Pulitzer Prize-winning Novelist Uneasy With Fame

Posted on March 24, 2005

Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Edward P. Jones has an uneasy relationship with fame. His first novel, The Known World (Amistad Press), won the Pulitzer Prize for literature last year and he was awarded a $500,000 McArthur "genius grant." And that's when all the trouble started. Jones became very uncomfortable with all the attention he was getting, reveals a piece in the Toledo Blade:

It's not a place he's comfortable with. People want him to give talks, but he doesn't do speeches, he says. Reporters ask him to explain how he crafted this long, complex book in his mind over 10 years before putting anything on paper.
"They want you to peel back your brain and explain how it works," the reluctant star last night told an audience of about 275 at the Authors! Authors! program in the Great Hall of the Stranahan Theater. The program is sponsored by The Blade and the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library.

Now, let's not overreact here. We have no desire whatsoever to see the inside of any author's brain--no matter how brilliant he is.