Page 2: The Big Dialogue

Page 2 American Book Review American Book Review Founded 1977 by Ronald Sukenick Published at the School of Arts and Sciences, University of Houston–Victoria American Book Review specializes in reviews of frequently neglected published works of fiction, poetry, literary and cultural criticism from small, regional, university, ethnic, avant-garde, and women’s presses. ABR as a literary journal aims to project the sense of engagement that writers themselves feel about what is being published. It is edited and produced by writers for writers and the general public. Comment on its reviews is encouraged, as are suggestions for future reviews. Send all editorial correspondence or review copies to: American Book Review, University of Houston–Victoria, School of Arts and Sciences, 3007 N. Ben Wilson, Victoria, TX 77901-5731 Telephone: (361) 570-4101 Fax: (361) 580-5501 Email: americanbookreview@uhv.edu Send all subscription correspondence to: American Book Review, University of Houston–Victoria, 3007 N. Ben Wilson, Victoria, TX 77901-5731 Telephone: (361) 570-4101 Email: americanbookreview@uhv.edu© 2008 by American Book Review ISSN 0149-9408. Covers and cover details used by permission. American Book Review appears bimonthly.Annual subscription rates are $24 for a one-year and $40 for a two-year individual subscription; $30 for a one-year institutional subscription; $35 for a one-year foreign, airmail subscription. American Book Review is published by its editors, and is made possible, in part, by generous support from the School of Arts and Sciences, University of Houston–Victoria and Friends of ABR. This project is also supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes a great nation deserves great art. ABR is also a member of the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses. Trade distribution by Hudson–RPM, 150 Black River Road, Worcester, MA 01607; and Armadillo, 7310 LaCienaga Blvd., Inglewood, CA 90302. Indexed in Humanities International Complete, Book Review Index, Current Contents/Arts & Humanities, and Arts & Humanities Citation Index. http://americanbookreview.org Publisher: Editor: Managing Editor: Assistant Editor: Layout: Advertising Manager: Subscription Manager: Cover Image: Focus Editor: Publisher Emeritus: Associate Editors: Contributing Editors: Assistants: Jeffrey R. Di Leo Jeffrey R. Di Leo Charles Alcorn David C. Felts David C. Felts Susie Albert Susie Albert© istockphoto.com/The Brainstorm Lab,“Southern Town” Tom Williams Charles B. Harris Mark Amerika, R.M. Berry, C. S. Giscombe, Larry McCaffery, Doug Nufer, Lance Olsen, Kevin Prufer, John Tytell, Barry Wallenstein, Tom Williams, Eric Miles Williamson Rudolfo Anaya, Ron Arias, John Ashbery, Michael Bérubé, Rosellen Brown, Andrei Codrescu, William Demby, Rikki Ducornet, Raymond Federman, William Gass, Russell Hoover, Steve Katz, Clarence Major, Michael McClure, Joyce Carol Oates, Marjorie Perloff, Robert Peters, Corinne Robins, Charles Russell, Paul Schiavo, Barry Seiler, Charles Simic, Bruce Sterling, Regina Weinreich Nathan King Page 2 Last month, comments by Horace Engdahl, permanent secretary of the Nobel Prize committee, set off an international discussion about the place of America and its writers in contemporary literature. “There is powerful literature in all big cultures, but you can’t get away from the fact that Europe still is the centre of the literary world,” said Engdahl, “not the United States.” “The US is too isolated, too insular,” he added. Moveover, American writers and publishers “don’t translate enough and don’t really participate in the big dialogue of literature.” Concludes Engdahl, “That ignorance is restraining.” Engdahl’s comments antagonized writers and publishers in the US. They also served notice to American writers that they should not raise their hopes for receiving a Nobel Prize in literature any time soon. In spite of prodigious US literary production—an estimated 50,000 works of fiction were published just last year in the US—it has been fifteen years since an American author has been awarded the Nobel Prize in literature. Not a bad record, actually, when one considers that in the last fifty years only six Americans were awarded the prize (four of which were born outside of the US). In fact, in the over-one-hundred-year history of the award, only eleven Americans have won (the same number as recipients from the UK, though four fewer than the French). Of our earliest recipients, Sinclair Lewis...