Elizabeth Strout's Olive Kitteridge
In the wake of Elizabeth Strout's recent, long-shot win of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for fiction for Olive Kitteridge, I'd like to say a few words in praise of the episodic novel.
Because the field this year was dominated with offerings by such heavyweights as the late John Updike, Philip Roth and former Pulitzer winner Marilynne Robinson, Strout's little book wasn't considered a front-runner.
The book's form also was thought to be a potential handicap. Olive consists of 13 exquisitely observed short stories set in a small Maine town. Each story is complete in itself and can be read out of order, but they are linked by a main character -- in this case, by the acerbic, retired schoolteacher who gives the book its title.
Yet, in its official citation, the Pulitzer board wrote that Strout's stories "pack a cumulative emotional wallop" and described Olive herself as "blunt, flawed, and fascinating."
They're right, and in my opinion, the episodic novel is an underrated literary form. Partly, my preference is pragmatic. I can read a 20- or 30-page short story before going to bed at night, and feel as though I've embarked upon, and completed, an entire journey. I don't have to worry about losing continuity if I don't pick the book back up for a day or two.
But, it's more than that. In the reader's guide at the back of the paperback edition, Strout says
Baltimore residents can kinda, sorta claim that we helped jump-start the career of Lynn Nottage, who picked up the 2009 Pulitzer Prize this afternoon for her newest play, Ruined.
While she always preferred The Hardy Boys to Nancy Drew, 
