Winning a major book award is a clear indication of the book’s value to the book-buying public. Pulitzer is one of the most famous literary awards among publishers and writers and the most prestigious journalism award in America, winning this award for fiction is equivalent to winning the Oscar for best actor and best screenplay.
The Pulitzer Prize is an award for magazine, journalism, literature and music achievements in the United States, the winners of which are announced in April each year. The award was established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who made his fortune as a newspaper publisher, and is administered by Columbia University. Pulitzer is awarded in different categories to writers, journalists, photographers, etc., and among Iranians, Jahangir Razmi has won this award in the photography category.
Joseph Pulitzer left this quote: “I am deeply interested in the advancement and promotion of journalism, because I have spent my life in that profession, and I consider it to be a noble profession of unparalleled importance for influencing minds and morals.” I would like to help attract talented and capable young people to this profession and also help those already working in this profession to get the highest moral and intellectual education.
In the continuation of this article, we have briefly introduced 6 famous American books that have received the Pulitzer Prize and have been translated into Persian.
1. Gone with the wind
The book “Gone with the Wind” by the famous American writer and journalist, Margaret Mitchell, was first published in 1936. In this work, Mitchell carefully analyzes the nature of human resilience and considers hope as a vital tool to overcome the worst times.
Set against the dramatic backdrop of the American Civil War, this magnificent historical epic is an unforgettable tale of love, loss, hunger, rape, murder, heartbreak, and slavery of a people forever changed. The war deeply affects each character in the story and shows a purpose behind their most important actions. Above all, the story is about the beautiful and cruel Scarlett O’Hara and the down-on-his-luck soldier Rhett Butler.
Mitchell has impressively juxtaposed the war crimes, which become more and more menacing by the moment, with Scarlett O’Hara’s screams. This beautiful, attractive, young woman shamelessly laments her lack of stylish clothes, while just a few miles away men are bleeding and dying in cramped, under-relieved hospitals.
Scarlett’s struggle to stay close to the man she loves and the fierce war around her lead her life in unexpected directions as she transforms from a spoiled and shallow girl into a stubborn woman who must use every means at her disposal to escape poverty. .
Full of brave and beautiful dialogues, Gone with the Wind won many awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, and became one of the best novels of the century. This book is one of the most popular books ever written; So far, more than 28 million copies of the book have been sold in more than 37 countries. Today, more than 80 years after its initial publication, it is still considered the most respected American epic and the most popular work of an American author.
In a part of the book Gone with the Wind we read:
“The horses that belonged to the twins were tethered by the road, large animals the color of their owners’ hair, red; The pack of hounds were bucking restlessly and going everywhere with their owners Stuart and Brent. A little further away, a large dog with black spots and a muzzle, like a nobleman, was lying down, waiting for the boys to go home for dinner. There was a deep friendship between dogs, horses and these twins, beyond the normal relationship. They were all healthy and well. The animals are graceful, free, soft, smooth, beautiful, fit and happy, the boys like their horses, they drive recklessly and recklessly, recklessly and dangerously. Of course, they were kind and showed warmth and interest to their friends and those who got their sleep.”
2. Outlaws
The book “Outlaws” with the original title “The Reivers” is the last influential American novelist William Faulkner, which was published in 1962. This best-selling novel won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1963. Faulkner had previously received the award for another of his books, making him one of only three authors to receive the award more than once. The 1969 book Outlaws was adapted into a film directed by Mark Rydell and starring Steve McQueen as Boone Hoganbeck.
He is persuaded by a family friend, Boone Hagenbeck, who is rather passionate and troublesome, to steal his grandfather’s car and travel to Memphis to see a prostitute who is always his client. He hopes to win Ms. Corey’s attention and convince her to marry him. During the journey, Lucius sees and learns about racism, sexism, jealousy, corruption and betrayal; However, with the guidance of his friend, he also learns ethics, self-esteem, dignity and honor.
Finally, when Lucius, after going through a series of adventures and returning home, asks his grandfather how he can forget his stupidity and sin, his grandfather tells him that he can’t, because nothing in life is ever forgotten. When Lucius insists on finding the secret to forgetting what happened, his grandfather tells him that in the end he will have to live with all the adventures.
This truth appears bitter and stinging in the eyes of the boy and he starts to cry, but the old man responds to Lucius’ powerlessness by saying that a man can overcome anything, because he must always accept the responsibility of his actions and the weight of their consequences. At the end, he tells Lucius to “go wash your face; A man may cry, but you wash his face after crying.”
What is puberty? Lucius learns the cold, hard truth about this question; The maturity of acceptance of the reality of the constantly changing foundations of moral relativity. However, as much as he can, he sticks to two universal moral truths, the first of which is the importance of not lying; Do not lie unless there is no other possible option, and the second is the importance of covenants; Don’t make promises you can’t keep.
In a part of the book Haramiyan we read:”
We were doing the same thing that day when Boone the hosepiper came through the door. Yes, as I said, hose thrower. The stairs that led from the corridor to the office were not very high, not even for a boy of eleven (if Sir John Powell had told San Thomas, who was younger than all the other drivers, to find a log somewhere, borrow it, take it— or I don’t know if it will go away – so that I step on the step and shorten my steps), Boon could have put his foot on the log this time, as always, as he always took two-inch steps, but this time he did not do it, but the hose thrower searched. in the room Even when Boon was in a good mood, his face was not very calm and restrained.
3. Beloved
The book “Beloved” with the English title “Beloved” is written by Toni Morrison, an American author, feminist and university professor and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, which was first published in 1987. Like Tolstoy, Morrison accepted his novel as a social document and openly used it to express his ideas. This 1988 Pulitzer Prize-winning bestseller is a fascinating and inventive portrait of a woman haunted by the past. This novel is based on the true story of a black slave named Margaret Garner who escaped from a plantation in Kentucky in 1856 with her husband Robert and their children.
Delband’s unforgettable novel has become one of the great and enduring works of American literature by combining the dreamy power of legend with undeniable truth. This mysterious and supernatural book is a love story of fear, forgiveness, loss and confusion that is very poetic, lyrical, full of powerful metaphors and images.
The beautiful and terrifying story of this book takes place around the time of freedom from slavery. There are many stories and voices in this novel, but the main story tells the life of a fugitive named “Seth” who left his home in the south but still lives in the past; Seth, in his late thirties, lives with his 18-year-old daughter, Denver, and his mother-in-law, Baby Suggs, in a house shunned by the neighbors.
The ghost of Seth’s baby is wandering in this house, a baby who died without a name and only one word was engraved on his grave: Beloved. As the story continues, we find out how the baby died and this makes the story even sadder.
In fact, Delband’s book examines the physical, emotional and spiritual damages caused by slavery. The most dangerous effect of slavery is its negative impact on the sense of former slaves, and the novel contains numerous examples of alienation; In fact, self-alienation is a state in which a person feels alienated from others and the whole society due to being in a class called a worker. This book shows how much people need the support of their communities to survive.
In a part of the book Delband we read:
“Of course he knows your father. As I told you, he came from a safe house.” Denver sat on the last step. He could not find a better place to go. They had become a group of two, saying “your father” and “safe house” which clearly indicated that it was related to both of them and not to Denver, indicating that the vacant place of his own father was not related to him. This vacancy once belonged to Baby’s grandmother. The vacant place of the boy for whom she was very sad because he was the one who had bought Baby and saved her from there. Then there was the empty place of a husband for his mother and now the empty place of a friend for this wheat-like stranger, only those who knew him (knew him well) could have his empty place.”
4. Road
The book “The Road” with the English title “The Road” is an American novelist and playwright, Cormac McCarthy, which was first published in 2006. The novel won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the 2006 James Tate Black Memorial Award for Fiction. This book was adapted into a film of the same name in 2009 starring Viggo Mortensen and Cody Smith-McPhee and directed by John Hillcoat.
The Road tells the story of a father who desperately wants to protect his teenage son from the harsh world. How can a child be raised to believe in hope and maintain his youthful innocence when the world around him is full of potential dangers? How do you make sure you keep your child fed and healthy when you don’t even know where you will sleep at night? These are dilemmas many parents face today, and McCarthy shows these dilemmas with heartbreaking clarity by setting the main characters against a truly sinister backdrop.
This book is a harrowing, post-apocalyptic novel that details the grueling journey of a father and his young son over a period of several months across a landscape scarred by a terrible and unknown catastrophe that has destroyed industrial civilization and almost all life; Father and son travel on foot to the south coast, looking for warmer weather to spend their days in.
Although years have passed since that event, the boy has never seen the sun, moon, stars or living plants and animals. The events that happened have turned the world into a scorched fire inhabited by the last remnants of humans and very few dogs. The sky is always covered by dust and poisonous particles, and packs of cannibals roam the roads and inhabit the houses that remain untouched in the forests.
In the book of the road, neither the man nor the boy is given a name, and this anonymity gives the reader the feeling that these incidents can happen anywhere and to anyone. They fight over mountains, traverse dangerous roads and forests turned to ash, endure deadly cold and freezing rain, and fight their way through cities of burnt corpses to reach supplies and finally live in a better place.
In a part of the book of the road, we read:
“On the other side of the river, the road passed through dry and burnt land. Half-burnt and branchless trunks of trees were rising from the ground on all sides. Ash drifted on the road and sterile power cables hanging from black poles moaned softly and feebly in the wind. A burned house in a playground far away, an expanse of dry and gray pastures, a pile of red dirt in the silent road construction area; And beyond the billboards and the like. Everything was like before, only faded and worn. They stopped on a windy hill to catch their breath. He looked at the boy. The boy said: I am fine. The man put his hand on her shoulder and pointed to the open plain in front of her. He took the camera out of the wheel and followed the plain below.
5. The Grapes of Wrath
The book “The Grapes of Wrath” with the English title “The Grapes of Wrath” is the work of one of the most prominent and popular writers of the 20th century, John Steinbeck, which was first published in 1939. This work became the best-selling novel of 1939 and brought John Steinbeck the Pulitzer Prize in 1940 and the Nobel Prize in 1962.
In The Clusters of Anger, Steinbeck skillfully depicts the struggle to preserve dignity and family in the face of disaster, adversity, and widespread and impersonal commercial influences. He set his saga based on visiting migrant camps and seeing the terrible living conditions of migrant families up close. Written in a colloquial style, his novel was widely welcomed by working-class readers, although it was equally criticized by business and government officials, who scorned its socialist tone and denounced it as “communist propaganda”.
The book Clusters of Anger is one of the most influential novels of the 20th century. Although it tells a story of a specific time and place, it has the power to transcend those limitations, because the migration of people is a story of despair that is often repeated in human history.
The historical context in which Clusters of Rage is set gave Steinbeck the opportunity to explore a number of issues, unemployment being one of the most prominent. Despite the fact that this work was written more than seventy years ago, such a topic is as valuable now as it was then, and is relevant now under different circumstances.
A family of Oklahoma tenant farmers in Depression-era America in the 1930s are unable to make a living off the land. They head west in search of food and work, joining other migrant workers living in desperate conditions in California. After arriving in California, this family realizes that their hardships are not over yet. They stop at a migrant camp and talk to a man named Floyd Knowles who informs them that there are no jobs, wages are very low and families are literally starving to death in the makeshift migrant camps.
Steinbeck uses Christian religious imagery to support his arguments that the use of agricultural land as a source of profit for business rather than food for people causes widespread suffering and that political and spiritual unity is necessary to overcome the forces.
In a part of the book Clusters of Anger, we read:
“On the roads where groups of farmers were moving, the wheels of the carts would grind on the ground and the horses’ hoofs would hit the road floor, the dried layer of the upper crust of the soil would be crushed and a cloud of dust would rise into the air. Everything that moved on the ground kicked up road dust. Men on foot have a cloud of comrades as high as their waists, chariots up to the top of guardrails, and cars a dense cloud of dust behind their heads. After the passers-by, the dust still settled on the ground, and by the middle of June, giant clouds were moving from the Gulf and then from Texas to Oklahoma.”
6. Nickel boys
The book “The Nickel Boys” with the English title “The Nickel Boys” is an American novel by Colson Whitehead, which was first published in 2019. This book won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction from Time magazine as the best novel of the decade and 2020. This book is a powerful story of human endurance, dignity and redemption and explores deep questions about social justice, racism, inequality and friendship.
The book Boys of Nickel is a devastating and impressive story inspired by the true story of a school that changed the lives of thousands of children for 111 years; Nearly 100 boys between the ages of 6 and 18 died from 1900 to 1973 at Arthur J. Dozier School for Boys in Florida. Many of them were buried in unmarked graves and their graves were found in 2011 after the school was closed. Their remains showed evidence of beatings and bullet holes. Boys who made it out of the school alive told stories of torture and rape.
Dozier Boys School is renamed Nickel Academy in Nickel Boys. The story of the book specifically centers around two black students named Elwood Curtis, who worships the Reverend and leader of the civil rights movement, Martin Luther King Jr., and the mysterious and pessimistic Jack Turner.
Preparing for college, Ellwood is mistakenly arrested and sent to the Nickel School. A school where boys are abused, work almost as slaves and are deprived of education. At first he thinks maybe it’s not too bad, since he’s being sent to school anyway and not a prison. However, he soon realizes that this place is a place of brutality and violence. Some in this school suddenly disappeared and their names are never heard from again.
Turner, though smarter and more cynical than Ellwood, befriends him and does his best to protect Ellwood, warning him about what’s going on at school.
Although Whitehead has created a story about the gross injustices inflicted on boys, especially black boys, at Nickel Academy, his story is utterly gripping, funny, moving, and utterly brilliant. Finally, the novel ends with a surprising plot twist and surprises the reader.
In a part of the book Sons of Nickel, we read:
“Judy was thrilled to find a bone in the dirt. Professor Carmine had told him that it was a piece of hollow bone that probably belonged to a raccoon or some other small-limbed animal. That secret cemetery could reveal his values. Judy had found that cemetery after finding signs of a cell. After that, his teacher had supported him in finding a series of evidences, those evidences were the cracks that could be seen on the ground as well as the broken bones and finding the dagger mark on the back of the chest of the corpses. If the remains of the bones in that cemetery looked suspicious, now the question arises, what happened to them?”
1 comment