‘Tis the season of literary prize announcements, and most notably for me are the Giller Prize (awarded last week), the Man Booker Prize (awarded last month), and the Governor General’s Awards (to be announced today).
Perhaps because I am rarely satisfied with the judges’ decisions, I am actually much more interested in the lists of finalists than I am in the final awarding of the prize. I like that the lists of finalists give me the opportunity to take stock of which books I have yet to get my hands on, and to add titles to my ever growing ‘To Read’ list.
As an educator, I find that I also approach the prizes with the impression that it is these titles that future students will possibly be studying in our schools. But should I? Are these media and political circuses ultimately doing the novels and their respective authors a disservice? Will readers eventually notice that decisions appear to be based on the biggest potential splash, the most buzz and the biggest headlines? If so, will the short term financial gain disguise a possible long term respectability pain?
With the announcement last week in favour of Joseph Boyden’s Through Black Spruce, despite the overwhelming preference by Canadian readers for Rawi Hage’s Cockroach, one of the jurists repeated for reporters that the decision was perhaps not the most politically correct one; and yet the more he spoke, the more radio listeners surely replied, “Methinks the Honourable Member for Toronto Centre doth protest too much.” What will people say ten years from now?
Oh well. Perhaps I’m simply still disappointed that André Alexis’ Asylum, surely the greatest book published in Canada this year, was overlooked by the prizes. In that case, perhaps I ought to start my own annual literary prize for fiction. …
The finalists for The Lamppost Literature Award, 2008 are:
- Asylum, André Alexis
- Good to a Fault, Marina Endicott
- Cockroach, Rawi Hage
- The Lost Highway, David Adams Richards
- The Great Karoo, Fred Stenson
And the winner is … Asylum! Congratulations to André Alexis, and thank you for giving our nation a beautiful, intelligent and cathartic novel of refuge.
I feel better already.
