Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream by night. – Edgar Allen Poe
Random Thought 10.28.09
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Category Archives: Literature
The Road Not Taken
TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
- Robert Frost
2009 Pulitzer Prize Reprise
Put it before them briefly so they will read it, clearly so they will appreciate it, picturesquely so they will remember it and, above all, accurately so they will be guided by its light.
~ Joseph Pulitzer
The 2009 Pulitzer Prize winners represent the best in Journalism, Letters, Drama & Music, a tradition begun in 1917 as a bequest of Joseph Pulitzer. Pulitzer, a newspaper publisher who spent his life fighting tirelessly to expose corruption in business and government, wished the Pulitzer Prize to exemplify that struggle; to be, in his own words, “an incentive to excellence.”
Journalism
It is perhaps in the Journalism awards that the spirit of the Pulitzers is best represented. The majority of these awards over the years have gone to newspapers and reporters who have battled corruption both on an individual and a global level. The following papers were honored this year:
History
In History, Annette Gordon-Reed’s The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family examines the controversial question of Jefferson’s relationship with Sally Hemmings, a young slave woman in his possession. Gordon-Reed presents a compelling if not conclusive case for Jefferson’s involvement with Hemmings; however, despite the evidence, we are still left wondering at his motivations. Jefferson’s actions so blatantly contradict his clearly articulated ideas on the very nature of freedom. In the end he remains an enigma and the book’s allegations an open question.
Biography
Jon Meacham, author and editor of Newsweek, earned the prize in Biography for American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House. Jackson, a Populist candidate who sought to overthrow what he perceived to be corrupt and moneyed interests, is a subject much in keeping with the Pulitzer tradition.
A History of Biography Pulitzers
Poetry
We are asleep with compasses in our hands
WS Merwin captured the Poetry prize a second time for The Shadow of Sirius. Merwin has journeyed from the anti-war sentiments of 1971′s The Carrier of Ladders to a balanced and sober reflection.
with the animals dying around us
our lost feelings we are saying thank you
with the forests falling faster than the minutes
of our lives we are saying thank you
with the words going out like cells of a brain
with the cities growing over us
we are saying thank you faster and faster
with nobody listening we are saying thank you
we are saying thank you and waving
dark though it is
Fiction
In Fiction, Elizabeth Strout won for Olive Kitteridge, a collection of 13 short stories set in rural Maine. She joins a long, illustrious group of past Pulitzer Prize winners.
Drama
Lynn Nottage earned the Drama award for Ruined, set in the violence and chaos of the civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Past Pulitzer Prize Winners for Drama
Photography
The two prizes in photography went to Damon Winter for his visceral coverage of Obama’s 2008 Presidential campaign.
Obama in Chester, PA ~ Damon Winter
A People in Despair: Haiti’s year without mercy, a harrowing depiction of Haiti after the devastation of Hurricane Ike.
Woman in Cabaret Weeps ~ Patrick Farrell
2009 Pulitzer Prize Winners
Obama in Chester, PA ~ Damon Winter
Obama in Chester, P.A., one of Damon Winter’s many visceral photos of Obama’s 2008 political campaign. The 2009 Pulizer Prize Winners include among them, Damon Winter for Feature Photography, Douglas A. Blackmon in General Nonfiction for Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II , and Annette Gordon-Reed in History for The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family
Visit Pulitzer Prize Reprise for an expanded coverage of the winners.
Reducing Reading to Evolution
Jeremy Hsu analyzes the evolutionary basis for our love of storytelling in Why Dead Authors Can Thrill Modern Readers. Do we have an intrinsic desire to punish the bad and exalt the good? Literary Darwinists suggest that we are hardwired to enjoy storylines that enforce the rules of the tribe. Then why do we also have an equally perverse desire to champion the outsider, the rule breaker and the renegade?
