1950 1955 Natiional Book Award

Added: 2026-05-15

[00:00:01]Hello everyone. Welcome to The Old Man in the Reed. My name is Jerry.

[00:00:07]Uh well, I've uh finally completed all of the uh Nobel Prize winning uh books that I've won and so I'm going to move on to a new literary award and that will be the National Book Award for Fiction.

[00:00:26]And this award is uh it recognizes one book each year written by a US citizen.

[00:00:36]And uh this uh will be between I'll show the books between 1950 and 1955.

[00:00:46]and [clears throat] I'll be showing the winners and then any of the finalists that I've read during those particular years. And I should mention the first two years there were no finalists listed. So I'll just show the winners.

[00:01:02]But the first book uh in 1950, the first winner was The Man with the Golden Arm uh by Nelson Algrren. And this is a a story of a World War II veteran who comes home addicted to drugs. Uh but he it's the story is about how he slowly spirals down into the underbelly of Chicago and then eventually it uh he heads towards what is it to be his ultimate fate. But it's just a book.

[00:01:42]It's written in a very gritty style and has a lot of very slangy dialogue.

[00:01:49][clears throat] Uh the winner in 1951 was uh collected stories of William Faulner and uh this is just a fabulous short story collection and I'll mention a few of the stories in the book. one titled Barn Burning and this follows Sarti Snopes uh and it's about his he talks about his father uh who has already burned a barn in the area and is now planning to burn another barn. And so Sardi uh decides to warn the barn's owner. Uh, another story is a rose for Emily. [clears throat] Um, this is about Emily. Her father was a bit of a tyrant who wouldn't let her marry, but then he uh suddenly dies when she's 30 years old. And she meets a man then uh that she thinks she wants to marry, but he's a non-marrying man. And this uh just leads her into insanity.

[00:03:03]And then uh the last story I'll mention is Mountain Victory. Uh this follows a Confederate uh major who is uh heading back returning to his mansion in Mississippi, but he stops over in Tennessee and is staying in a cabin. And uh then that cabin is surrounded by some uh former Union soldiers who have a hatred for the Confederacy.

[00:03:34][clears throat] Uh the winner in 1952 was From Here to Eternity by James Jones.

[00:03:43]And this story follows Private Puit. uh he uh was transferred to a new outfit because uh that outfit wanted him to box for uh in their bo on their boxing team.

[00:03:58]Now, uh Puit had been a top contender at one time, but he had quit boxing because he had almost killed a man in the ring.

[00:04:07]So, when they want him to join the boxing team uh in the uh military, he refuses to do that.

[00:04:16]And uh then they start giving him harsher and harsher treatment trying to uh force him into um deciding to join the team. And but uh as it got worse and worse, he finally goes awall but then returns uh after the Japanese have bombed Pearl Harbor and this leads to some dire consequences.

[00:04:44]Uh then in 1952 I read several of the finalists for that year. Uh the first is The Grass Harp uh by Truman Capot and this is a noala about a a young boy who is orphaned and he goes to live with um two older ants and much of the story is just about them spending time in a uh treehouse.

[00:05:13][clears throat] Uh, next finalist in 1952 is Reququum for a Nun by William Falner. And this is a followup uh to his book Sanctuary, but this takes place like 20 years later. And it's the story of a woman who is sentenced to death for the murder of a child. Uh and that child is from Temple who was a character in Sanctuary.

[00:05:47][clears throat] But then uh Temple decides to try to stop the uh execution by confessing that she had been part of the murder.

[00:06:00]Uh another finalist in 1952 was The Holy Sinner uh by Thomas Man. And uh this is a story set in the 1200s and it's about a baby who is set a drift by his mother and the baby had been fathered by the mother's brother.

[00:06:19][clears throat] But the baby is found and taken to an abbott and raised by that abbott. And when when he's grown, he decides to uh go searching for his mother. But as he's searching, he meets a beautiful queen and uh marries her.

[00:06:39]But then that leads to some sudden realizations that lead him into exile uh becoming a hermit and then eventually being found by a bishop and then made a pope.

[00:06:56]Uh, another finalist in 1952 is The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger.

[00:07:04]This is about a boy who uh is kicked out of a boarding school and then he starts spending time or several days in New York City and the reason was to avoid the wrath uh of his parents. but he's a very self-centered and very cynical and he thinks uh everyone is a phony.

[00:07:30]Uh another finalist is uh in 1952 is Lie Down in Darkness. And this is a a very dark and brooding tale about a Virginia family that just seems bent on destroying itself. But the story begins with the suicide of a daughter and just continues from there.

[00:07:54]Uh, and the last finalist in 1952 I'll show is The Cain Mutiny by Herman Woke.

[00:08:01]And this is about a ship and a crew whose primary wartime duty was towing targets. Uh, the main protagonist in the story is Willie Keith. uh he was a spoiled rich kid who matured when he was in the Navy but uh although he's the main protagonist he just disappears from the story for extended periods but u much of the story is more focused around uh the conduct of the very incompetent captain of that ship Captain uh Quig uh in 1953.

[00:08:44]Uh the winner was Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. And this is a story of a young black man who is trying to navigate life through the racism of the first half of the 20th century. and he's consistently seems to be finding himself in some very cuff-esque type situations uh where he's either misunderstood or misidentified and he can't seem to get anyone to listen to his explanations.

[00:09:23]Uh then one of the finalists in 1953 is Winds of Morning by HL Davis. Uh and this is about a young deputy sheriff u who's sent to help an old man move his horses uh into open land uh open uh land out in the country. And the story just descri describes the beauty of the land and extremely uh beautifully uh told descriptive pros. But uh they uh on their drive uh they uh go through that beautiful country and eventually solve a couple of crimes.

[00:10:10]Uh, another or a finalist another finalist in 1953 was The Old Man in the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. Uh, this is the story of an old fisherman uh, who's out on a in a small boat and he catches a large marlin and the story is about his struggles trying to get back to shore hauling that uh, marlin as he fights against the sharks.

[00:10:41]And then uh last finalist in 1953 is East of Eden uh by John Steinbeck.

[00:10:50]And and this is just really a masterpiece that's loosely based on the uh Adam and Eve story in the Bible. And it's set in Selenus Valley uh in California. And it follows uh Adam Tras and uh he has uh uh purchased a a ranch in the valley uh and he has two sons.

[00:11:15]One is Cal and the other is Aaron and he has a wife Kathy who's a bit of a sociopath.

[00:11:24]But uh it's just an epic uh saga that's loosely based on the Adam and Eve story.

[00:11:34]Uh the next book is The Adventures of Auggie March. Uh that this was the 1954 winner. Uh and it's by Saul Bellowos, but this follows the life of Auggie March. Uh and uh he and his brothers grew up in a fatherless household and lived in a very just very humble circumstances.

[00:12:02]But uh the story follows Auggie's life as he goes through a whole series of misadventures.

[00:12:12]Uh next winner in 1955 is a fable by William Falner. And this is a story about a mutiny during World War I. Uh it follows Corporal Stefen and he's uh in the French regiment, but uh when his regiment is ordered to attack, Corporal Stefen uh leads his team or his outfit to refuse uh the order. And uh so this then leads the Germans to stop combat also. And this leads to a temporary peace uh uh that it breaks out which uh the higherups uh can't abide by and so this leads uh Corporal Stefen to some very uh tragic uh consequences.

[00:13:15]Uh then uh a finalist in 1955 is Lord Grizzly by Frederick Manfred and this is actually a fictionalized uh account of a true story and it's almost unbelievable but it's about a ma mountain man who is just horrifically mauled by a grizzly bear. He's near death and his companions decide to just leave him to die. So, they take all of the equipment, his weapons, everything with them and leave him there to die. But he uh although he's near death, he slowly starts recovering. And then he decides that he's going to have to do what he what he can to try to survive and save himself.

[00:14:04]And so he crawls, ends up crawling for over 200 miles just on two elbows and one knee.

[00:14:16]And the last uh book I'll show is another finalist in 1955. This is Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck. And this is a a sequel to Canary Row. And it the story takes place after World War II.

[00:14:33]And it has many of the same characters as Canary Row. Uh but it follows mostly Doc. Uh and Doc after serving in the in the war returns to Canary Row. And uh it really Canary Row had virtually no plot. Well, this uh has almost no plot. It's not much more than Canary Row.

[00:15:02]But anyway, those are the books I've read from the National Book Award between the years 1950 and 1955.

[00:15:13]Uh, I want to thank you for watching the video and hopefully I'll see you again.

[00:15:18]effects.