Jonas Gardsby is a writer and scholar of literary nonfiction. He is an Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. An earlier essay on Annie Dillard appeared in Matter and a career assessment of her husband Robert D. Richardson appeared in Lit Hub. He created and regularly updates The Annie Dillard Log website, the most extensive scholarly resource for researching her work and career. Email: jonas.gardsby [at] gmail.com
by Jonas Gardsby Annie Dillard is now ineligible for the Nobel Prize. The Swedish Academy won’t award it posthumously. In light of her recent passing, however, I think it is worth reflecting on the idea that she should have won the prize. While you could try to make the case solely on the merit of her style, the implications…