Francine Prose is the best American novelist of her generation—the baby boom generation. (Unless Marilynne Robinson [b. 1943] belongs to that generation. Then she shares the title with Robinson.)
Francine Prose is the best American novelist of her generation—the baby boom generation. (Unless Marilynne Robinson [b. 1943] belongs to that generation. Then she shares the title with Robinson.)
Oh dear. I really dislike such sweeping pronouncements, which say more about the person proclaiming them than the writer in question.
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ReplyDeletePerhaps the proclamation is intended to draw attention to a writer who is frequently overlooked and low-rated, a writer whom “the person proclaiming” deeply admires and wishes to introduce new readers to.
ReplyDeleteNaw, that couldn’t be it.
That's fine, D. G., and I appreciate it. I also admire Prose, in fact. My objection arises from the attempt to pinpoint the best this, the best that - especially in terms of artistic endeavour, which I find absolutely antithetical to such essentially competitive filtering. As you can imagine, I'm not fond of prize-giving either.
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