I was watching Dodsworth (1936) on AP last night and when I read that it was based on a novel by Sinclair Lewis, I wondered how many Americans had won the Nobel Prize. I have not read Lewis, Buck, Bellow, Brodsky or Singer. I feel like there is a better list of American writers. I guess I should check them out though.
I know they often excerpt Lewis' Babbitt in Language Arts classes. I don't remember reading him.
The list feels subjective, but I guess there is some objectivity. I never really felt much attachment to objectivity until Trump came along, because of his gaslighting and relentless spinning. I guess all politicians spin. His spin seems to be of a higher order of evil.
Brodsky is the only poet before Dylan, and I wouldn't say he was the best American poet. He was 32 when he was expelled from the USSR so I'm not sure how American he is. Singer was Polish and came to the USA at 33, during WW2.
My pop has a book of Dylan's poetry, and I've perused it, but I consider him more of a musician than a poet. He can be read as poetry and it's good.
U.S. citizens who have been awarded the Nobel Prize for literature:
1930 Sinclair Lewis
1936 Eugene O'Neill
1938 Pearl S. Buck
1949 William Faulkner
1954 Ernest Hemingway
1962 John Steinbeck
1976 Saul Bellow
1978 Isaac Bashevis Singer
1987 Joseph Brodsky
1993 Toni Morrison
2016 Bob Dylan
Comments
Post a Comment