Tuesday, November 17, 2009 5:45 PM
Triple whammy?
I'm beginning to wonder if being short-listed for all three Canadian fiction prizes in the same year carries some sort of curse. A couple of years back, Rawi Hage's Cockroach earned him short-listings for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, the Governor-General's and the Writers' Trust. In the event, he won none of them.
This year, Annabel Lyon hit the short trifecta with The Golden Mean. Last week, she lost the Giller to Linden MacIntyre. Today, she lost the G-G to Kate Pullinger's The Mistress of Nothing. Which leaves the Writers' trust…
Of course, here's a possible consolation: Denied the prizes at home, Rawi Hage won the Dublin IMPAC for a payoff of about $170,000 and all the plaudits that come with that.
And speaking of Linden MacIntyre, I imagine The Bishop's Man is already contemplated as a top choice in the second edition of the just-published Atlantic Canada's 100 Greatest Books (Nimbus Publishing, $24.95), a fascinating compendium of just what it says it is. I doubt he's going to displace #1, Alistair MacLeod's No Great Mischief (that would be rank ingratitude to one of the Giller jurors who chose him), or #2, L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables. But he could sneak quite comfortably into the Top 10 (Frank Parker Day's Rockbound currently occupies 10th spot).
In the 100 Greatest, a colourful affair, you'll also find such familiar contemporaries (their number indicates just how recent and strong is the surge of Atlantic Lit) as Wayne Johnston, Ann-Marie MacDonald, Kenneth Harvey, Michael Crummey, Donna Morrissey, Michael Winter, Lisa Moore, Ami McKay and David Adams Richards, as well as one of my own favourites: Joshua Slocum's wonderful memoir Sailing Alone Around the World weighs anchor at #47.
Oh, and the writers needn't be Atlantic Canada natives; setting a book there is good enough, which accounts for the presence of Farley Mowat (Sea of Slaughter is #89) and the veddy English John Wyndham. The Chrysalids is a very interesting choice at #72.
mlevin@globeandmail.ca
