Calvin Reid -- Publishers Weekly, 3/11/2010
Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel's fictional recreation of the early life of 16th-century English statesman Thomas Cromwell; Age of Wonder, Richard Holmes' vivid study of the beginnings of science in the Romantic Age; and Notes From No Man's Land, Eula Biss's collection of critical essays on American life, were among the winners at the 2009 National Book Critics Circle Awards held Thursday evening at the New School's Tischman Auditorium in Manhattan.
Awarded the Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing, reviewer Joan Acocella opened her remarks to laughter by noting that critics are "often attacked on the basis of 'who do you think you are?' " So she went on define just what she thought a great review should be: "Shapely, deep and personal."
Acocella was followed by author and critic Edmund White—nominated himself in the autobiography category for his book City Boy (Bloomsbury)—who introduced his Princeton University colleague, author Joyce Carol Oates, who was awarded the NBCC's Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award. "Who has she not written about," White said, describing Oates as a "modern Shakespeare." He went on to say that "she's one of the funniest people I know; she writes reviews, entertains, teaches full time and writes a lot of books," White said. Thin, energetic and indeed very funny, Oates cracked jokes, thanked reviewers for the award and described how she "loved to write essays and reviews and to read them. It's like sinking into a nice warm bath; a new dimension where the mind opens." She went on to say that "the reviewing voice is my voice. I feel a kinship with all the reviewers here in this room."
The 2009 Winners of the National Book Critics Circle Awards:
General Nonfiction: The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science by Richard Holmes (Pantheon).
Autobiography: Somewhere Towards the End by Diana Athill (W.W. Norton)
Biography: Cheever: A Life by Blake Bailey (Knopf)
Criticism: Notes from No Man's land: American Essays by Eula Biss (Graywolf Press)
Poetry: Versed by Rae Armantrout (Wesleyan University Press)
Fiction: Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (Holt)
A number of authors could not make the presentation and were represented by some one from their publishing house.
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