|
 |
Nobel prize : how? | ||
Tags: Literature | Multilingual | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Books, Literature & Reading |  | |
| numerodix Trilingual Hexaglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 6774 days ago 856 posts - 1226 votes  Speaks: EnglishC2*, Norwegian*, Polish*, Italian, Dutch, French Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin | Message 1 of 11 26 March 2010 at 11:04pm | IP Logged | ||
|
So when they award the Nobel prize for literature, how do they do that? I mean they have to read the stuff in the original language, obviously, to judge the merits of it. But how do they do that? Is there an office building somewhere in Stockholm with hundreds of people reading books and poetry? Do they have a steady stream of freshly graduated multilingual speakers coming in? And how do they know what's worth reading if their goal is to survey the entire literary output of the world in one year? Do they just go with what the critics of that country think? Did they ever give the prize to an author who was ignored by the local critics? Edited by numerodix on 26 March 2010 at 11:05pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5829 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 2 of 11 26 March 2010 at 11:30pm | IP Logged | ||
|
There is something called the Swedish Academy (of Literature). It has 18 members, I think, and it is considered a great honour to be invited. So far as I am aware it is this committee that makes the decision on who gets the prize.
But of course, there are some limitations as to who can win the prize - the books have to be available in some language that all the members can read in, usually they can't read in the original language. Also they've always been somewhat driven by politics / political correctness. For a short while they were conservative, then quite Red for a long while, neutral during the War, then anti-racist, pro feminist and so on. So it's never going to be just any well written and well plotted book that'll clinch it; there has to be something else going on too. Like with Herta Müller (last years winner ) - her stories were not only well written but touch on some very relevant European experiences; being a minority, language issues, life in Ceaucescu's Romania and her sense of alienation in Germany. It goes without saying that the language has to be flawless and elegant too.
Yes they do that almost on principle if the author happens to live in an authoritarian country that ignores or surpresses his/her work. Solzjenitzyn, Nadine Gordimer and many others are good examples. Edited by cordelia0507 on 26 March 2010 at 11:40pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| numerodix Trilingual Hexaglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 6774 days ago 856 posts - 1226 votes Speaks: EnglishC2*, Norwegian*, Polish*, Italian, Dutch, French Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin | Message 3 of 11 26 March 2010 at 11:33pm | IP Logged | ||
|
Wow, I'd never guess that they would read the book in translation. What if there was no translation yet? :) Edited by numerodix on 26 March 2010 at 11:34pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5829 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 4 of 11 26 March 2010 at 11:50pm | IP Logged | ||
I read that they sometimes read books in English or German but that's about it I think. Remember, they are Swedish. This prize is not 100% fair... For example it is biased towards European authors (although the Academy is aware of this criticism and try to counterweigh). It has also been very restrictive against giving Russian or American authors the prize. Authors who write in non-European languages are seriously under-represented among the winners. Frankly you might challenge a lot about this prize. To me it seems very subjective... 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| starst Triglot Senior Member China Joined 5505 days ago 113 posts - 133 votes Speaks: Mandarin*, Japanese, EnglishC2 Studies: FrenchC1, German, Norwegian | Message 5 of 11 29 March 2010 at 4:40am | IP Logged | ||
They wait until there is translation available... 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| prosaic Diglot Groupie China Joined 5792 days ago 44 posts - 58 votes Speaks: Mandarin*, French Studies: German, Russian, Esperanto, Latin | Message 6 of 11 29 March 2010 at 11:29am | IP Logged | ||
|
I don't think Nobel prize means a lot for the reader's choice; it's more an honor for the writer.
2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Marc Frisch Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6656 days ago 1001 posts - 1169 votes Speaks: German*, French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian Studies: Persian, Tamil | Message 7 of 11 29 March 2010 at 9:07pm | IP Logged | ||
It certainly is biased towards European languages. In my opinion, they almost always pick people who are worthy to receive it, though. But unfortunately, there are so many undisputed geniuses who never got the Nobel prize: Joyce, Ibsen, Nabokov, Borges, Tolstoy, Proust, Strindberg... 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| spanishlearner Groupie France Joined 5445 days ago 51 posts - 81 votes Speaks: Spanish* | Message 8 of 11 30 March 2010 at 5:27am | IP Logged | ||
|
It is also of course extremely biased towards leftists. If a writer is not one of those -no matter how accomplished- it's very difficult for him or her to be recognized by the Scandinavian committees. And this is of course not limited to the literature prize. For the peace prize all one needs to do is be anti-Republican. Sadly even the economics one has also been politicized beyond recognition.
Vargas Llosa: “No cambiaré mis convicciones para recibir premios literarios” 1 person has voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
