[Levin]

Have we forgotten what the Nobel Committee person said about American literature this past year? I wonder if his view of Bush and the War in Iraq had anything to do with his sentiment, at a deep level?

Waters is mostly right that we should just judge the work on its own terms.

Problem is that prizes and accolades are great signaling mechanisms for us to know which work to judge on its own terms with the finite and limited time we have. Are we going to discover a great novel by browsing the bookstacks? Hard to do.