Pulitzer for fiction goes to 'American Pastoral'

April 14, 1998
Web posted at: 4:59 p.m. EST (2159 GMT)

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Philip Roth, whose novel "American Pastoral" tells the searing tale of a father and daughter torn apart by their reaction to the Vietnam War, won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction Tuesday. It is Roth's first Pulitzer.

The prize for biography went to Katharine Graham, chairman of the executive committee of The Washington Post Co., for her book "Personal History."

The Pulitzer for poetry went to Charles Wright, the University of Virginia poet whose collection "Black Zodiac" also won the National Book Critics Circle award for poetry.

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Jared Diamond won in the general non-fiction category for "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies."

The Pulitzer for drama went to Paula Vogel for "How I Learned To Drive," an off-Broadway production about a young woman molested by her uncle.

"I am very high right now," Vogel said from Providence, Rhode Island, where she lives. "I am so proud of the production of my play we have in New York and grateful to director Mark Brokaw and all the actors and actresses who played the roles."

The Pulitzer for history was awarded to Edward J. Larson for "Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion."

"Library Journal" said Roth's winning fiction work "positively resonates with the anguish of a father who has utterly lost his daughter."

About Graham's book, the journal said, "This is the story of a newspaper's rise to power but also of the destruction of a marriage, as (publisher) Philip Graham slid into alcohol, depression, and suicide, and of Katharine's rise as a powerful woman in her own right. Throughout this easy-to-read story, Graham writes about her personal life and the lives of others, ranging from presidents to household help, with sympathy and grace."

The Pulitzer Prices are annual awards for achievement in American journalism, letters, drama and music. The prizes have been awarded by Columbia University since 1917, on the recommendation of a Pulitzer Prize Board.

The prizes in letters are for fiction, history, poetry, biography or autobiography, and general non-fiction. There are 14 prizes given for journalism, and prizes for drama and music.

Associated Press contributed to this report.

Related story:

• Pulitzer nominated stories challenged - April 14, 1998

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• The Pulitzer Prizes

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