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Posted Jul 10, 8:16 PM
*Week of August 24 discuss 2005 winner: Gilead by Marilynne Robinson *Week of Sept. 28 discuss 2004 winner: The Known World by Edward P. Jones *Week of Nov. 16 discuss Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemmingway Edward P. Jones Edward P. Jones, the New York Times bestselling author, has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize, for fiction, the National Book Critics Circle award, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and the Lannan Literary Award for The Known World; he also received a MacArthur Fellowship in 2004. His first collection of stories, Lost in the City, won the PEN/Hemingway Award and was short listed for the National Book Award. His second collection, All Aunt Hagar’s Children, was a finalist for the Pen/Faulkner Award. He has been an instructor of fiction writing at a range of universities, including Princeton. He lives in Washington, D.C. This message has been edited. Last edited by: Zorro, ------------------------- Have fun today. Go outside and play!  |
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Posted Jul 3, 6:37 AM
I am going to start reading the Pulitzers going back from 2008. I will set up a schedule and if anyone wants to read and discuss with me, just let me know. We will read the entire book and then take a week or so for discussion. * 2008: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz[/b] Discussion starts around July 27, 2008 * 2005: Gilead by Marilynne Robinson * 2004: The Known World by Edward P. Jones * 2003: Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides * 2002: Empire Falls by Richard Russo * 2001: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon * 2000: Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri * 1999: The Hours by Michael Cunningham * 1998: American Pastoral by Philip Roth * 1997: Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer by Steven Millhauser * 1996: Independence Day by Richard Ford * 1995: The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields * 1994: The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx * 1993: A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain by Robert Olen Butler * 1992: A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley * 1991: Rabbit At Rest by John Updike * 1990: The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos * 1989: Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler * 1988: Beloved by Toni Morrison * 1987: A Summons to Memphis by Peter Taylor * 1986: Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry * 1985: Foreign Affairs by Alison Lurie * 1984: Ironweed by William Kennedy * 1982: Rabbit Is Rich by John Updike * 1981: A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole * 1980: The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer * 1979: The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever * 1978: Elbow Room by James Alan McPherson * 1977: No award given * 1976: Humboldt's Gift by Saul Bellow * 1975: The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara * 1974: No award given [1] * 1973: The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty * 1972: Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner * 1971: No award given * 1970: The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford by Jean Stafford * 1969: House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday * 1968: The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron * 1967: The Fixer by Bernard Malamud * 1966: The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter by Katherine Anne Porter * 1965: The Keepers of the House by Shirley Ann Grau * 1964: No award given * 1963: The Reivers by William Faulkner * 1962: The Edge of Sadness by Edwin O'Connor * 1961: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee * 1960: Advise and Consent by Allen Drury * 1959: The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters by Robert Lewis Taylor * 1958: A Death in the Family by James Agee * 1957: No award given * 1956: Andersonville by MacKinlay Kantor * 1955: A Fable by William Faulkner * 1954: No award given * 1953: The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway * 1952: The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk * 1951: The Town by Conrad Richter * 1950: The Way West by A. B. Guthrie, Jr. * 1949: Guard of Honor by James Gould Cozzens * 1948: Tales of the South Pacific by James A. Michener * 1947: All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren * 1946: no award given * 1945: A Bell for Adano by John Hersey * 1944: Journey in the Dark by Martin Flavin * 1943: Dragon's Teeth by Upton Sinclair * 1942: In This Our Life by Ellen Glasgow * 1941: no award given * 1940: The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck * 1939: The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings * 1938: The Late George Apley by John Phillips Marquand * 1937: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell * 1936: Honey in the Horn by Harold L. Davis * 1935: Now in November by Josephine Winslow Johnson * 1934: Lamb in His Bosom by Caroline Miller * 1933: The Store by Thomas Sigismund Stribling * 1932: The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck * 1931: Years of Grace by Margaret Ayer Barnes * 1930: Laughing Boy by Oliver La Farge * 1929: Scarlet Sister Mary by Julia Peterkin * 1928: The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder * 1927: Early Autumn by Louis Bromfield * 1926: Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis (declined prize) * 1925: So Big! by Edna Ferber * 1924: The Able McLaughlins by Margaret Wilson * 1923: One of Ours by Willa Cather * 1922: Alice Adams by Booth Tarkington * 1921: The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton * 1920: no award given * 1919: The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington * 1918: His Family by Ernest Poole ------------------------- Have fun today. Go outside and play! |
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I can understand now what Lori and Merty are saying about these two books. I have enjoyed Gilead but am just about ready to stop reading The Known World. Gilead has just about no story and seems to be a very well thought-out philosophy of religious belief, whereas The Known World just has so many characters that I can't keep up with who is who. ------------------------- Have fun today. Go outside and play! |
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About This Book
Henry Townsend, a black farmer, bootmaker, and former slave, has a fondness for Paradise Lost and an unusual mentor -- William Robbins, perhaps the most powerful man in antebellum Virginia's Manchester County. Under Robbins's tutelage, Henry becomes proprietor of his own plantation -- as well as of his own slaves. When he dies, his widow, Caldonia, succumbs to profound grief, and things begin to fall apart at their plantation: slaves take to escaping under the cover of night, and families who had once found love beneath the weight of slavery begin to betray one another. Beyond the Townsend estate, the known world also unravels: low-paid white patrollers stand watch as slave "speculators" sell free black people into slavery, and rumors of slave rebellions set white families against slaves who have served them for years. An ambitious, luminously written novel that ranges seamlessly between the past and future and back again to the present, The Known World weaves together the lives of freed and enslaved blacks, whites, and Indians -- and allows all of us a deeper understanding of the enduring multidimensional world created by the institution of slavery. top of the page rgg_discuss.gif (1294 bytes) 1. Why is the character of Moses significant to the novel? How would you characterize his relationship with Henry and Caldonia Townsend? What about with his wife and child? 2. What is the significance of the title, The Known World? What "known world" is charted in John Skiffington's map in the jail? What world is charted in The Creation described by Calvin in his letter to his sister Caldonia? What role does the land and its borders play in this book? 3. Who is William Robbins and how does he impact the lives of blacks on neighboring plantations? Did you find his relationships with Henry, Augustus, and Mildred Townsend, and Philomena, Dora, and Louis compelling? 4. What is the significance of the Augustus Townsend character? In what ways is Augustus a victim of attitudes about slavery in the South? In what ways is he a victor? How did you respond to his captivity and its outcome? 5. How would you characterize Jebediah Dickinson? What explains his sudden appearance at the Elston farm? When Fern says of Jebediah: "With him there ... I feel as if I belong to him, that I am his property," what does she mean? 6. Were relationships between parents and children notably different during the era of slavery than in the present day? Consider Caldonia, Calvin, and Maude; William Robbins, Patience, and Dora; and Augustus, Mildred, and Henry in your evaluations. top of the page Critical Praise "Stunning....His first novel is...likely to win acclaim." —The New York Times "Heartbreaking....fascinating." —Newsweek "A profoundly beautiful and insightful look at American slavery and human nature." —Booklist "Beautifully written . . .[it] ought to enjoy the massive readership that Charles Frazier’s runaway hit, Cold Mountain did." —USA Today ------------------------- Have fun today. Go outside and play! |
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I should have started a list of characters or a family tree when I started this book.
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Merty, did you finish this book? Or did you decide to stop reading? I am about to give up.
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Anyone out there have words of encouragement for continuing reading this book? Or do you readers feel the same as I do?
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My bookclub in New Jersey read this book and some liked it. I could not finish it either. I expected it to be better. The constant switching around of time and place, made it confusing for me.
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Hi Zorro!
I just finished The Known World. I was clearing my bookshelves of prior 40s books I never read. I would be happy to discuss it if you want. Did you finish it? Also, I am reading Middlesex now so I can pop in when you get to that discussion as well.  ********************************************************************************************** Life has all sorts of hills and valleys, and sometimes you don't end up doing what you had your heart set out on, but sometimes that's even better! Ruth Buzzi |
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Hi Jill,
I am about half way through The Known World. I am liking it more and more as I am not trying to remember everybody mentioned and just going with the flow. I will keep on reading/listening to the audiobook and we will discuss in September...stick around! ------------------------- Have fun today. Go outside and play! |
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Why do some years not have awards? Especially so many in the 70s.....
********************************************************************************************** Life has all sorts of hills and valleys, and sometimes you don't end up doing what you had your heart set out on, but sometimes that's even better! Ruth Buzzi |
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I guess that no books met their criteria those years?? I wonder if I can do some research and find out.
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"Why in some years was there no award given in a particular category?
According to The Plan of Award "If in any year all the competitors in any category shall fall below the standard of excellence fixed by The Pulitzer Prize Board, the amount of such prize or prizes may be withheld." I found this on the Pulitzer pages. ------------------------- Have fun today. Go outside and play! |
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Wow. Imagine how you would feel if you wrote a book that was nominated and not only didn't you win, but they would rather give no one a prize. Ouch!
I found this transition period right before the civil war as well as the increasing freed slaves interesting. Prior novels I was exposed to were about slaves and their lives or the underground railroad. ********************************************************************************************** Life has all sorts of hills and valleys, and sometimes you don't end up doing what you had your heart set out on, but sometimes that's even better! Ruth Buzzi |
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This is the first that I have read of freed slaves who then owned slaves. I am just reading the part where Henry tells his parents that he owns Moses. They are disbelieving and so disappointed in him. His father beats him with a walking stick and he returns to talk with Robbins. ------------------------- Have fun today. Go outside and play! |
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Reading Group Guides readinggroupguidesboard.com ReadingGroupGuides.com Message Board Online Book Discussions Fiction The Known World by Edward P. Jones 2004 Puliter Prize for Fiction - discuss Sept. 28
readinggroupguidesboard.com ReadingGroupGuides.com Message Board Online Book Discussions Fiction The Known World by Edward P. Jones 2004 Puliter Prize for Fiction - discuss Sept. 28Copyright ReadingGroupGuides.com 2005