
This year, the three-person fiction jury read 314 books before deciding on the finalists. The finalists were 鈥淭rain Dreams,鈥� a novella by Denis Johnson; 鈥淪wamplandia!鈥� by听Karen Russell; and 鈥�The Pale King,鈥� by David Foster Wallace, which was published posthumously.
There is speculation that the books were more-unusual choices than in years past.
鈥淭he Pale King鈥�听was unfinished when Mr. Wallace died, and his editor pieced together much of the book from his manuscripts after his death.
鈥淪ome parts are clearly finished, but as a whole it doesn鈥檛 feel quite finished,鈥� says Sam MacLaughlin, a bookseller at McNally Jackson Books in New York City. 鈥淏ut one or two of the set pieces are some of the best writing I have read all year.鈥�
Still, says Mr. MacLaughlin, a prize 鈥渨ould have been a worthwhile and understandable gesture towards David Foster Wallace鈥檚 career.鈥�
Mr. Johnson鈥檚 鈥淭rain Dreams鈥� was made into a collection after it appeared in The Paris Review. And 鈥淪wamplandia!,鈥� while a well-received novel, lacked some of the epic sweep that has characterized winners in the past.
Last year鈥檚 award went to Jennifer Egan for 鈥淎 Visit From the Goon Squad.鈥澨�
This year, 鈥渢here were multiple factors for not awarding a winner,鈥� says Gissler, who declined to discuss the reasons in detail.
Still, many were disappointed that a winner was not selected from the finalists.
鈥淲e nominated three novels we believe to be more than Pulitzer-worthy 鈥� David Foster Wallace's The Pale King, Karen Russell's Swamplandia! and Denis Johnson's Train Dreams. That the board declined to award the prize to any of these superb novels is inexplicable," jury member Maureen Corrigan, a book critic for NPR鈥檚 鈥淔resh Air鈥� and Georgetown University critic in residence, told the Georgetown English Department blog.
The lack of a winner (who receives $10,000) is not as rare as it sounds. An award has not been given 62 times across all categories in the organization鈥檚 95-year history.
Fiction has not been chosen 11 times since 1917, when the Pulitzers began. Prior to this year, the editorial writing category had not produced a winner nine times, most recently in 2008. Editorial writing is the most common news category not to receive an award.
Last year, for the first time in the history of the Pulitzer Prizes, no award was given in the breaking news category. In 2006, there was no award for drama, and in 2004, no award was given for feature writing.
The Pulitzer Prize for fiction typically helps book sales, which is especially valuable to the struggling book industry.
鈥淢aybe this will lead to a sale boost for all three, but I doubt it,鈥� MacLaughlin says.
Book sales aren鈥檛 driving decisions for the Pulitzer Prize Board.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 take the consequences for the industry into account, just the quality of the work,鈥� says Gissler.
