The Award Goes to..

Thank you. Thank you.  I humbly accept the Nobel Prize for Short Short Story.  I would like to thank the many who came before me.

 

First, I would like to thank prehistoric man.  The early stories told in brevity with a few pictures predicted the art of writing today.  Who can forget the spear sticking out of that nobel beast, the stick figure family gathered around the fire and Thor dragging his wife by the hair to the cave.  Danger, action and family bonds.  Touching.

 

Second, I would like to thank Laurence Sterne for writing what many consider to be the first true novel in 1759.  His satirical look at society encompassed writing itself.  Filled with random thoughts, black pages and pompous philosophy, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman… is as timely today as it was in 1759.  True, it was largely a plagerism of many writers of the time, but that’s the point of satire.

 

Of course, who can forget Bill Shakespeare.  His prodigious writings often pointed the way to today’s melodramatic preoccupations with very dysfunctional families.  These early characters could be found today on cereal boxes and in the form of action figures.  Ophelia could be a doll made more sympathetic in the end by a toy pool.

 

Ernie is another hero of writing who will go down in history for his fabulous titles such as… Farewell to Arms, To Have and To Have Not, Death in the Afternoon, the Sun Also Rises and Old Man of the Sea.  While he will be remembered mostly for his titles, his actual writing was pretty good too.

 

We must thank Jesus and his associates too for writing the definitive epic.  A true classic with hundreds of characters, spanning centuries and studying human frailty.  And what a fantastic surprise ending!

 

The shift in writing today to short, powerful stories will lead to rewriting of the classics too, e.g. War and Peace” will become “A Piece of War”.

 

Anyway, the book you honor, “The Evolution” is touching and ironic on many levels.  However, there’s no time to explore that here.  This acceptance speech is already longer that the book.  Be sure to watch George Clooney as the great blue heron this fall.  The 12 minute movie will entertain and amaze. Also, the sequel will be out next spring… “Evolution, Why Bother?”

 

Lee