A Brief History of Literature Awards
As any writer will tell anyone who asks, the field of literature is one of ordinary men and women and a few giants who tower over all. However, the exact measure of an author’s status in the literary world is never a solid, easily quantifiable thing.
Sales of books and works are of course the simplest measure of an author’s success, and certainly the one most writers would like most. Becoming a widely popular author is the dream of many authors and carries with it a great deal of prestige and financial security if the writer is careful with their money. However, sometimes success in literature is measured in more than sales.
A literature award can bring significant respect and regard to a writer, even if their works are not yet on the best seller lists. Luckily, a literature award can boost sales, allowing a writer to win on both fronts. Still, it is not easy to receive a coveted literary award, as even in limited fields there are many contenders and only one real winner.
A Quick History
The history of literature awards is a bit murky. In the early days of mass marketed literature, authors measured their success in sales, much as they do now, but with the rise of mass literacy, many scholars began to perceive a difference between popular literature and quality literature.
Throughout the nineteenth century, this division was largely a matter of theory and at times late night discussion. Some popular authors of the era, who in their time were regarded as low brow entertainers, have since moved on to establish entire genres, from mystery fiction to horror. Other once popular authors have since faded into obscurity. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the will of Alfred Nobel, most famously the inventor of dynamite, established the Nobel Prize in Literature, intended to use some of Nobel’s fortune to acknowledge and award an author with what was determined to be the highest quality body of life-time work.
After the idea of a literature award caught on, soon there were many types of literature award appearing in diverse genres. Some literature awards focus on an author’s entire body of work, created over the course of their career as a writer. Other literature awards focus on specific works, such as singular novels or short stories. Most literature awards have a specific focus; be it in a particular genre, such as history or horror, or inside a specific language or country. Some prizes are widely known and others are less renowned or confined to a specific field of literature; while the Hugo award may be the pinnacle of a science fiction author’s career, few people who aren’t avid readers of science fiction are aware of it.
Earning an Award
Earning a literature award is not easy. It takes a lot of practice at the craft of writing to even be considered for a literature award. Further, an author needs to submit their work relentlessly until they can get published, reviewed and most importantly talked about in literary circles. It’s a harsh, grueling process to become a serious author who can be considered for a prestigious award. To win the award, the author must submit their work to the committee that gives the award for consideration, alongside a variable number of other contenders for the prize. After considering all the works on hand, the award committee will then pick one winner out of the lot.
While literature is a largely subjective field, some elements of it are tangible. And, while a literature award is given mostly based on the award committee’s personal preferences, an author who does reach the prize is considered among the best of the best.
While most award-winning authors would certainly extoll the many benefits of being an award winner, many of them give the same advice to aspiring writers when asked about the pursuit of awards and acknowledgments: Pursue the goal of great writing first, and the awards and recognition will come on their own, being merely a by-product of the effort.
A Brief Look at Icelandic Literature
Icelandic literature has a long history which could be dated back to the year 1000. However, when looking at Icelandic literature you should not only consider the ancient Skaldic poetry or the Eddas. Icelandic literature is well known for its great Sagas from the Middle Ages, but it is also important to look at the newer novels that have come from this small country.
The Eddas And Skaldic Poetry
The Eddas is one of the oldest known documents of Old Norse stories and poems. This collection has been attributed to an Icelandic priest and scholar and was written in the late 10th century. While the poems and stories actually originated on the Scandinavian mainland they were written down in Iceland and as such have been attributed to Icelandic literature.
The first manuscript of the Poetic Edda was created in the 13th century and found in 1643 in southern Iceland. The Younger Edda was written later and is the main source of our modern understanding of old Norse mythology. There are also a number of medieval Icelandic poems, mythological stories and kennings in the collection. The primary use of the Younger Edda was to be a manual for Icelandic skalds.
The Skaldic poetry of Iceland was very different to that found in the Edda. This is generally due to the fact that each poem was created by a well-known Skald or Icelandic poet. The poetry was also sung instead of spoken and would generally be to commemorate or satirize current events. This poetry used a very strict metric system with figures of speech to create literary structure.
The Icelandic Saga
Icelandic sagas were written in the 13th and 14th century and are considered unique for a number of reasons. The sagas did not have the same structure as chronicles and would be styled in a manner that is similar to modern books. The stories would also be told with a level of artistry that was very different to other writings of the time. There is no information about who actually wrote the Icelandic sagas and this is a mystery that is still unsolved today.
The topics of the sagas range from the settlement of Iceland and the division of the land between the families who came to the country. They also cover the establishment of the laws of Iceland and the overall structure of the society. The sagas also tell of the initial conflicts in the country which were based on honor and personal interests.
The conflicts that are depicted in the sagas were often a development of complex patterns of retribution and violence. Historically, these conflicts ended in the civil war that tore through the country in the 13th century. This civil war would lead to Iceland being controlled by Norway and later Denmark.
The Icelandic Novel
After centuries of Danish rule, Iceland started the struggle for independence in the 19th century. Iceland gained independence in 1944 and shortly after this the first novel in the Icelandic tradition that we now know was created. The novel was as far removed from the Icelandic sagas as a novel could be.
The novel was a characterization of the new subjectivity that the modern world had brought to Iceland and that it was there to stay. The book, Bref til Laru, was a hybrid text which combined essays, fantasy, short stories and letters. The subjective and self-expressionism of the book was very different to Icelandic sagas and at first made the readers uneasy.
This was just the start of the new wave of Icelandic literature. The newer contemporary style of writing would continue and an Icelandic writer would win the Nobel Prize for infusing new life to Icelandic literature.
Visiting Iceland
Many visitors take Iceland tours to visit the many inspirational sites about which much of the Icelandic literature was written. Not only does a visit to Iceland provide historic significance to the literary works, but also inspiration to aspiring writers, as well.
Detective Fiction – Solving the Mystery Behind Its Popularity
From a young age, children are enthralled by fictional characters who go on crime-solving adventures that nurture the imagination. Instead of detective fiction diminishing in popularity as we get older, the genre seems only to increase in popularity. After all, who can resist an Agatha Christie thriller, or a classic from the venerable Arthur Conan Doyle?
But what makes these crime mysteries so attractive to readers across the globe? Simply, because it meets with so many criteria that allow a reader to lose themselves in the writing. More specifically, detective fiction fulfills the following criteria:
Black And White
Detective stories clearly define the lines between right and wrong, good and bad and innocent and guilty. This makes it easy for the reader to identify who is right and who is in the wrong and attribute the necessary ethical and moral characteristics to the relevant characters.
Character Identification
Assigning these characteristics does not necessarily mean that the crime investigating ‘good guy’ has no darker personality traits. It has become increasingly popular in modern detective tales to include character flaws in the hero of the story to make them easier for the reader to identify with. These character flaws can however not in any way detract from the hero’s ability to solve the crime.
Readers may also identify with any of the other characters involved in the telling of the tale. They could see themselves as a lover, a friend, a confidante, a side-kick or even the criminal.
The Scene Of An Accident
Ever driven by the scene of an accident and been unable to divert your eyes? Detective novels have the same effect where often gruesome and macabre crimes offer the greatest attraction. The more horrifying the crime, the more a reader will want to follow the detective in solving the mystery.
The Puzzle
Readers are often attracted to detective fiction to test their own crime solving abilities. They like to see if they can identify ‘whodunnit,’ how the crime was enacted and why the act was committed as early in the novel as possible. Each piece of the puzzle is carefully analyzed and categorized as to it’s importance in the entire plot. Pages are often re-read to find details that may have been missed and then the reader can’t wait to get to the end of the book to see if they were right.
The Facts
Detective novels that are factual in nature increase the popularity of the genre. Readers like to get involved in the processes and procedures used by the investigator in solving the crime. It is more than likely true that the stories involved in the genre are probably far from the reality of the investigation work done by an actual private detective. However, it is not necessary that the fiction needs to be based on real events, only that the investigating process needs to follow real life as closely as possible.
In other words, the fantasy must be somehow based in reality. Each mystery must pass the scrutiny of the reader to gauge how possible the action is and whether it could be performed in reality. Too many holes in the plot will fail to captivate the reader and detective novels that don’t pay homage to the facts are less popular.
However, this does not mean that the mystery surrounding the crime should not be incredibly creative and innovative. One of the main attractions of crime stories is the ability to solve the mystery, no matter how far-fetched the actual crime may seem.
The Revelation
Revealing the perpetrator is the climax of the novel but the story never ends there. Not only does the detective have to solve the crime but they need to catch the bad guy or gal and find out why they did it. This allows the reader to be captivated by the need to answer more than one question throughout the tale.