I’m very pleased to see The Black Count win the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in the Biography section.
You’ll recall that I featured the novel last month, plugging it as source material for a potential big screen adaptation. I don’t expect the Pulitzer win to do much to encourage any studio to option the book, but you never know.
The more media exposure it gets the better the opportunity. And winning a Pulitzer is certainly nothing to sneeze at.
Alexandre Davy de la Pailleterie, aka Alexandre Dumas, aka “Black Devil“ by some of the armies he fought against (let’s just say he was good at his job), aka The Black Count, is at the center of the recently published book from acclaimed author Tom Reiss. Its full title is The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo.
I bought a copy of the book soon after it was published, and finally read it last month, and, as I noted previously, it’s strongly-encouraged reading; quite riveting, well-written, and reads with all the thrills of a novel written by Dumas’ son, likely the most popular Dumas, also named Alexandre Dumas, author of literary classics like The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers.
In fact, Dumas, the father of the author, was the inspiration for The Count Of Monte Cristo.
In short, his life is/was the stuff of legends and would make for a great epic movie – in the right hands of course.
Other 2013 Pulitzer Prize Winners of note include Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America by Gilbert King, in the General Nonfiction category.
The full list of winners follows below:
Journalism
PUBLIC SERVICE – Sun Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, FL
BREAKING NEWS REPORTING – The Denver Post Staff
INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING – David Barstow and Alejandra Xanic von Bertrab of The New York Times
EXPLANATORY REPORTING – The New York Times Staff
LOCAL REPORTING – Brad Schrade, Jeremy Olson and Glenn Howatt of the Star Tribune, Minneapolis
NATIONAL REPORTING – Lisa Song, Elizabeth McGowan and David Hasemyer of InsideClimate News, Brooklyn, NY
INTERNATIONAL REPORTING – David Barboza of The New York Times
FEATURE WRITING – John Branch of The New York Times
COMMENTARY – Bret Stephens of The Wall Street Journal
CRITICISM – Philip Kennicott of The Washington Post
EDITORIAL WRITING – Tim Nickens and Daniel Ruth of the Tampa Bay Times, St. Petersburg, FL
EDITORIAL CARTOONING – Steve Sack of the Star Tribune, Minneapolis
BREAKING NEWS PHOTOGRAPHY – Rodrigo Abd, Manu Brabo, Narciso Contreras, Khalil Hamra and Muhammed Muheisen of the Associated Press
FEATURE PHOTOGRAPHY – Javier Manzano, free-lance photographer, Agence France-Presse
Letters, Drama and Music
FICTION – “The Orphan Master’s Son” by Adam Johnson
DRAMA – “Disgraced” by Ayad Akhtar
HISTORY – “Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America’s Vietnam” by Fredrik Logevall (Random House),
BIOGRAPHY – “The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo” by Tom Reiss (Crown)
POETRY – “Stag’s Leap” by Sharon Olds
GENERAL NONFICTION – “Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America” by Gilbert King (Harper)
MUSIC – “Partita for 8 Voices” by Caroline Shaw, recording released on October 30, 2012 (New Amsterdam Records)
