Dec

21

It Was A Dark And Stormy Year.

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

December 21, 2007 |

Defining the absolute worst may be at least as difficult as defining the best, if not more so. After all, very few writers deliberately set out to be bad. Lord Edward Bulwer-Lytton didn’t try to be a bad writer, but, even if you’ve never heard of him, or his novel Paul Clifford, you’re probably familiar with the opening line: “It was a dark and stormy night…”

Sometimes maybe it’s better to be infamous than famous, though. The Department of English at San Jose State University (California) has its annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, giving out awards for the worst intentional writing. The 2007 overall winner is Jim Gleeson of Madison, Wisconsin, although the award recognizes runners-up, as well as winners in the categories of Adventure, Children’s Literature, Detective, Fantasy Fiction, Purple Prose, Historical Fiction, Romance, Science Fiction, Western, and even Vile Puns. There are also numerous Dishonorable Mentions.

There’s also the Guardian newspaper’s annual Bad Sex Award. While I could delay gratification and insert huge, throbbing pieces of this year’s runners-up, I’ll just come right out and say that Norman Mailer is the 2007 winner. Mailer died shortly before he could receive the award. Hail and farewell, Mr. Mailer. It’s fitting you went out on a sour note.


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