"The Good Earth (Pulitzer Prize 1932)" Set in a pre-World War I age, the novel tells the story of Wang Lung, a Chinese peasant. Beginning with his wedding to O-Lan, a slave of the House of Hwang, the story follows Wang Lung as he makes and breaks his fortunes. Devastated by abject poverty, Wang Lung moves with his family to the city where they survive off charity. The novel dwells on the lives of Chinese peasants and shows them in a light that western literature had not dared to before. The difficulties that Wang Lung and his family go through, involving heartbreaking scenes where his wife is forced to choose between raising her children in poverty or in ending their life the moment they are born showcase the hardship that plagued pre-World War I China. This novel was adapted into an Oscar winning hit movie in 1937 and was largely a factor in helping the relations between the West and China before the battle with Japan.
About Pearl S. Buck Pearl S. Buck was an American writer and novelist. The House of Earth series continues in Sons and A House Divided. She is also known for: Letter from Peking, Imperial Woman, Satan Never Sleeps, Dragon Seed and China Sky. The current title won the 1932 Pulitzer Prize and the 1938 Nobel Prize for Literature for its depictions of peasant life in China and for her biographical masterpieces.
"Beloved (Pulitzer Prize 1988)" Margaret Garner escaped slavery in Kentucky, by fleeting to the free state, Ohio, in 1856. She killed her two-year-old daughter when she and her children were retrieved under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. In Beloved, the protagonist, Sethe, kills her daughter and tries killing her three other children, all of which happen in the same backdrop as the life of Margaret. Beloved won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in the year 1988 and made it as a finalist for the National Book Award in 1987. A movie of the same name was made in 1998, starring Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover. The book depicts the poignant shades of not only slavery, but also of mother-daughter relationships and other human relationships intensely. About Toni Morrison Toni Morrison was born in Ohio, United States, in 1931. She is a novelist, professor and editor. She holds an M.A. degree in English from the Cornell University. Apart from Beloved, some of her most notable works are Sula, Song of Solomon, Jazz, Tar Baby, and The Bluest Eye. She has also contributed to children’s literature. Morrison has won the most prestigious Novel Prize in Literature and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
"To Kill a Mockingbird (Read it now before GO SET A WATCHMAN ) (Pulitzer Prize)" Atticus Finch lives in the fictional town of Maycomb in Alabama and as it is with the Deep South, the southern traditions of relations in race and gender are at the center of this masterpiece. His daughter, Scout is the narrator of the story and she lives with her widowed father and brother. To Kill A Mockingbird first explores the customs of the South, laying down all the quirks and foibles of the neighbors and people that Scout interacts with through her childhood days.
The story of how her brother Jem injured his arm at the elbow is what starts off Scott’s reminiscing journey. This leads them to point out that it was the Ewells who set off the entire string of events that brought about the unsavory incident. And this is what is at the heart of the novel. The narrative that is so delicately handled by Lee is insightful and intuitive.
Atticus is appointed by the court to defend a black man, Tom Robinson who has been accused of raping a white girl, Mayella. However the town doesn’t need a trial since they are steeped in prejudice against the coloured people and to them, Robinson is guilty of the crime.
However, Atticus defends Tom to the best of his ability that turns the residents of this otherwise sleepy town against him and his family members. For the most part, the townspeople engage in hurling insults at the middle-aged man, which is unacceptable to the sprightly Scout. She along with her brother and their friend, Dill manage to disperse the mob of people but the situation grows worse.
Will Tom Robinson serve time for a crime he did not commit and will Scout lose her love for the South as she had before? A poignantly simple tale of losing innocence and more to the law of society, To Kill a Mockingbird does more than just enlighten people.
Published in 1960, it won the Pulitzer Prize and became an indispensable part of American literature. It is the most widely read book dealing with the theme of race relations and has been adjudged as the “Best Novel of the 20th Century” by the Library Journal. The book was adapted into a film which won an Oscar award in 1962.
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The 3 Best Pulitzer Prize-Winning Novels Collection
Nelle Harper Lee is an American author best known for her 1961 novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. Apart from this, she assisted Truman Capote in writing his non fiction novel, In Cold Blood. She has also written articles like Love - In Other Words, When Children Discover America, and Christmas to Me.
Lee was born in Alabama where she grew up amidst the Southern sensibilities which she so adeptly voices in To Kill a Mockingbird. She attended the University of Alabama. She worked in New York City as a ticket agent for Eastern Airlines before quitting her job to finally pursue her dream of writing. She went on to win the Presidential Medal of Freedom for this contribution to literature.
