Anthony Doerr 'All The Light We Cannot See' and Alice Walker
There are many people that have won the Pulitzer prize but there are too that stand out Anthony doerr and Alice Walker both won the Pulitzer Prize in too different decades. With their unique style of writing they changed the literary world forever with the respective individual careers.
I believe that Anthony Doerr is one of the most impactful writers in the history of literature. Anthony Doerr is the writer of the book All the Light We Cannot See, that won the Pulitzer prize in 2015. The pulitzer prize is an award given out in 21 different writing categories every year. This was Doerr's most recognised books he ever wrote, but he did much more for the world of literature than what you may think.
Born on October 27th in Cleveland, OH in 1973 Doerr was always seen as a smart kid by many growing up. In high school Doerr attendant University School, a private school near his house on the campus of a college. This was important because he was exposed to a college level from a young age. When he graduated high school he went on to Bowling Green University where he began majoring in history. He graduated in 1991 with honors, and a master degree in history.
When he first graduated he began working on his first book. The Shell Collector is a novel about a blind man, that spends his days strolling along the African Beaches collecting shells. This book was not a very popular book at the time of its release, as its “ slow hard to follow pase”. Doerr was a small author trying to make a name for himself this book would not flunk so it was considered a win by Doerr.
His next book About grace, started to pick up some steam as the book follows a hydrologist named David. David has a gift or a curse. He dreams things that later happen in real life. The book was more popular than The Shell Collector. The book quickly gained popularity The book now has a 4 and a half star review on amazon out of 372 reviews. He was beginning to make a name for himself in the literary world. This was his second of 12 books, it was better than his 1st book but nowhere as good as his best.
All the Light We Cannot See, was the most popular book of 2015. The moment the book was released the people loved it. It was an instant classic. The book follows two people during World War 2. Werner, an Intelligent German boy, and Marie a blind French girl that is trying to figure out how to live her life in a normal way. Werner joins a German youth camp, because he is smart, Marie is trying to escape the city of Paris as it falls around them when they escape, they make it to a hotel where a bombing started taking place in the city they were in. The story ends when Maria goes back to visit the place where Werner died with her granddaughter. This story is the reason that Anthony Doerr won the Pulitzer Prize. With its classic kind of style this became the best selling book of 2014 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 2015.
Anthony Doerr is still writing books. He has a book coming out in 2020 called The Fight of The Century. This has fans of his going crazy was they have been weighting for a few years for the book to come out. It has been three years scene his last book came out. It already has hundreds of pre orders throughout different ordering websites. This is good because, this shows that there are still people in the world who like to read and enjoy literature. Anthony Doerr is becoming loved by people in the world of literature, by the time he quits he could be at the top with great names such as Mark Twain and Charles Dickens.
In 1983 Alice Walker became the first African American to win the Pulitzer prize with her award winning fiction book The Color Purple. She was a big part of Literature and the world in general throughout the 60s all the way up to 2019. Alice won the pulitzer prize for fiction. This means that the people saw The Color Purple the best fiction book of 1983. She also did many things such as poetry and art as a young child.
In her early life in the late 40s and early 50s in Georgia, with her parents Willie Lee and Minnie Tallulah Walker. When she was eight she was shot with a BB gun my her brother this partially blinded a young Alice. This gave a partial handicap, because of this she took up poetry from a young age. After graduating high school she attended Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1963 she became a civil rights activist, Attending many different rallies through the 60s.
Throughout all this she continued writing poetry. In 1969 she publishes her first book Once was collection of short stories. The reviews were mixed some loved it some did not. Alice things that the reason it did not do well right away was because she was a African American and a woman. The book itself contained 8 to 10 different short stories about life, love and loss. This was a big moment for her when the book was published because this was the start of one of the greatest novel writers in the world.
Her second book was one of the best ones she ever wrote. The Third Life of Grange Copeland released in 1970. People loved it. The setting is Georgia in a rural town. It follows the story of Grange his wife Margaret his son Brownfeild and the land owner Mr. Shipley. Grange is a worker on Shipleys fields. He beats his wife Margaret, because of an affair he has with a local prostitute named Josie. People loved this book when it came out. People to this day still buy this book. On Amazon it has a 4.5 stars out of 140 reviews, and over 500 hard back books sold this book has become a classic.
Another famous book by Alice is Possessing the Secret of Joy. This book was published in 1992. The story follows the life of a Tribal African woman who has lived most of her life in North America. While not as famous as The Third Life of Grange Copeland or The Color Purple but it was still one of her best books she has ever wrote.
The Color Purple won the Pulitzer Prize in 1983 for fiction. Although being banned in many schools throughout the U.S., because of its sexual content. The novel tells the story of Celic a young American girl that has been raped and is pregnant with the child. The book puts racism and feminism on full display for everyone to read. As the white mayor does all he can to make life difficult for the black people. She responds to this by punching him in the face, this gets her thrown in prison. This is where she finds a strong bond with her daughter in law Sofia. This book became a classic because of its portrayal of feminism and racism and showed to people everywhere how many black people and women were treated in the 1900s.
The one big thing that defined Alice's entire life was racism and feminism. Alice was a African American woman, in the 50s and 60s African Americans and women were both still treated not as well as white men. Therefore she was always facing adversity when it came to writing and life in general. In an interview later in her career she stated “The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for white, or women created for men.” This shows that she knows that feminism is happening but she cannot do anything about it. Alice stated She thinks that she could have had an easier life had she been white and a man.
Alice wanted other women to know that they did have power. Stating “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any. this is proof that she wants African Americans to know that they have freedom the same as all the other people in the United States.
Many people have won the Pulitzer Prize, but I think that most important to the literary world. Anthony Doerr and Alice Walker. Anthony Doerr won the Pulitzer Prize for his brilliant and uplifting book All the Light we Cannot See. While Alice Walker won for an upsetting book about racism and feminism. Anthony Doerr grew up going to a good high school and a good college. Alice went to a run down high school and a decent college. Doerr found success almost immediately. Walker had to fight for everything she ever got. They could not have been more different, but one thing they do have in common is how they both changed the literary world forever.
