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National Book Award For Fiction
The National Book Award for Fiction is one of five annual National Book Awards, which recognize outstanding literary work by United States citizens. Since 1987 the awards have been administered and presented by the National Book Foundation, but they are awards "by writers to writers." The panelists are five "writers who are known to be doing great work in their genre or field." General fiction was one of four categories when the awards were re-established in 1950. For several years beginning 1980, prior to the Foundation, there were multiple fiction categories: hardcover, paperback, first novel or first work of fiction; from 1981 to 1983 hardcover and paperback children's fiction; and only in 1980 five awards to mystery fiction, science fiction, and western fiction. When the Foundation celebrated the 60th postwar awards in 2009, all but three of the 77 previous winners in fiction categories were in print. The 77 included all eight 1980 winners but excluded the 1981 to 1983 childr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. The National Book Awards were established in 1936 by the American Booksellers Association, "Books and Authors", ''The New York Times'', 1936-04-12, page BR12. "Lewis is Scornful of Radio Culture: Nothing Ever Will Replace the Old-Fashioned Book ...", ''The New York Times'', 1936-05-12, page 25. abandoned during World War II, and re-established by three book industry organizations in 1950. Non-U.S. authors and publishers were eligible for the pre-war awards. Now they are presented to U.S. authors for books published in the United States roughly during the award year. The nonprofit National Book Foundation was established in 1988 to administer and enhance the National Book Awards and "move beyond heminto the fields of edu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
From Here To Eternity (novel)
''From Here to Eternity'' is the debut novel of American author James Jones, published by Scribner's in 1951. Set in 1941, the novel focuses on several members of a U.S. Army infantry company stationed in Hawaii in the months leading up to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. It is loosely based on Jones's experiences in the pre-World War II Hawaiian Division's 27th Infantry and the unit in which he served, Company E ("The Boxing Company"). Fellow company member Hal Gould said that while the novel was based on the company, including some depictions of actual persons, the characters are fictional, and the harsh conditions and described events are inventions. ''From Here to Eternity'' won the National Book Award and was named one of the 100 Best Novels of the 20th century by the Modern Library Board. The book was later made into an Academy Award-winning film starring Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Donna Reed, Frank Sinatra, and Ernest Borgnine as well as two te ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seize The Day (novel)
''Seize the Day'', first published in 1956, is Saul Bellow's fourth novel. It was adapted into the film of the same name. Synopsis The story centers on a day in the life of Wilhelm Adler (a.k.a. Tommy Wilhelm), a failed actor in his forties. He is poor, unemployed and separated from his wife (who refuses to agree to a divorce). He is also estranged from his children and his father, a highly regarded former doctor who lives in the same Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (other) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ... building. Wilhelm is immature and lacks insight, which has brought him to failure. In ''Seize the Day'' Wilhelm experiences a day of reckoning as he is forced to examine his life and to accept the "burden of self." References 1956 American novels Novels by Saul Bellow American no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giovanni's Room
''Giovanni's Room'' is a 1956 novel by James Baldwin. Stryker, Susan. ''Queer Pulp: Perverted Passions from the Golden Age of the Paperback'' (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2001), p. 104. The book focuses on the events in the life of an American man living in Paris and his feelings and frustrations with his relationships with other men in his life, particularly an Italian bartender named Giovanni whom he meets at a Parisian gay bar. ''Giovanni's Room'' is noteworthy for bringing complex representations of homosexuality and bisexuality to a reading public with empathy and artistry, thereby fostering a broader public discourse of issues regarding same-sex desire. Plot David, a young American man whose girlfriend has gone off to Spain to contemplate marriage, is left alone in Paris and begins an affair with an Italian man, Giovanni. The entire story is narrated by David during "the night which is leading me to the most terrible morning of my life," when Giovanni will be executed. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marjorie Morningstar (novel)
''Marjorie Morningstar'' is a 1955 novel by Herman Wouk, about a woman who wants to become an actress. ''Marjorie Morningstar'' has been called "the first Jewish novel that was popular and successful, not merely to a Jewish audience but to a general one". In 1958, the book was the basis for a Hollywood feature movie starring Natalie Wood, also titled '' Marjorie Morningstar''. Plot Marjorie Morgenstern, born 1916, is a New York Jewish girl in the 1930s. She is bright, beautiful, and popular, with many admirers. Her father is a prosperous businessman who has recently moved his family from a poorer, ethnically Jewish neighborhood in the Bronx to Manhattan's Upper West Side. Her mother hopes that the change of neighborhood will help Marjorie marry a man with a brighter future. Marjorie aspires to become an actress, using "Marjorie Morningstar" as a stage name. ("Morningstar" is the word-to-word translation of "Morgenstern" from the original German.) She begins with her school's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Band Of Angels (novel)
Robert Penn Warren (April 24, 1905 – September 15, 1989) was an American poet, novelist, and literary critic and was one of the founders of New Criticism. He was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. He founded the literary journal ''The Southern Review'' with Cleanth Brooks in 1935. He received the 1947 Pulitzer Prize for the Novel for ''All the King's Men'' (1946) and the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1958 and 1979. He is the only person to have won Pulitzer Prizes for both fiction and poetry. Early years Warren was born in Guthrie, Kentucky, very near the Tennessee-Kentucky border, to Robert Warren and Anna Penn. Warren's mother's family had roots in Virginia, having given their name to the community of Penn's Store in Patrick County, Virginia, and she was a descendant of Revolutionary War soldier Colonel Abram Penn. Robert Penn Warren graduated from Clarksville High School (Tennessee), Clarksville High School in Clarksville, Tennessee; Vanderbilt Univ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andersonville (novel)
''Andersonville'' is a novel by MacKinlay Kantor concerning the Confederate prisoner of war camp Andersonville prison during the American Civil War (1861–1865). The novel was originally published in 1955, and won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction the following year. Plot summary The novel interweaves the stories of real and fictional characters. It is told from many points of view, including that of Henry Wirz, the camp commandant, who was later executed. It also features William Collins, a Union soldier and one of the leaders of the "Raiders". The "Raiders" are a gang of thugs, mainly bounty jumpers who steal from their fellow prisoners and lead comfortable lives while other prisoners die of starvation and disease. Other characters include numerous ordinary prisoners of war, the camp physician/doctor, a nearby plantation owner, guards and Confederate civilians in the area near the prison. ''Andersonville'' is clearly based on prisoner memoirs, most notably ''Andersonville: A S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ten North Frederick
''Ten North Frederick'' is a novel by John O'Hara, published by Random House in 1955. It tells the story of Joseph Chapin, an ambitious man who desires to become president of the United States, and his relationships with his patrician wife, two rebellious children, and mistress. ''Ten North Frederick'' won the 1956 National Book Award for Fiction."National Book Awards – 1956" . Retrieved 2012-03-31. (With essay by Harold Augenbraum from the Awards 60-year anniversary blog.) It was also a commercial success, ranking as one of the top ten best-selling books in the United States in [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sweet Thursday
''Sweet Thursday'' is a 1954 novel by John Steinbeck. It is a sequel to ''Cannery Row'' and set in the years after the end of World War II. According to Steinbeck, "Sweet Thursday" is the day between Lousy Wednesday and Waiting Friday. Plot summary Doc returns to a failed Western Biological Laboratories and a changed Cannery Row after serving in the army during World War II. Mack and the Boys are still living in the Palace Flophouse, but Lee Chong has sold his general store to Joseph and Mary Rivas. Since the death of its original owner Dora, the local brothel, The Bear Flag Restaurant, is now being run by Dora's older sister Fauna, a former mission worker previously known as Flora. Under Fauna, the girls of the Bear Flag study etiquette and posture with the goal of joining Fauna's list of "gold stars," former employees of the Bear Flag who have married and left their employ there. As Doc tries to rebuild his neglected business, the latest Bear Flag resident Suzy is causing tro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lord Grizzly
''Lord Grizzly'' is a 1954 biographical novel by Frederick Manfred. It was part of his ''Buckskin Man Tales'' series of five novels. The novel is the first one published under Frederick Manfred with his prior seven novels published under the name Feike Feikema. A screenplay was written by the husband of the author's daughter Freya, but no film was ever produced. The novel was a bestseller and it was a finalist for the National Book Award in 1955. Plot It describes the survival ordeal of a real mountain man, Hugh Glass, who was attacked by a bear and abandoned in the wilderness by his companions (a young Jim Bridger and John S. Fitzpatrick), on the assumption he could not possibly live. Glass, with a broken leg and open wounds, had to crawl most of the way to Fort Kiowa to reach safety. When crawling back, Hugh could only dwell on revenge to the men who abandoned him. History Manfred previously wrote seven novels from 1944 to 1951, under the name Feike Feikema, and they received ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pictures From An Institution
''Pictures from an Institution: a Comedy'' is a 1954 novel by American poet Randall Jarrell. It is an academic satire, focusing on the oddities of academic life, in particular the relationships between the characters and their private lives. The nameless narrator, a Jarrell-like figure who teaches at a women's college called Benton, makes humorous observations about his students and his fellow academics; especially the latter, and in particular the offensively tactless novelist Gertrude, modeled on Mary McCarthy. Some believe Benton was modeled after Sarah Lawrence College, where Jarrell taught but in an interview with the ''New York Times'', Jarrell stated that "Benton is supposed to be just a type ... I've taken things from real places, but mostly have made them up". Characters * Unnamed narrator, a professor of literature * Gertrude Johnson, a visiting novelist * President Robbins, a former Olympic diver * Gottfried Rosenbaum, composer in residence * Constance, a longtime fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
East Of Eden (novel)
''East of Eden'' is a novel by American author and Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck. Published in September 1952, the work is regarded by many to be Steinbeck's most ambitious novel and by Steinbeck himself to be his ''magnum opus''. Steinbeck stated about ''East of Eden'': "It has everything in it I have been able to learn about my craft or profession in all these years," and later said: "I think everything else I have written has been, in a sense, practice for this." The novel was originally addressed to Steinbeck's young sons, Thom and John (then 6 and 4 years old, respectively). Steinbeck wanted to describe the Salinas Valley for them in detail: the sights, sounds, smells and colors. ''East of Eden'' brings to life the intricate details of two families, the Trasks and the Hamiltons, and their interwoven stories. The Hamilton family in the novel is said to be based on the real-life family of Samuel Hamilton, Steinbeck's maternal grandfather. A young John Steinbeck also appear ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |