Summary

Arthur meets the other finalists who have been nominated for the literary prize in Turin. They are a highly eclectic and interesting group of writers, each confident and self-possessed. Arthur earns that the winner is chosen by a group of high school students, and he does not know who will win, but he does not believe that he will. Arthur recalls when Robert won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Robert, Arthur, and the rest of the Russian River School had a celebration. One of the RRS members, Stella, who was also a Pulitzer Prize-winner, warned Arthur that winning such an award doomed one to a life of giving lectures but never producing any new work. Robert later told him that, in the end, the award didn't really mean anything, because formal accolades were not the same as love. Arthur is distracted and disinterested...