Canada's online magazine: Politics, entertainment, technology, media, arts, books: backofthebook.ca

Politics, tech, media, culture and more, from a Canadian point-of-view

  • Politics
  • Media
  • Culture
  • Science and Tech
  • Living
  • Arts and Books
  • Features
  • The Video
You are here: Home / Arts and Books / Doris disses the Nobel

Doris disses the Nobel

10/15/2007 by backofthebook.ca Leave a Comment

By Frank Moher

I may be able, in my own humble, not-worthy-to-lick-her-boots sort of way, to shed some light on Doris Lessing’s response to winning the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Her reaction was superb:



Clambering out of a cab, she was confronted by a gaggle of reporters, one of whom broke the news to her: “You’ve won the Nobel Prize for Literature.”

“Oh Christ,” she replied, making a shooing motion, as if to chase them and the information away. Then, a few moments later: “It’s been going on for 30 years. One can’t get more excited than one gets.” Then she proceeded into her modest duplex home.

Now, I have most certainly never been at risk of winning a Nobel Prize, but I have, mostly as a playwright, been nominated for various awards over the years — won some, lost most. My response, on learning of a nomination, is a moment of delight, followed by a profound sinking feeling. Oh shit. Not this again.

I first learned my lesson when, quite a while ago now, I was named a finalist for the Governor General’s Award for English-language Drama. Being greener then, I was more than delighted — I was elated. So elated that it took me a few days to consider the fact that I might not win. And if I didn’t win, would that not make me — I believe the word is — a “loser”? (And let’s have none of this “It’s an honour just to be nominated” stuff. That’s good for about two minutes.)

Well, I thought, if there’s some possibility that I might lose, and on a national scale, then there must be some recompense — some consolation prize. Maybe not the $10,000 (which was the prize money in those days), but a grand or two, or . . . something. But I looked into it, and there was nothing. Not even a leather-bound copy of your play. Just a fast ride back to obscurity. It’s true that the Canada Council did purchase a bunch of copies of the book for distribution to libraries, which would result in a healthy bump in royalties somewhere down the line. But other than that, zilch.

Which is when I began to wonder: wait a minute, did anyone ask me if I wanted to be nominated? What if I didn’t? By the time you found out about it, the nominations had already been released (I read them in The Vancouver Sun), which made it a bit late to decline. Not that I would have — I didn’t understand fully what was to come — but still. It’s as if one’s name had become a trademark that one had lost control of. Which is when the friends’ and family’s speculation began to kick in — except that it wasn’t so much speculation as “Of course you’ll win, why wouldn’t you?” To which the reply was, “Well, the other plays might be better, or their authors more respected, or someone people have actually heard of, or a dozen other reasons.” But the friends and family would have none of it. Unstinting support is, of course, their job.

Finally, some friends organized a party for the Sunday prior to the Monday announcement. I didn’t have the heart to tell them, as we celebrated in anticipation of my imminent victory, that if I was going to win, I’d probably have been contacted by now. After all, the winner would be accepting the prize in Ottawa the next day — that didn’t leave an awful lot of time to make the plane arrangements. Some little part of me thought that perhaps you were called up in the middle of the night, and Mounties were waiting at your door to bundle you off on a red-eye flight. But no. My rest that night was undisturbed.

And so I didn’t win. Someone else — whose play in fact was better — did. And thereafter the topic of my nomination became taboo. Rather as if a favourite Aunt of mine had died — no one wanted to raise the subject, lest I burst out in tears. But mostly I was pissed-off at having been put through the whole exercise. I still wanted to know where the hell my consolation prize was.

And so I understand Doris Lessing’s reaction, after 30 years of having endured being a Nobel might-be and also-ran. Even winning doesn’t really make up for having been forced to run the gauntlet. “Oh Christ,” indeed.

I wouldn’t mind the $1.4 million, though.

Filed Under: Arts and Books Tagged With: books, Doris Lessing, Governor General\'s Award, Nobel Prize

Subscribe to BoB by e-mail or RSS

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Google+
  • Living
  • Politics
  • Media
  • Culture
  • Arts and Books
  • Features
  • The Video
Fire sale sign

Fort McMurray: Shopping time!

By Brady Tighe We’re now officially in the aftermath phase of the northern Alberta wildfire crisis. The fire is long gone, and everyone with a home to return to is back in its … [Read More...]

Nathan Cullen

Electoral reform: Hashtag fresh thinking

By Alison@Creekside The most interesting and innovative idea to come out of the first meeting of the all-party Special Committee on Electoral Reform, or ERRE, was Nathan Cullen's suggestion, … [Read More...]

Trudeau on quantum computing

The Trudeau gush fest is getting old

By Jim Henshaw There have been several bewildered as well as angry accounts coming out of the USA lately about how little media time has been spent covering the Democratic Presidential Primary … [Read More...]

Rick Meyers in Nanaimo Pride Parade

My friend, Rick, at the Pride Parade

By Frank Moher On this dreadful day, I don't want to write about the shootings in Orlando. I want to write about my friend, Rick. Rick lives just outside of Nanaimo, a city of about 80,000, … [Read More...]

Stephen Colbert on Late Night set

Triumph of the drama nerds

By Frank Moher Two drama nerds have recently moved into high profile positions. Before I name them (or perhaps you’ve already guessed who they are; or perhaps you’d like to scroll down and look at … [Read More...]

From “Our Rape Blog”: Shooting the Moon

Originally published on Our Rape Blog, the author's account of the aftermath of a violent sexual assault. By Mary Fraughton Have you ever played Hearts? It’s a card game. For our purposes, … [Read More...]

First Nations defending Lelu Island

The video: Lelu Island: “They will come.”

From Creekside: The B.C. provincial government is trying to green light the construction of a massive LNG terminal on Lelu Island in the Skeena Estuary -- Pacific Northwest LNG, backed by Malaysian … [Read More...]

Google

Follow Us!

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter

RSS CBC News



Recent Posts

  • Fort McMurray: Shopping time!
  • From “Our Rape Blog”: Shooting the Moon
  • Electoral reform: Hashtag fresh thinking
  • The fish hotel
  • Hatred on an Alberta golf course
  • The video: Lelu Island: “They will come.”
  • My friend, Rick, at the Pride Parade
  • Our selective sympathy
  • The Water Bomber, The Frogman and The Great Canadian Novelist
  • Komagata Maru: The story behind the apology

Tags

9/11 Afghanistan Alberta bad behaviour books British Columbia business Canada Canadian military Canadian politics CBC celebrity computers Conservatives crime environment family film G20 Globe and Mail internet Jason Kenney journalism Justin Trudeau law Liberals Maclean's music National Post NDP newspapers oil sands online media Ontario Quebec RCMP religion sports Stephen Harper television theatre Toronto U.S. Vancouver women

Archives

The Video: Lelu Island: “They will come.”

Pages

  • About
  • Privacy

Copyright © 2023 · News Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in