Alice Munro Wins the Nobel Prize!

As Julie Bosman of the New York Times writes today, Alice Munro, "the renowned Canadian short-story writer whose visceral work explores the tangled relationships between men and women, small-town existence and the fallibility of memory, won the 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature on Thursday. Ms. Munro, 82, is the 13th woman to win the prize." Oh joy, oh joy, oh joy! I, along with legions of her other readers, and many of her fellow writers (according to what I have been reading online), am so very happy -- OK, ecstatic! -- to see Munro's work recognized in this way. I have often seen her labeled as the best living writer of short stories in the world, and I think that assessment is absolutely right; to have the Nobel Committee confirm that view is just fantastic! I have been reading, appreciating, enjoying, loving, learning from, savoring, and being awed by Munro's short stories and novels for 40 years, and am always excited when a new volume comes out. (See my post of 7/22/10, titled "Ode to Alice Munro."). Sadly, she said when her most recent book came out (see my post of 12/6/12 on "Dear Life") that it would be her last one. If she changes her mind, we readers will rejoice, but no matter what, we have more than 40 years worth of her amazing work to read and re-read (and they all bear re-reading and even re-re-reading). As a personal postscript, I have to say this: the fact that the newest winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature is both a woman and a Canadian (I am Canadian-born) is, for me, a bonus cause for joy.