Mercer Times

Gene Jarrett, dean of the faculty at Princeton University and the William S. Tod Professor of English, has been selected to receive the Truman Capote Literary Trust Award for Literary Criticism in Memory of Newton Arvin for his biography, “Paul Laurence Dunbar: The Life and Times of a Caged Bird.”

The $30,000 prize is administered by the Iowa Writers’ Workshop on behalf of the estate of Truman Capote and is the largest annual cash prize for English-language literary criticism, according to the organization.

The selection committee noted the impact of Jarrett’s work, saying: “What is particularly powerful in Gene Jarrett's landmark biography of Paul Laurence Dunbar is his emphasis on the cruel paradoxes of the poet's career, particularly how the standard of racial authenticity became 'a cage from which escape remained impossible.' Jarrett's narrative is so absorbing because it tells in novelistic detail of a personal life and literary career that verged on the tragic.”

In "Paul Laurence Dunbar: The Life and Times of a Caged Bird" (Princeton University Press, 2022), Jarrett tells a new story of the complexities of Dunbar’s life and career as an African American writer in the Gilded Age. It was selected as one of The New Yorker’s best books of 2022.

A 1997 Princeton graduate, Jarrett said he is honored to receive the award, particularly because he joins two previous Princeton winners: Susan Stewart (2004) and Elaine Showalter (2012) — both of whom hold the title of Avalon Foundation University Professor of the Humanities, Emeritus, and professor of English, emeritus.

"To be a part of that lineage of success is incredible," he said. "I still remember when I decided to major in English at Princeton. I never envisioned a day would come when, as a professor at Princeton, I could regard my writing of a biography as truly well done."

He said receiving the award is also meaningful for him because it shines a light on the positive impact of literature, humanities and higher education.

“When you celebrate literary criticism, you celebrate the humanities," he said. "The humanities imbue us with a deeper understanding of what it means to be human in this world."

Jarrett will accept his award at a dinner ceremony at the Iowa Writers' Workshop on Oct. 2.