The Nobel Prize of Literature

In less than two hours The Swedish Academy will announce this year's winner of the Nobel Prize of Literature. Maybe it would be a fun idea to have a thread where we discuss the winner; another author we've never heard of.

Seriously though, I am a bit of a retard when it comes to literature. I watch a lot of movies and TV and listen to music and try to keep of with politics and what goes on in the world around us, but I read far too few books.

In my morning paper they had a top 20 list with authors most likely to win the prize (plus three dark horses). I had heard the name of the number one spot, syrian poet Adonis (real name Ali Ahmad Said), but I'm not sure if I'm not thinking of a greek god. Then there's a swede, a poet named Tomas Tranströmer, who I've heard of many times but never read to my knowledge. The rest of the names - nope.

One of the dark horses, and a dark horse every year, is Bob Dylan. But what are the odds really....

Here's the list:

1. Adonis, Syria
2. Orhan Pamuk, Turkey
3. Ismail Kadaré, Albania
4. Inger Christensen, Norway
5. Tomas Tanströmer, Sweden
6. J M G Le Clézio, France
7. Ryzard Kapuscinski, Poland
8. Philip Roth, USA
9. Assia Djebar, Algeria
10. Nuruddin Farah, Somalia

11. Amos Oz, Israel
12. Joyce Carol Oates, USA
13. Gennadij Ajgi, Russia
14. Les Murray, Australia
15. Hertha Müller, Romania/Germany
16. Antonio Taubucchi, Italy
17. Don DeLilio, USA
18. Ko Un, South Korea
19. Pramoedya Ananta Toer, Indonesia
20. Adam Zagajewskij, Poland

Dark Horses: Claudio Magris (Italy), Bob Dylan (USA), Jon Fosse (Norway)

Source: Sydsvenska Dagbladet, 2005-10-13

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The novelist does not long to see the lion eat grass. He realizes that one and the same God created the wolf and the lamb, then smiled, "seeing that his work was good".

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They had temporarily escaped the factories, the warehouses, the slaughterhouses, the car washes - they'd be back in captivity the next day but now they were out - they were wild with freedom. They weren't thinking about the slavery of poverty. Or the slavery of welfare and food stamps. The rest of us would be all right until the poor learned how to make atom bombs in their basements.

When I wake up, I might recognize someone on there besides Dylan…

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And it was playwright and screenwriter Harold Pinter who won the 2005 award.



Pinter also has published works of poetry and prose, but it is as a playwright that he is primarily known. Of his thirty-some plays The Birthday Party, The Caretaker, The Homecoming and Betrayal are among his key works, and many of his pieces have been categorized as Theatre of the Absurd. He's worked on over twenty screenplays, including the adaptations of The Pumpkin Eater, The Go-Between, The Handmaid's Tale, The Quiller Memorandum and The French Lieutenant's Woman. As an actor he has appeared on screen as well, my favorite being the patriarch Sir Thomas Bertram in Patricia Rozema's underseen adaptation of Jane Austen's Mansfield Park (2000). He's also directed for the stage, about thirty productions over the years, including many of his own works.

Born in Hackney in London in 1930, he has been married to author Antonia Fraser, his second wife, since 1980. Pinter has become more and more fiercely political in his later years, including calling for the impeachment of Tony Blair in 2003 in the aftermath of the Iraq War and reportedly turning down knighthood in the 1990s from Prime Minister John Major.

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Joyce Carol Oates?!

Agh!

I hate her stuff.

That's Amos Oz, and he'll probably win it one of these years.


Of the authors on that list, I recommend Orhan Pamuk. His writing is wonderful. Even though he's only in his early 50s I think he'll probably get the Nobel in the next handful of years. His memoir, Istanbul: Memories & the City, is his most recent book, but his latest novel, Snow, is now available in paperback and very, very good.

Hey, I liked his book Underworld. slow going at first, but it was a good book.

Still holding out for Bob Dylan to win, cause he's my favourite on the list.

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I pause in Pinter's honor.

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I'm so happy that Pinter won this award. He's possibly one of the most understated playwrights I've read. His work is so funny, odd, and uncomfortable for the reader/audience. Congrats, Harold Pinter!

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My Reputation: Holy Crap, I'm Well thought of!!!?? I think we're going a little far here??

I've corrected it.

Some of you seem to be well aware of who Pinter is. Of course I had never heard of him before although I think I've seen The French Lieutenant's Woman long ago. But after having heard about him on the news and so on (thanks for the informative post btw, Holden) I think it's an interesting choice. And with several cases connected to the movies as well.

Pinter has mostly been, if I've understood correctly, writing for the stage. I wonder when and if a writer for movies will get the prize and who that might be. Any thoughts?

Off the top of my head, I'd say Kurosawa, because he deals with such universal topics.

Well to be clear, he adapted the novel by John Fowles, The French Lieutenant's Woman is not original to him. A lot of his screen work is in adaptation....which is an art in itself.

Faulkner spent some time in Hollywood, but obviously that's not what he won the Nobel for.

To answer your question, no, I don't think you'll ever see somebody who is primarily a screenwriter win the Nobel. If Charlie Kaufman kept up this level of brilliance for three decades you still wouldn't see him get the medal.

I doubt you'll ever see a cartoonist win the Nobel either. Maus won the Pulitzer, but I don't think you'll see Spiegelman ever get the Nobel. It just ain't gonna happen.

Kaufman is actually a really good suggestion and makes me believe that a screenwriter receiving the prize could happen, even if Kaufman necessarily isn't the one.

I'm thinking of what I've heard about Pinter, that it's the pauses between the words that is essential in a lot of his work. That means that the text is meant to be acted out, that you need to do something more with it than just read it. So, if a playwright can get the prize, a writer/director perhaps could convince the Academy as well.

David Lynch? Bergman? John Sayles? .... just throwing out names here ....

can i just say that Pinter is a man who signed a petition to release Slobodan Milosevich from jail and was against NATO's intervention in Serbia? yeah, regardless of his acomplishments as a writer, way to go Academy....

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The Academy's job is not to award someone because of the political views of that person. It is to base its decision on the work of the writer.

And the things you're mentioning, signing a petition and being against NATO's intervention, are not that controversial really. Even if for you, perhaps, they are. And even though I'm not agreeing with him in those two particular cases, I think you might be misunderstanding his reasons for having those views.

Which "Academy" are you talking about? The Norwegian Nobel Committee?

his view on the various wars miloshevich started was that according to him, no crimes have been proven and until they are he should remain free....that's a pretty insane attitude....not controvesial?! yes, i'm sure that the families of 8 thousand slaughtered muslims in Srebrenica think that advocating Miloshevich's freedom is not controversial , not to mention people in Vukovar, Sarajevo, Kosovo etc.....yes, NATO should have tried to talk some sense to Miloshevich...i'm fully aware that the man is a pacifist, i wonder if he would be a pacifist if he lived in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina or Kosovo in the early 90's....it's so easy to advocate pacifisam when you're living in a safe little home thousands of miles away from the war.....

bite me

thanks for the negative rep holden, appreciate it, but i wonder, pidzilla also mentioned the academy, why not dump on her too? and while you're at it, what was the purpose of pointing out my mistake ( and a very trivial mistake at that )? do you take pleasure in pointing out other people's mistakes? it makes you feel better about yourself? what a charming man you are....

Some pleasure, sure! And it can indeed make me feel a bit better, depending on what kind of day I had.

Awwwww, shucks. Thanks. But I still won't go past first base on our first date. Well, not unless you take me to a really expensive restaurant. That'll buy you a little second base.

Just honk the horn, I'll be ready by 8:00.

He's also against the war in Iraq like many, many other people, which isn't a very controversial standpoint. Do you see what I mean? There was a lot of people who were against the NATO intervention, mainly because they didn't understand the suffering and the slaughter that was going on. Isn't it possible that Pinter was one of them?

He's talking about The Swedish Academy.

"Her"??? Now wait a minute... I'm not manly enough for you? Now that hurt.