This year's Orange Prize was yet another seamless demonstration of the award's effortless superiority in the world of book laurels. The face that Orange presents to the literary community is a confident assertion of contemporary literary values in a traditional context.
What could be more normal than handing a cheque for £30,000 to the author of a hardback novel published by the internationally distinguished 'literary fiction' list of Hodder Headline's Review imprint?
Beneath the surface, however, the ice is melting. Orange, a pioneer in so many ways, is also leading the way in its exploitation of the internet to promote the prize and to stimulate creativity. Kate Mosse, the founder of the prize, has used the internet to explore new methods of composition, developing online writing while at the same time promoting Orange.
Just now, all the signs are pointing towards a new and intriguing cultural trend: books inspired by, and even published on, the worldwide web. As I write, Dave Eggers, author of A Staggering Work of Heartbreaking Genius is publishing a serial novel, Dickens-style, through the internet magazine, Salon.
We have been here before. In 1999, Stephen King tried to publish a book on the internet, but the venture failed, chiefly because he could not, or would not, devise a way of charging for his work.
Now there is a new phenomenon - blogging - that seems to have made the difference. Last year, one of the only good things to come out of the Iraq war was the Baghdad Blogger, Salam Pax.
The Blogger's diary, first aired on the web, then published by the Guardian, subsequently appeared as a conventional book. But its roots lay firmly on the internet. Like thousands of writers before him, Salam Pax used his internet web-log to 'say things they would never say to just anyone'. As an opponent of Saddam Hussein, most of the things he expressed would, he says, 'have either gotten me stoned for my sins or hanged for political deviance'.
The other country in which blogs have really taken off is the United States. Hit & Run, the Black Table, Dong Resin, Zulkey, Low Culture, Old Hag, Press Think and I Keep a Diary are just some of the more high profile of the American blogs. In the political arena, some of these blogs play an important role in shaping debate. It won't be long before they find a creative role, too.
Last week, the New Yorker, seemingly unaware of the Baghdad blogger, breathlessly reported the imminent appearance of 'books by bloggers' in the tone ancient Romans used to reserve for their first sighting of a stray Visigoth.
And because this is America, not only are there bloggers writing novels online, there are also literary agents surfing the net, keeping an eye out for a glimmer of literary talent in the encircling gloom of the new medium.
It is not as stupid as it sounds. Although some bloggers concede that many of their number have very little of importance to say, in the end the new medium will throw up if not a William Shakespeare at least a Dave Eggers.
There are more than a million blogs out there, and as the late Roger Straus, one of the great postwar publishers, notable for his plain speaking, was fond of observing: 'Even a blind pig will eventually find his truffle.'
robert.mccrum@observer.co.uk