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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 ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Book Award
The National Book Awards (NBA) 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. Since then they are presented to U.S. authors for books published in the United States roughly during the award year. The Nonprofit organization, nonprofit National Book Foundation was established in 1988 to administer and enhance the National Book Awards and "move beyond [them] into ... [...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. Other company members who served with Jones said that "The book 'From Here to Eternity' is 80 percent true" or ninety percent true. After viewing the 1953 film adaptation, company member Joseph A. Maggio sued Jones and his publishers and Columbia Pictures, claiming his character had been defamed. Robert Lee Stewart, on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seize The Day (novel)
''Seize the Day'', first published in 1956, is Saul Bellow's fourth book, containing the title novella, three short stories, and a one-act play. A review in ''The New Republic'' stated that the volume contained "at least three brilliant stories", and concluded, "Altogether, Bellow seems more suited by temperament and ability than any writer or his generation to create for America 'the untreated conscience' of modern man." The book was a finalist for the 1957 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, bu .... The title novella was adapted into the 1986 film of the same name. Synopsis The title 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 wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giovanni's Room
''Giovanni's Room'' is a 1956 novel by James Baldwin. The book concerns 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. While he deals with his difficulties with men, he is engaged to an American woman who is travelling in Spain. Baldwin’s controversial novel has prompted complex discussions on many issues, including representations of homosexuality, bisexuality and struggles with internalized homophobia. The novel also raises questions of social alienation, identity, masculinity, and manhood. 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 wil ... [...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 movie starring Natalie Wood, also titled '' Marjorie Morningstar''. Plot Marjorie Morgenstern, born 1916, is a Jewish girl in New York City in the 1930s. She is bright, beautiful, and popular. 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-for-word translation of "Morgenstern" from the original German.) She begins with her school's (Hunter College) productio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Band Of Angels (novel)
''Band of Angels'' is a novel by Robert Penn Warren first published in 1955. The story is narrated in the first person by Amantha Starr, the daughter of a Kentucky plantation owner, whose life is thrown into turmoil when she is sold into slavery to pay her father's debts. Plot Amantha Starr grows up on a plantation in Kentucky, with her father, a widower. When her father dies, Amantha discovers that her real mother was one of her father's slaves. She is therefore property belonging to the estate, and she is taken by a slave trader to pay off the deep debts of her father's estate. She is bought in New Orleans by Hamish Bond, a man who, as if defending her honor, violently stops a potential buyer from inspecting her. At Hamish Bond's plantation, Amantha is allowed to do almost whatever she wants, to her surprise. A slave named Rau-Ru has special authority, running the plantation's day-to-day operations. Amantha finds herself attracted to Hamish, despite her captivity. After ... [...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. Kantor's novel was not the basis for a 1996 John Frankenheimer film '' Andersonville''. Although Kantor sold the motion picture rights of his novel to one of the major Hollywood studios in the 1950s, it was never produced. Kantor's novel and the movie of the same name are two separate properties. 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 prisone ... [...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 in the narrative, "Sweet Thursday" is the day between Lousy Wednesday and Waiting Friday. Genesis of the novel In the wake of World War II, Steinbeck left California for New York City and divorced his second wife Gwyn Conger Steinbeck in 1948. He married the actress Elaine Scott and became interested in writing for the theater, writing the play '' Burning Bright''. Produced by Rodgers and Hammerstein, the play opened on Broadway in October 1950 and closed after 13 performances, a flop. When Steinbeck found out that there was interest in turning ''Cannery Row'' into a Broadway musical, he wrote ''Sweet Thursday'' as a more Broadway-friendly piece. Eventually, Rodgers and Hammerstein became interested in it after Frank Loesser turned the property down. Its origins as a pitch for a musical may explain some of the di ... [...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. It was Manfred's first novel published under his new pen name, 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 recei ... [...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 ... [...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. Many regard the work as Steinbeck's most ambitious novel, and Steinbeck himself considered it his '' magnum opus''. Steinbeck said of ''East of Eden'', "It has everything in it I have been able to learn about my craft or profession in all these years;" the author later said, "I think everything else I have written has been, in a sense, practice for this." Steinbeck originally addressed the novel to his 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] |
