In 1917, publisher Joseph Pulitzer established the prize that bears his name. Administered by Columbia University, the award for distinguished fiction by an American author is selected from entrants in fields as varied as short stories, novellas, fictional poetry, and novels. The 2014 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction was announced in April. Philipp Meyer’s The Son and The Woman Who Lost Her Soul by Bob Shacochis were finalists; Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch took the prize.
To highlight the award-winning authors in our collection, Mechanics’ Institute staff members will choose our favorite works by Pulitzer winners and finalists. Here are a few of our selections:
Chris recommends: Jennifer Egan
A Visit From the Goon Squad (2011’s Pulitzer winner) explores youth and its inevitable passing, following a group of high school friends drawn together by punk music in the late 1970's San Francisco. Despite changes in narrator and style (e.g., a chapter in PowerPoint, dialogue presented in truncated mobile phone 'TXT SPEK'), the book is accessible, moving, and extremely funny. Fans of Zadie Smith's most recent book, NW, will find the pairing of formal novelty and sophisticated characterization to be equally successful here.
Diane recommends: Herman Wouk
I clearly remember reading both The Winds of War and War and Remembrance in high school and being enthralled by them. While they may not be some of Wouk's best writing, they certainly brought World War II into focus for me in an interesting way. The books are much better than the miniseries with Robert Mitchum.
Heather recommends: Cormac McCarthy
Whether you think of Cormac McCarthy as a neo-gothic or a post-apocalyptic writer, his works are inhabited by the spirit of the American West: idealistic, barbaric, and stark. On one end of the spectrum, there’s Blood Meridian: stream of consciousness, uber-violent, with strange and terrifying characters. On the other end, the Border Trilogy: All the Pretty Horses, The Crossing, and Cities of the Plain are written in straightforward narrative form, beginning as a love letter to the freedom of being on the road with a horse and a crew.
Deb recommends: E.L. Doctorow
When I read World’s Fair, I felt I had been transported back in time to life in the 1930s when the 1939 World's Fair provided excitement and respite from a world emerging from the Great Depression.
