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| Hearsay: |
Apparently it’s a rotator cuff injury. Oh, and good-natured sportsmanship to not compete with young’uns/friends. Classy lady, she is.
Giller Prize organizers have reluctantly scratched a much-anticipated contest between Canada’s two reigning literary heavyweights after one of the expected contenders, short story writer Alice Munro, withdrew her latest collection, Too Much Happiness (out this week), from consideration for the 2009 award.
The 78-year-old writer’s decision has disappointed literary punters hoping for a close contest for this year’s prize between Munro and veteran novelist Margaret Atwood, author of The Year of the Flood (out in September), which is sure to be nominated.
“Her reason is that she has won twice and would like to leave the field to younger writers,” Munro’s publisher, Douglas Gibson, confirmed this week. “In my role as greedy publisher I pointed out that the Giller Prize produces so much publicity, that even to be nominated for it is tremendous publicity,” he said. “But her mind is made up on this. Alice preferred to withdraw from the competition.”
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August 28th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
Clearly, the ball’s in Atwood’s court now. Come on, Margaret, you gonna let Alice show you up like that? Do you really need another award?
August 28th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Alice is definitely not lacking in the award-department that’s for sure. I love her reasons for dropping out. Go Alice! Still have my fingers crossed she’ll make it to Van in Oct.
August 28th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Come on, Nic. Munro’s decision shouldn’t force others to do the same. It’s not about needing awards. It’s not a communist system. It’s not an everybody-gets-a-trophy day. It’s “best” book wins. With very solid quotes around best. Atwood should feel no pressure whatever to pull out. Her book deserves to compete with the rest if she wants it to. Even if she doesn’t care about it. This doesn’t obligate anyone to do anything. It’s just a nice gesture from a successful author and what it DOES do is highlight Munro’s generosity and her support of young writers. Makes no comment on anyone else whatsoever.
August 28th, 2009 at 2:21 pm
So, classy.
August 28th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
Lady Alice always rocks
August 28th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
There’s more to it than good graces. My guess, Alice is simply bored by giving wallops to other writers. She’s probably out somewhere learning to wrestle antelope with her hands tied together. Or something similarly ninjish.
August 29th, 2009 at 8:49 am
I applaud Munro for her gesture. BUt George is right, this doesn’t mean anyone should do the same. The last thing the Giller needs is a mad-dash of senior writers pulling their books from the competition. Having established and new writers appearing together on the list is what will continue to give the award whatever legitimacy it should have.
August 29th, 2009 at 9:07 am
Wow. That is class. I’ve always admired Alice Munro. This just moves her up a notch in my estimation.
August 29th, 2009 at 9:07 am
It’s not even September, and I’m already tired of hearing about Alice Munro. I mean no offense to her, but isn’t there one person who doesn’t worship her?
August 29th, 2009 at 9:14 am
I agree with George, but it all becomes a bit abstract now. If some highly decorated stars (but not all of them pull out), what DOES the award signify?) Needless to say, there are heavy quotation marks around “best.”
Even so, if Atwood DOES win now, doesn’t it leave her thinking, “Yeah, but would I have beaten Munro?”
And sure, it doesn’t really matter, winning’s not the ultimate purpose, and those quotation marks will always flank “best”… but then why are we discussing it at all?
And finally, let’s say Atwood were to follow Munro’s lead and then a young up-and-comer wins. Do they then have to grapple with a compromised victory, everyone saying, “Oh well, sure, but they wouldn’t have won if it were a REAL field”?
August 29th, 2009 at 10:32 am
I’m in agreement with Pete. “Best” book should mean something close to that – if Munro felt she didn’t need it, she can (and likely would) just redirect the money to a writer’s trust or scholarship someplace. I’d hate for the 2009 award to be for “Best Book Except for the Better Books”.
August 29th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Maybe she’s chicken. Yeah, maybe she’s yellow. Anyone ever think of that?
August 29th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
I think it was really classy. Good for her!
August 30th, 2009 at 2:29 am
Thanks, Alice. Way to live.
August 30th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
Everybody worships the maple leaf hip chicks, Michel. Alice in the palace without malice said, “Pass the chalice.” Oh that sweet, Alice.
August 31st, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Ah, but we’re assuming that veteran writers are writing the best books, and often, esp. in Canada, awards are given to the best name, not the best book.
August 31st, 2009 at 5:50 pm
What Nicole just said.
And yes, classy gesture, but somewhat presumptuous as well. I have too good a chance of winning, so I better pull out.
August 31st, 2009 at 6:03 pm
That came to me as well but I discarded it. I’m sure she’s embarrassed by all the media. I would imagine she thought it might be done quietly, but publishers will be…
August 31st, 2009 at 7:29 pm
Surely Kathryn’s right, and a gesture intended to be invisible is now under discussion by the likes of us.
Nicole’s right too, and Munro’s gesture is even nobler if that was one of Munro’s motives (let my name not blind jurors and therefore contribute to awards injustice).
And Zsuzsi’s right as well, though in Munro’s case it’s a pretty darn pragmatic presumptuousness.
What irks me is the “yeah, you won, but…” vibe that will now hover over the eventual winner. Granted that all this awards crap has to be taken with several 18-wheeler truckloads of salt, nonetheless it would be lame to be deemed to have written, in Charlotte’s words, the “best book except for the other books.” I realize that a young writer scooping this big prize may well not give a damn about such hair-splitting: the cheque can still be cashed and the cachet still cashed in on. I guess what eats at me is an anal “let these things indicate something of worth, insofar as they conceivably can.”
Going way back to Nicole’s initial comment: I seem to recall that Atwood did take herself out of competition one year, accepting the role of judge and thus disqualifying a novel of her own that had already racked up some impressive awards cred.
September 1st, 2009 at 10:30 am
sad to see so many ‘ninjas already jumping on the “yeah, you won, but…” vibe.
September 1st, 2009 at 1:00 pm
It DEFINITELY diminishes the award when top-flight writers pull their books out of the running. Let’s say the award goes to a first book of stories or a first novel this year. That writer will always think, “I wonder if I would have won if my book had been up against everyone else’s?” Alice Munro’s well-meaning gesture backfires. Jack Rabinovitch should do everything he can to get that book back in the running to protect the integrity of the prize (such as it is).
September 1st, 2009 at 1:03 pm
Agreed, M-dawg. But on the other hand, I’d be perfectly fine with thinking of myself as second to Alice Munro…
September 1st, 2009 at 4:52 pm
Given that the eligibility rules dictate that each publisher can only submit three books, nobody’s book is ever up against “everyone else’s.” Publishers can submit past winners of the Giller or the GG alongside their three picks, and I gather that the judges can add any titles they think ought to have been included to the pool. But it’s never a true competition between all the fiction titles published in a given year.
September 1st, 2009 at 7:56 pm
George: But how much finer would you feel if you’d beat her?!
Kate: The Giller jury is allowed to request books that haven’t been submitted if they think they should be considered. And so publishers hold back strong titles figuring that those ones will be requested so that they can get as much of their list submitted as possible. Believe me, it works!
September 2nd, 2009 at 8:01 am
Let’s just give the prize to her anyway, and have done.
September 2nd, 2009 at 8:14 am
Maybe we should create the Bookninja “Killer” Prize for Fiction, and have a shortlist of one….
September 2nd, 2009 at 8:46 am
Ooooh, the suspense, though…