The National BookCritics Circle
©©©©©©~
Journal
Volume 5, Number 1
January 2, 1979
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
President and Chairman
Eliot Fremont-Smith
The VIII.ge Voice
Vice President
Richard Locke
The New York Time.
Book Review
Vice President
Clarence E. OllOn
St. Louis Post·Dlss-teh
Treasurer
Larrt Swindell
The Phil.delphl. Inquirer
Secretary
Robert R. Harri'
Bookviews
Nona Balakian
The New York Times
Book Review
Barbara A. Bannon
Publishers weekly
John Blade,
Chieego Tribune
Book World
Walter Clemon,
News_k
Timothy FlOte
Time
Francine du PI..,ix Gray
F....I.nce Critic
Elizabeth Hardwick
The New York Review
of Books
Susan Heath
Slturd.y Review
John Leonard
The New York Times
Marrarlt Mannlnl
The '""Boston Globe
William McPherson
~¥
FORMAT FOR NBCC JOURNAL
With this issue, we are going to a typed
and offset Journal, edited in New York. The
idea is to oome out faster and more frequently
than was possible with the printed (and admittedly
more handsome) format. The issues will be roughly
geared to Board meetings--about eight a year--and
will contain complete Board meeting minutes, as
well as other news, letters, and so on. The next
issue, about a month from now, will contain the
Board meeting minutes of January 15 (the Awards
voting meeting), the Annual Meeting minutes of
January 25, reports on the Awards ceremony of
that same day, and other news and correspondence.
Contributions and correspondence for the Jounna1
should be addressed to Robert R. Harris, Apt e bA,
45 West 11th st., New York, N.Y. 10011.
In this issue, put together by Bob Harris
and Eliot Fremont-Smith, you will find the Board
mee~ing minutes of December 11 (the Nominations
voting meeting); a olm1fication letter from
Clarence Olson; a report on the neWly-formed
Counoi1 of Writers Organizations; ann the Nomina­
tions release sent to all media. AlSO, for Regular
Members, there is an RSVP postcard for the PPA
luncheon on January 25, which please return to Kay
Radtke as soon as possible.
WlShinlrton Post
Book World
Richard Poirier
AWARDS TO BE VOTED JANUARY 15
ROI_r Rosenblatt
The fourth annual NBCC Awards (five Awards
this year, two in General Nonfiction) will be
voted by the Board on January 15, and a release
will go to the media immediately following the votew
(NBC's Today Show is planning to feature the Awards
on the morning of the 16th.)
Freel.nee Critic
The Weshlngton Post
Ivan Sandrof
FreeI.nee Critic
Webster Schott
Freel.nce Critic
PLANS FOR JANUARY 25
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HAPPY NEW YEARl
NBCC Board of Directors Meeting Minutes
December 11th, 1978
Algonquin Hotel, New York
Present. President and Chairman Eliot Fremont-Smith, Vice President
Richard Locke, Treasurer Larry Swindell, Secretary Robert R. Harris 1
Board Members ~ona Balakian, Barbara A. Bannon, Walter Clemons,
Timothy Foote, Francine du Plessix Gray, Elizabeth Hardwick, Susan
Heath, John Leonard, Margaret Manning, William McPherson, Richard
Poirier, Roger Rosenblatt, Ivan Sandrof, Webster Schottl NBCC Journal
Editor Herbert A. Kenny.
Mr. Fremont-Smith called the meeting to order at 2,20 P.M. and
reported that Robert Kline, the NBCC's attorney, had left New York
for California and a position at American International Pictures.
He has turned over all NBCC material to his father, Eugene Kline,
at Phillips, Nizer, which may appoint a new attorney for the NBCC.
Mr. Fremont-Smith summarized a letter from Clarence Olson (see
attached) and a meeting of a new organization (Council of Writers
Organizations) he attended (see attached). He asked that the Board
approve the NBCC's participation in COWO and authorize the $100
membership fee. The Board did so by a vote of 15 to 1, and also
accepted Mr. Fremont-Smith's offer to act as a delegate to COWO.
He stated that he would report to the NBCC Board for its instuctions
on any substantive matters and that he would otherwise act in the
best interest of the NBCC.
Mr. Fremont-Smith suggested that, in light of Mr. Olson's letter,
consideration of travel reimbursement be tabled. The Board agreed
without dissent.
After a discussion of various NBCC expenses (current Journal,
including the editor's expenses--c. $800, 1978 ballot packet--c.
$5001 new stationery, renewal notices and other general mailings
to the membership), the Board voted unanimously to distribute all
Board meeting minutes to all members.
After further discussion of the need for better communication with
the membership, the Board voted unanimously to combine the NBCC
Journal with a newsletter and the minutes of Board meetings, These
will be prepared in New York, offset and sent to the membership
following each Board meeting. The Board also approved the hiring of
a typist to help with the work load. Each journal-newsletter is
estimated to cost $300-$400 to produce and mail. Present funds should
cover these costs through most of 1979, barring additional expenses,
A full Treasurer's report and budget will be presented at the
annual meeting. The Board also expressed its gratitude to retiring
Journal Editor Herbert A. Kenny, who endorsed the new plan,
1978 NBCC Awards Nominations
There was a brief discussion of the eligibility of collected
works, in which all substantial material had been published
previously in book form. In past years, the Board has declared
some such titles (always volumes of collected poems) ineligiblel
but this year there was agreement that all collected works likely
to be nominees would be eligible since they were included on
the Board's list of books provided for the convenience of the
members. There was similar agreement concerning posthumously
published works. However, the Board decided to rule definitively
on this issue for the 1979 Awards early in the new year.
The Secretary reported that 90 regular members' ballots were
received, approximately 50% of the paid regular membership of
178. (In 1977, 68 ballots were received or 38% of the paid
membership of 180. In 1976, 56 ballots were received or 24% of
the then paid membership of 233.) Ten additional ballots were
received, but were declared void because of nonpayment of dues.
Following its rules for Awards nominations the Board determined
that in Fiction, Poetry and Criticism a book would need 18 ballot
votes (10% of 178) to be nominated by the regular members, and
in General Nonfiction, 13 ballot votes (7% of 178).
As in previous years, the members ballot choices were weighted
as follows.
In Fiction, Poetry and Criticism.
3points for first choice
2points for second choice
lpoint for third choice
In General Nonfiction.
6points for first choice
5 points for second choice
4points for third choice
3points for fourth choice
2points for fifth choice
lpoint for sixth choice
The ballots were tabulated and read by the Secretary, who received
a unanimous vote of thanks for the tabulation work.
The following books were nominated by the regular membership ballots.
Number of votes
WeigAted Points
Fiction.
The Stories of John Cheever
The World According to Garp
F ~l Payments
45
32
19
107
81
27
Poetry.
Hello, Darkness
The Dream of a Common Language
33
25
80
53
Number of Votes
Wei~hted
Criticisms
The Eye of the story
-And I Worked at the Writer's
Trade
24
60
22
53
General Nonfictions
A Distant Mirror
Facts of Life
Max Perkins
The Snow Leopard
New York Jew
In Search of History
37
28
26
25
21
18
171
100
113
111
85
71
Points
The regular members thus nominated their maximum number of books
in the categories of Fiction and General Nonfiction, and two out
of a possible three in Poetry and Criticism.
The Board
In
In
In
In
then acted to fill out the slate of nomineess
Fiction, 2 more nominees.
Poetry, 3 more nominees.
Criticism, 3 more nominees,
General Nonfiction, 4 more nominees.
In this process, as in previous years, all Board votes were trial
votes (voice, hand and wr~tten, weighted and not) with open-ended
discussion in between. No nominations were final until formerly
ratified at the end of the session.
Fictions
After discussion, the Board unanimously voted The Coup as the
fourth nominee.
After further discussion, a vote was taken on Wrinkles, and the
Board decided 13 to 5 to declare it the fifth nominee.
(It was noted that in this category, The Coup was first runner-up
on the members' ballots, and Wrinkles the fourth.)
Poetry.
After discussion, the Board voted 15 to 2 to declare The Late Hour
and Spectral Emanations the third and fourth nominees.
After further discussion, the Board voted 13 to 4 to declare New &
Selected Things Taking Place the fifth nominee.
(In this category, the Board's addition to the slate corresponded
exactly to the regular members' runner-up choices.)
Criticism.
After much discussion before and in between votes, the Board
completed the slate as follows.
Modern Art was made the fifth nominee by unanimous vote.
Oriental ism was made the fourth nominee by a vote of 12 to 5.
The World Within the Word was made the fifth nominee by a vote
of 11 to 6.
(In this category, The World Within the Word was the first runner-up
on the members' ballots and Modern Art, the third.)
General Nonfiction.
After much discussion, the Board voted unanimously to consider
Seeing Through Clothes in this category, and then made it the
seventh nominee by a vote of 14 to 3.
After further discussion, the Board voted 10 to 7 to make Inventing
America the eighth nominee.
There followed a lengthTdiscussion of many books, and the Board
took a weighted vo~e among them, with the following results.
Injustice
Lying
On Human Nature
Leon Trotsky
Metropolitan Life
Thomas Hardy's Later Years
14 points
12
"
12
"
8
3
1
"
"
"
There followed more discussion and another weighted vote.
Lying
Injustice
On Human Nature
21 points
17
"
13
"
Lying and Injustice were then made the ninth and tenth nominees.
(In this category, Inventing America was second runner-up in
the members' ballots, and Lying, the seventh.)
The Board then reviewed all its additions to the slates, and took
three votes of reconsideration, which resulted as follows.
To reconsider.
Yes
Inventing America
Seeing Through Clothes
The World Within the Word
6
o
3
No
9
17
14
Abstentions
2
Mr. Fremont-Smith then called for a ratification vote for all
nominees in all categories. The motion stated that the procedures
were fair and that no alternative procedure could have produced
results more closely reflecting a true consensus of the Board. The
Board so ratified the nominees unanimously.
The nominated books are.
Fiction.
The Coup, by John Updike (Knopf)
F~ Payments, by Mary Gordon (Random House)
Tne Stories of John Cheever, by John Cheever (Knopf)
The World According to Garp,. by John Irving (Robbins/Dutton)
Wrinkles, by Charles Simmons (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
'r
Poetrys
The Dream of a Common Language. Poems, 1974-1977, by Adrienne Rich
(Norton)
Hello, Darkness. The Collected Poems of L.E. Sissman, Edited by
Peter Davison (Atlantic-Little, Brown)
The Late Hour, by Mark Strand (Atheneum)
New & Selected Things Taking Place, by May Swenson (Atlantic-Little,
Brown)
Spectral Emanations. New and Selected Poems, by John Hollander
(Atheneum)
General Nonfictions
A Distant Mirror. The Calamitous 14th Century, by Barbara W.Tuchman
(Knopf)
Facts of Life, by Maureen Howard (Little, Brown)
In Search of History. A Personal Adventure, by Theodore H. White
(Harper & Row)
Injustices The Social Bases of Obedience and Revolt, by Barrington
Moore (Pantheon)
Inventing Americas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence, by
Garry Wills (Doubleday)
Lyings Moral Choice in Public and Private Life, by Sissela Bok
(Pantheon)
Max Perkinss Editor of Genius, by A. Scott Berg (Congdon/Dutton)
New York Jew, by Alfred Kazin (Knopf)
Seeing Through Clothes, by Anne Hollander (Viking)
The Snow Leopard, by Peter Matthiessen (Viking)
Criticism.
-And I ~orked at the Writer's Trade. Chapters of Literary History,
1918-1978, by Malcom Cowley (Viking)
The "Eye of the story. Selected Essays and Reviews, by Eudora Welty
(Random House)
Modern Art. 19th & 20th Centuries, Selected Papers, by Meyer
Schapiro (Braziller)
Oriental ism , by Edward W. Said (Pantheon)
The World Within the Word. Essays, by WilliamH. Gass (Knopf)
The Awards voting meeting will take place at 5 P.M. Monday,
January 15th, 1979, at the Algonquin Hotel.
The Meeting was adjourned at 6.05 P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
~~t.lf-~
RobertR. Harris
m Clarence Olsonl
1)
(to the Board)
One of the reasons I'm against a paid executive is that the
outside funding neoeaaar,y would present problems even beyond the
"purity" issue.
It could further isolate the members from the workings
-ot the NaCO and concentrate the power even more strongly in the board
and its officers.
I teel that such matters should not be considered
until we have managed to develOD a more viable membership _ a membership
so strongly involved in the activities of the NBdo that it would be able
to resist some fUture board that might want to run the organization
from the top.
entir~J
Bight now we need the·· members --- tor financiaJ. support and
for the volunteer help they could give to make possible all the projects
we wish to undertakfta
2)
I'm against the payment of travel expenses of: board members trom
the N1300 treasury because it 1s too much to ask of: dues-paying members.
'!he cost would be prohibitive it. all the out-ot-town board members bad
their expenses paid, and it would be inconsistent and a little sticky
if" this applied only to one or two individua1s.
Mostly. I am against
this measure because it would be an expensive substitute f"or better plann'ns
of our meeting schedule•
for scheduling two major policy 'Cleetings, one in the very
'm
early f"all. the other during !lSA week in April. These meetings would
.3)
1
be the only ones at which policy issues could be voted upon, and the issues
to be voted upon should be presented to board members in writing well betore
~ h e two policy meetings J
the meetings. This would leave only the
awards seleotion meetings;(
(and the general meeting) essential for a board member to attend.
Regular
meetings could be held at other times to conduct ordinary or emergency
business and to discuss policy and books.
the fall and spring. out-of-towners could
those dates (seeing publishers, etc.).
If we have set meetings in
p~an
other activities around
Olson 2
4>
I'm for more active scrutI~ of the qualifIcations of members,
following the minimal. standards in our bylaws.
$)
I'IIl for encouraging members to participate
f'ull,. in the
nominating procedure - - to a point where the board may even feel that
they can be trusted with more responsibility. someday.
6)
I'm for trying to get members to work on committees (or as
indirtdua1s) to produce inexpensive newsletters, conduct surveys, etc.
7)
I would be cautious about the board making political or
philosophical
the general
pronotL~cements
membe~8hlp.
not
~eflecting
the thinking of a majority of
REPORT TO THE BOARD RE COUNCIL OF WRITERS ORGANIZATIONS
From Eliot Fremont-Smith, 12/11/78
The NBCC has been invited to join the newly-formed Council
of Writers Organizations (COWO). I believe this could be
of great benefit to our members, and urge that we do join.
The initial membership fee will be $100.
COWO was formed earlier this fall, and its first ad hoc
meeting was October 5, with representatives of the following
organizations in attendance: American Society of Journalists
and Authors; Outdoor Writers AS30ciation of America; Washington
{DC} Independent Writers; United States Ski Writers; Associated
Business Writers of America; National Writers Club; Mystery
Writers of America; New York Women in Communications; Women in
Communications; Deadline Club of New York-Delta Sigma Chi;
Society of American Travel Writers; Society of Children's Book
Writers; Editorial Freelancers Association; Writers in the
Public Interest; and The National Association of Science
Writers. The second ad hoc meeting was December 7, with
the above groups present plus the NBCC (EFS). In addition,
PEN, science fiction writers, and other groups have expressed
interest; of major writers' organizations, only The Authors
Guild has indicated that it will not join at the present time.
Grace Weinstein of the ASJA chaired both ~eetings and has been
elected acting president. The next meeting is February 1.
COWO is conceived to serve as a national "umbrella" organization
for writers~(and some editorial} organizations. Its purpose
is to exchange information on, and seek improvement of,
primarily practical matters of concern to the memberships of
all participating groups--medical insurance, contract reform,
copYright, tax problems, etc. Newsletters are to be exchanged,
and a questioUnaire is being prepared to ascertain the prime
interests and activities of each participating organization.
It is thought that COWO could be an ef~ective voice for writers'
interests at all levels, local, state, and federal.
At the December,7 meeting, the following committees were set up:
1. Ins¥rance Committee. This will focus particularly on
.medical insuranc~ (though also on liability). It is conceivable
that through COWO a good insurance plan could be offered to all
members of participating organizations, the key to such insurance
being the clout of numbers. Present organizational insurance
plans vary from none to inadequate.
2. Rates Committee. This will focus on writers' and freelance
editorial (copy editing, translation, etc.) fees, with a possible
ultimate aim of establishing minimum ranges for various kinds of
work. (Pending Board apnroval, the NBCC has volunteered to
serve on this committee.)
cowo Report -- 2.
3. Contract Conunittee. This will focus on magazine and
book contract reform, with immediate attention to the notorious
indemnity clauses in most book contracts.
4. Copyright Committee. This will attend to the rights of
writers an~ other free1ancers under the new copyright law; it
is not generally understood that what a writer ordinarily sells
is one-time printing assignment only.
5. Grievance Committee. This committee will concentrate on
ways legitimate writers' grievances on rates, contracts, copy­
right, etc. can be effectively pressed and resolved.
6.
National Issues Committee. This will consider such matters
as censorship and freedom-of-information, with a view to
exchanging information among the member-groups and possibly
recommending action to COWO. This was recognized as a 'delicate
and potentially divisive subject, but one COWO could not ignore.
(Pending Board approval, the NBCC has volunteered to serve on
this committee.)
7.
Tax Committee. This would look into the maze of both
individual and organizational tax mysteries, with a view to
recommendin~ coherent policies.
The present laws are very hard
on freelance editors and write~s, as well as inconsistant. The
IRS is also cracking down hard, and without apparent rhYme or
reason, on tax-exempt status of various writers' organizations.
Another aim here could be to coordinate legal advice.
A COWO constitution/by-laws will be discussed at the next
meeting, as wel1x as how' to facilitate the exchange of new.s1atters,
start committee work, etc. At present, each organization has
one vote (though more than one delegate may attend). There
may be a move to some form of proportional Depresentation, though
this may be difficult since the sizes of member groups vary from
100 to 34,000. Also to be worked out are member-group assessments:
$100 is the flat joining fee, to get COWO going. My guess is that
$100 will be the minimum annual dues, and $300-$500 the foreseeable
maximum.
I strongly urge that the MBCC join. I see it as potentially of
great benefit to the NBCC in terms of practical service to our
members. If the Board votes to join, it should (1) formally
appoint de1egate(s); (2) ratify committee participation and
otherwise direct its de1egate(s); (3) approve the $100 membership
fee, with any and all additional fees subject to Board approval;
(4) instruct the NBCC de1egate(s) to vote on all matters in the
best inaterests of the NBCC with the understanding t~at all votes
on matters of substance are subject to NBCC Board approval.
THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE,
INC.
Box 6000 Radio City Station, New York, New York 10019
For Immediate Release...
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
President and Chairman
Eliot Fremont-Smith
BOOK CRITICS NOMINATE 25 TITLES FOR FOURTH ANNUAL NBCC AWARDS
The Villaae Voice
Vice President
Richard Locke
The New York Times
Book Review
Vice President
Clarence E. Ollon
SI. LouiS Post·Dis~tch
Treasurer
Larry Swindell
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Secretary
Robert R. Harris
Bookviews
Nona Balakian
The New York Tim"
Book Review
Barbara A. Bannon
Publishers Weekly
John Bladel
Chiclao Tribune
Book World
Walter Clemons
New York, December 11. The National Book Critics Circle,
at a voting mEeting today of its Board of Directors at the
Algonquin Hotel, announced the nominations of 25 outstanding
books published this year for the fourth annual National Book
Criti~s Circle Awards. Eligible titles are books written in
the English language by American authors and published for
the first time in the United States during the calendar year
1978. There are four Awards. categories: Fiction, Poetry,
General Nonfiction, and Criticism. In Fiction, Poetry, and
Criticism, there are five nominations, up to three of which
are chosen by a ballot of the regular membership, with the
remainder chosen by the Board. In the General Nonfiction
category, there are ten nominations, up to six of which are
chosen by a ballot of the regular membership, with the
remainder chosen by the Board
The nominated books are:
Newsweek
Timothy F.ote
Time
Francine du Pllllix Gray
Freelance Critic.
Elizabeth Hardwick
The New York Revi_
of Books
Susan Heath
FICTION:
The Coup, by John Updike (Knopf)
Final Payments, by Mary Gordon (Random House)
The Stories of John Cheever, by John Cheever (Knopf)
The ~Jorld According to Garp, by John Irving (Robbins/Dutton)
Wrinkles, by Charles Simmons (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
Saturday Review
John Leonard
The New York Tim"
Marlaret Manninl
The Boston Globe
William McPherson
Washinalon Post
Book World
Richard Poirier
Freelance Critic
ROler Rosenblatt
The Weshina\on Post
Ivan Sandrof
Freelance Critic
POETRY:
The Dream of a Common Language: Poems, 1974-1977. by Adrienne
Rich (Norton)
Hello, Darkness: The Collected Poems of L.E. Sissman, Edited by
Peter Davison (Atlantic-Little, Brown)
The Late Hour, by Mark Strand (Atheneum)
New & S~lected Things Taking Place, by May Swenson (Atlantic-Little.
Brown)
Spectral Emanations: New and Selected Poems, by John Hollander
(Atheneum)
Webster Schott
Freelance Critic
NBCC Journal Editor
HERBERT A. KENNY
Freelance Critic
(more)
-..
~
2
,...,0;
GENERAL NONFICTION:
A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century, by Barbara W. Tuchman (Knopf)
Facts of Life, by Maureen Howard (Little, Brown)
In Search of History: A Personal Adventure, by Theodore H. White (Harper & Row)
Injustice: The Social Bases of Obedience and Revolt, by Barrington Moore (Pantheon)
Inventing America: Jefferson's Declaration of Independence, by Garry Wills (Doubleday)
Lying: Moral Choice in Public and Private Life, by Sissela 'Bok (Pantheon)
Max Perkins: Editor of Genius, by A. Scott Berg (Congdon/Dutton)
New York Jew, by Alfred Kazin (Knopf)
Seeing Through Clothes, by Anne Hollander (Viking)
The Snow Leopard, by Peter ~latthiessen (Viking)
CRITICISM:
-And I Worked at the Writer's Trade: Chapters of Literary History, 1918-1978, by
Malcolm Cowley (Viking)
The Eye of the Story: Selected Essays and Reviews, by Eudora Welty (Random House)
Modern Art: 19th & 20th Centuries, Selected Papers, by Meyer Schapiro (Braziller)
Oriental ism, by Edward W. Said (Pantheon)
The World Within the Word: Essays, by William H. Gass (Knopf)
The Award winners will be chosen by the Board at its Awards voting meeting,
January 15, 1979, from among the nominations in each category. There will be one
Award winner each in the Fiction, Poetry, and Criticism categories, and two Award
winners in the General Nonfiction category.
The Awards presentation ceremonies will be held at the Time-Life Auditorium,
Rockefeller Center, New York.
Board voting procedures are del"iberately flexible and include weighted trial
ballots and discussion between ballots. No nominations chosen by the Board and
no Award winners are formally designated as such until a formal ratification vote,
stating that different procedure would not have produced different results, -is
approved by the Board at each of its voting meetings.
The 1977 NBCC Awards went to: Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison (Fiction);
Day by Day, by Robert Lowell (Poetry); Samuel Johnson, by W. Jackson Bate (General
Nonfiction); and On Photography, by Susan Sontag (Criticism)
The 1976 NBCC Awards went to: October Light, by John Gardner (Fiction);
Geography III, by Elizabeth Bishop (Poetry); The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a
Girlhood Among Ghosts, by Maxine Hong Kingston (General Nonfiction); and The
Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales, by Bruno
Bettelheim (Criticism).
The 1975 NBCC Awards went to: Ragtime, by E.L. Doctorow (Fiction); Self-Portrait
in a Convex Mirror, by John Ashbery (Poetry); Edith Wharton: A Biography, by R.W.B.
Lewis (General Nonfiction); and The Great War and Modern Memory, by Paul Fussell
(Criticism).
The NBCC was founded in 1974. Its regular membership consists of some 200 book
critics and book review editors around the country.
Contact: Jeannie Luciano or Lis1 Cade
(212)
354-5500