P.S. One of the unique qualities of Alice Munro's writing is that she checks her ego at the door, unlike many modern writers!
I'm glad to see a woman win it...but at the same time, I really dislike the short story form. Sorry, Alice!
For those who say that writers are not writers until they produce at least one great novel, Ms. Monro's Nobel is a knife through the heart. This is not their morning.
I'm not prepared to say that Monro deserves the prize more than writers whose work takes the long narrative form, or more than poets. The awarding of the Nobel for Literature is as great a mystery to me as is literature itself. Transtromer sits on my nightstand, partially read. For me, he's like caviar to a child; I see the brilliance but he's not my writer. Yet I still wonder why Thomas Bernhard, who was my writer, didn't get the prize when he was alive. Etcetera.
Small can be beautiful. Monro's stories in The New Yorker have always been a reliably compelling visit to her Ontario.
"Does the nation place more value on literary culture, and actively encourage artistic enteprise?"
Yes - or at least it used to. Nowadays, the tax cutters and de-funders are doing their best to emulate their American cousins
Massive kudos to Alice Munro, one of my favorite writers for decades. Her embrace and mastery of the short story encourages those of us who also love and write them. Go, shorts!
Boy, are you opening up a can of worms. No Canadian would ever consider themselves American. It's like telling the Irish that they're British.
Canada finally has its first genuine Nobel Laureate in Literature. It's an amazing day for Canadian letters.
For the many American readers of this newspaper, it's hard to explain how important such an award is for Canada. Can-Lit has struggled mightily in the last 50 plus years to play an influential role in shaping how Canadians understand themselves and their identities.
Remember, Canada was a nation with only a paltry sense of identity and cohesion at the start of the 1950s, with no real national literary tradition to speak of and no sense of cultural confidence in the global arena. To now have one of our own be awarded the Nobel Prize in literature is an important symbol of how far we've come.
Interestingly, this award comes at a moment of deep uncertainty for domestic literary publishing in Canada. As we rush out to buy copies of Mrs. Munro's works, we should be thinking about what the larger overall implications for this award will be on Canadian publishing in the 21st century.
For my take, check out this article from the 14th Floor, a site for cultural conversation based in Toronto:
http://thefourteenthfloor.com/2013/10/10/a-day-of-pride
Cormac McCarthy, Philip Roth, Thomas Pynchon . . . hmmmmm
Good for her! I've read her work and always enjoyed it. She is a master of the short story. I wish Philip Roth would have won the award. I'm not saying Ms. Munro doesn't deserve it - she certainly earned it - but I'm a Roth fan and always will be. His work is first-rate.
Wonderful, most wonderful! Alice Munro writes exquisite, unforgettable stories. I am thrilled for her ... and so happy for us, to have her body of work.
I celebrate Alice Munro's honor, richly deserved for her stories and especially her characters which seem so real, so familiar.
I am puzzled, ,however, why the NY Times would advocate sitting on a live railroad track (as per the picture with the story in the online edition as I write this comment). Not a behaviour to be emulated!
Great news for an amazing writer and for those who treasure her work!
NYTimes, just a comment on your coverage...Ms. Munro is, in fact, an American writer. The U.S. writer hasn't received the prize since Toni Morrison.
I am very glad for Alice Munro and Canada, but hope that maybe this will draw attention to that other marvelous, but largely forgotten, Canadian short-story writer, Mavis Gallant. Last I heard was that Mavis was lying in a hospital bed in Paris. As an eternal and multiple expatriate I can identify more with Mavis Gallant's wistful descriptions of ex-pat life, but certainly proud of Munro's towering artistic achievements.
As it happens, countless people rank Alice Munro above Philip Roth, myself included. Witness the thrilled outpouring here. Roth is stylistically dull, and his navel-gazing, misogynistic preoccupation with men like himself is tiresome and passe. And speaking of prejudice: thirteen women honored since the award's inception? Get a grip.
You only say that if the word "Prize" doesn't follow the actual award. Usually winning and prize go quite nice together. Besides the Nobel committee awards it prizes based on a political agenda anyhow. And most people could care less what agenda that may even be.
Nice that she won the prize.
But why do photographers think that a picture of a person sitting on a rr track or walking along a railroad right of way is photogenic? They are both trespassing and needlessly putting their lives at risk. It takes a 1/2 mile to bring a freight train to a stop when it is going top speed.
