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Myshkin

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    Nobel Literature Prize Speculation: Jon Fosse

    in Literature

    Posted

    Okay, so Thursday’s the day. And I’ve got no clue. I’d hope they’d finally give it to Rushdie, but they won’t. Same for Kundera, Pynchon, DeLillo, Ngugi.

    Two notable names have died in the past month, Javier Marias and Hillary Mantel, but I believe the rule is they can still be awarded so long as they were on the shortlist before their death. Neither of them was likely on the shortlist however.

    I don’t know why, but I feel like this year they’ll go with an Asian writer. Duong Thu Huong would be great, so would Hwang Sok-yong, but my money’s on a Chinese author. So Can Xue, Yan Lianke, or Yu Hua.

    Pat Rothfuss XVII: Games, Bets, and Minecraft

    in Literature

    Posted

    36 minutes ago, Jaxom 1974 said:

    Do you think you could have done it in less than 70 pages?  With the wood nymph, or whatever she was...?  And karate in under 200 pages?  When you're having all that sexy time too?  I mean, like you said, no wasted space...

    I’ll have you know that every single pointless sex romp I’ve ever written has clocked in at under 15,000 words! Anything more than that is just gratuitous. I will however admit that my karate learning montages tend to fall into the 70-80 thousand word range.

    Pat Rothfuss XVII: Games, Bets, and Minecraft

    in Literature

    Posted

    On 12/21/2021 at 11:25 AM, Ninefingers said:

    Sorry for being late to the party (I've been away), but a point of clarification:

    The above is not quite correct. When he made the original claim, it was an unambiguous claim that books 2 & 3 were "good to go". Not needs light editing, not almost done, "good to go", don't have to write anymore. LINK

    Years later when called onto the carpet he attempted to retcon that earlier statement into it needed editing and i was over optimistic. But that's just not true. 

     

    I know the whole books 2 and 3 are already done thing is what everyone remembers from this interview, but rereading it I also came across this gem:

    - What do you feel is your strength as a writer/storyteller?

    Brevity.

    - Brevity? In a 600+ page novel?

    Heh. Yeah. It sounds ridiculous, but it's true. There's a reason everyone comments on the book being such a quick read. It's long, but it's tight. There isn't a lot of wasted space.

    This from the same guy who included a 70+ page pointless sex romp directly followed by like 200 pages of our hero learning karate (and having some more sex) in book 2.

    Pat Rothfuss XVII: Games, Bets, and Minecraft

    in Literature

    Posted

    20 hours ago, El Kabong said:

    I'm a huge cynic. I'd real money that prologue has been sitting on his hard drive for a decade and he's just releasing it now cause people are finally catching on to his bullshit.

    I mean seriously, we know he had at least parts of this book written before he published NotW, so what makes anyone think any of this is new material?

    Nobel Literature Prize Speculation: Jon Fosse

    in Literature

    Posted

    5 hours ago, Kyoshi said:

    I don't know how to check book sales and so forth, but the tweet has gone unchallenged. And maybe this says more about me and my ignorance, but I'd never heard about him until yesterday when he was announced as the winner.

    He’s definitely on the obscure side. The only reason I’ve heard of him is because past Booker shortlists are my go to when I’m looking for things to read. Even then, when they announced him yesterday, I didn’t recognize the name until I started looking up his books and found that one of them was on my Amazon wish list.

    Nobel Literature Prize Speculation: Jon Fosse

    in Literature

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Kyoshi said:

    Bittersweet for sure. Unless they try to be (extra) edgy next year by giving it to him anyway (crossing my fingers).

    Just saw on twitter Abdulrazak Gurnah has sold only 3000 copies of his books worldwide, combined.* The Swedish Academy is sketchy for sure, but I can't say I'm not also really happy about this one.

    *of course one has to take into account the accuracy of twitter claims.

    I feel like that has to be wrong, as one of his novels was Booker shortlisted. 

    Nobel Literature Prize Speculation: Jon Fosse

    in Literature

    Posted

    Some thoughts:

    I’m incredibly happy to see a Black African writer win the Nobel. It’s only the second time in the prize’s history, and the first time since Wole Soyinka won in ‘86.

    I’m pretty disappointed that the Swedish Academy didn’t select Ngugi. They missed out on Achebe, and now they’ll also miss out on Ngugi, and that’s not okay.

     

    Nobel Literature Prize Speculation: Jon Fosse

    in Literature

    Posted

    15 hours ago, Clueless Northman said:

    Wait, there's an official list of "Best novelists in France"? I'd like to see that, I've no idea who could be 1st (assuming it's not a previous Nobel like Modiano or Le Clezio).

    Both Modiano and Le Clezio were the eighth best novelist in France, but were then upgraded upon winning the Nobel 

    Nobel Literature Prize Speculation: Jon Fosse

    in Literature

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Gaston de Foix said:

    How long has the New Yorker been doing it?

    Although I confess I had not read her poetry before she was picked, I liked The Wild Iris a great deal.  And my preference was for a poet, and a lyric one at that.  So I'm happy. 

    It seems like a truism,  but there are many outstanding writers whose work is Nobel-worthy.  So long as the Academy doesn't give it to a genocide-denier, I'm happy.  

     

    I’m not unhappy with the choice, just kind of underwhelmed by it. This probably is mostly a product of my preference for prose. I’ve read several of Glück’s poems today, and they are indeed beautiful, but I’m just a novel kind of guy. That being said, this is the Academy’s corrective for the Dylan selection, and that bums me out. It means, as I said above, that DeLillo will never win (nor Pynchon, but that was a long shot anyway). 

    Nobel Literature Prize Speculation: Jon Fosse

    in Literature

    Posted

    Well one good thing about it being a poet rather than a novelist is that some of her work can be posted here:

    Aboriginal Landscapes

    By Louise Glück

    You’re stepping on your father, my mother said,
    and indeed I was standing exactly in the center
    of a bed of grass, mown so neatly it could have been
    my father’s grave, although there was no stone saying so.
     
    You’re stepping on your father, she repeated,
    louder this time, which began to be strange to me,
    since she was dead herself; even the doctor had admitted it.
     
    I moved slightly to the side, to where
    my father ended and my mother began.
     
    The cemetery was silent. Wind blew through the trees;
    I could hear, very faintly, sounds of  weeping several rows away,
    and beyond that, a dog wailing. 
     
    At length these sounds abated. It crossed my mind
    I had no memory of   being driven here,
    to what now seemed a cemetery, though it could have been
    a cemetery in my mind only; perhaps it was a park, or if not a park,
    a garden or bower, perfumed, I now realized, with the scent of roses — 
    douceur de vivre filling the air, the sweetness of  living,
    as the saying goes. At some point,
     
    it occurred to me I was alone.
    Where had the others gone,
    my cousins and sister, Caitlin and Abigail?
     
    By now the light was fading. Where was the car
    waiting to take us home?
     
    I then began seeking for some alternative. I felt
    an impatience growing in me, approaching, I would say, anxiety.
    Finally, in the distance, I made out a small train,
    stopped, it seemed, behind some foliage, the conductor
    lingering against a doorframe, smoking a cigarette.
     
    Do not forget me, I cried, running now
    over many plots, many mothers and fathers —
     
    Do not forget me, I cried, when at last I reached him.
    Madam, he said, pointing to the tracks,
    surely you realize this is the end, the tracks do not go further.
    His words were harsh, and yet his eyes were kind;
    this encouraged me to press my case harder.
    But they go back, I said, and I remarked
    their sturdiness, as though they had many such returns ahead of them.
     
    You know, he said, our work is difficult: we confront
    much sorrow and disappointment.
    He gazed at me with increasing frankness.
    I was like you once, he added, in love with turbulence.
     
    Now I spoke as to an old friend:
    What of  you, I said, since he was free to leave,
    have you no wish to go home,
    to see the city again?
     
    This is my home, he said.
    The city — the city is where I disappear

    Nobel Literature Prize Speculation: Jon Fosse

    in Literature

    Posted

    Louise Glück. How boring. Sorry, she’s probably a wonderful poet, but still a boring choice. I was kinda hoping that moving away from Europe would take the Academy a little farther afield, culturally speaking, than North America. There was a lot of speculation that after all the scandals over the last few years the Academy would go with a “safe” pick this year. But safe doesn’t have to mean bland. Ngugi would be a safe pick. Same with Condé or Can Xue. Also, now we know that Don DeLillo will never win.

    Nobel Literature Prize Speculation: Jon Fosse

    in Literature

    Posted

    21 hours ago, Gigei said:

    It's a real pity about Ko Un. He has a large body of work that would normally make him a contender for the Nobel but, alas, there are tons of proof that he is a habitual molester. I'm glad he has been exposed.

    It sucks when someone who has been loved and respected by so many for so long is revealed to be a complete piece of shit. But no matter how good you are at what you do, you don’t get a pass on shit like this. I too am glad he was exposed and now must live out the rest of his days as a pariah. He deserves it.

    From the Nobel standpoint, Ko Un’s exposure might just clear the way for Hwang Sok-yong. Ko was such a towering figure in Korean literature that it was hard for anyone else to get any breathing room. But for my money Hwang is the more deserving of the two, though that’s probably just because I prefer the novel to poetry.

    Nobel Literature Prize Speculation: Jon Fosse

    in Literature

    Posted

    Somewhat surprisingly Ladbrokes dropped their odds today:

    Maryse Conde: 4/1

    Lyudmilla Ulitskaya: 5/1

    Haruki Murakami: 6/1

    Margaret Atwood: 6/1

    Nugugi wa Thiong’o: 8/1

    Anne Carson: 10/1

    Javier Marias: 10/1

    Ko Un: 10/1

    Yan Lianke: 12/1

    Amos Oz: 16/1

    Don DeLillo: 16/1

    So I think we can immediately discount Amos Oz, as he’s dead. Also Ko Un, as he’s been revealed to be a sexual predator. Murakami and Atwood are also highly unlikely. Bizarrely Ladbrokes managed to misspell both Atwood’s (Attwood) and DeLillo’s (DeLilo) names.

     

    Nobel Literature Prize Speculation: Jon Fosse

    in Literature

    Posted

    16 minutes ago, Gigei said:

    Where should I start with Olga Tokarczuk? Specifically, which one of her works is more newbie friendly towards a reader who doesn't know much about Polish history?

    I’m not the best person to answer this question, since I’ve only read one of her books, but that book, Primeval and Other Times, didn’t require any special knowledge of Polish history.

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