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Nobel Literature Prize Speculation: Jon Fosse


Myshkin
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Was it a forum full of David Gilmour and alts? It was probably insufficient white straight male for him.

I hate that this guy's name is David Gilmour! Not only is he a prick because of his insane, idiotic opinions, but also because he is sullying the name of a genuine rock god.

I too am glad that the Nobel committee endorsed the short story form with this award. They are much harder to write than people give them credit for.

Yeah, with a short story you can't really count on a plot to carry you through, and so have to be very precise with your themes. I don't think short story writers get enough credit for that.

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There have been lovely interviews with Munro and people associated with her on the radio and tv all day. The most charming one was a repeat from more than 20 years ago, where she explained no matter how hard she tried she couldn't write a novel, it's a format that simply doesn't seem to be in her.



I've been reading her stories forever in the New Yorker. She makes the storytelling seem so very easy, but one of her editors said one of the things he always has to tell her is to stop revising. Her New Yorker editor said she especially likes to work over her endings.


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Alice Munro commenting on Alice Munro's win.

I checked in just to post this. :lol: My mother adores Alice Munro, sadly, I don't think she will understand the hilarity of kitteh Munro.

Discouraging reports of literary sexism--I wonder what happens when a woman wins one of the hard-science prizes?

snow "Always want win Nobbel Prise" leo

Edited by snowleo
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  • 3 weeks later...

Ladbrokes started to take bets for the next year's prize, too early for their list to be useful, but I think we can start speculating.



The American writer probably won't get the prize next year since the North American writer won in 2013, East Asians, Latin Americans and poets I think we can preliminary rule out too on the similar basis(won recently and the Academy is novel and Euro centric). African writers were rumoured for this year, and it well be we'll get one next year to complete continent cycle(South America 2010, Europe 2011, Asia 2012, North America 2013), technically there is Oceania, but I can't really think who might be candidate from there.Europe of course hasn't got a winner for two years in a row now which is unusual, so it's also the place to look.Another possible angle to influence decision might be the coming 100 year anniversary of World War I, very influential event in general and in literature in part, so the Academy might be more inclined toward authors writing mainly war/conflict themed works.



And as for potential candidates Mia Couto won 2014 Neustadt Prize, which might or might not improve his chances.


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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

The Nobel archives for 1963 are now open.



The nomintons that year included: Giorgos Seferis, Vladimir Nabokov, Mikhail Sholokhov, Yukio Misima, WH Auden, Pablo Neruda, Samuel Beckett, Aksel Sandemose, Nelly Sachs and Charles de Gaulle.


A strong year, four of the candidates went to won the prize later, Auden, Nabokov and Misima probably should've won, but didn't. Seferis, Auden and Neruda chosen as the candidates, Neruda was passed (if google translate from Swedish can be believed)because he apparently was too Stalinist, so it came down to Austen and Seferis where Seferis was chosen as the representative of the Hellinic literature that wasn't rewarded with the prize yet, as opposed to English/American one.



Sholokhov wasn't selected because of similar concerns as Neruda, Nabokov's Lolita was found to be immoral and Becketts writings were found to be nihilistic, negativistic and depressing.Thankfully it appears that soon there was a generation change in the academy, as such thinks stopped being a hindrance for author to win the prize.With Misima they weren't sure he was more deserving than other 4 Japanese nominees, in that light 1968 archives would be interesting to read.

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The Nobel archives for 1963 are now open.

The nomintons that year included: Giorgos Seferis, Vladimir Nabokov, Mikhail Sholokhov, Yukio Misima, WH Auden, Pablo Neruda, Samuel Beckett, Aksel Sandemose, Nelly Sachs and Charles de Gaulle.

A strong year, four of the candidates went to won the prize later, Auden, Nabokov and Misima probably should've won, but didn't. Seferis, Auden and Neruda chosen as the candidates, Neruda was passed (if google translate from Swedish can be believed)because he apparently was too Stalinist, so it came down to Austen and Seferis where Seferis was chosen as the representative of the Hellinic literature that wasn't rewarded with the prize yet, as opposed to English/American one.

Sholokhov wasn't selected because of similar concerns as Neruda, Nabokov's Lolita was found to be immoral and Becketts writings were found to be nihilistic, negativistic and depressing.Thankfully it appears that soon there was a generation change in the academy, as such thinks stopped being a hindrance for author to win the prize.With Misima they weren't sure he was more deserving than other 4 Japanese nominees, in that light 1968 archives would be interesting to read.

Mishima being only 38 years old at the time says a lot about what they thought of him. In '68 I'm betting Kawabata got the nod over Mishima by simple dint of him being 69 to Mishima's 43. Had Mishima won that year he'd be the second youngest to ever win the lit prize (Kipling was 42). I don't blame the Academy in any way for Mishima being passed over, he was only 45 years old at his death, and I believe that the final part of his masterpiece, The Sea of Fertility, had yet to be published.

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With Misima they weren't sure he was more deserving than other 4 Japanese nominees

Also I wonder who the other four Japanese nominees were in '63. Kawabata seems obvious, Jun'ichiro Tanizaki almost certainly as well, but the other two I can only guess at. Maybe Kobo Abe. And I can't come up with a fourth.

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The age hypothesis is sound, there are however allegations that he was poised to win the prize, but at the last moment some Scandinavian writer intervened.It should be noted that there there were rumours along the same vein about WH Auden which seem to be unfounded.It would be nice to get some definite answers on that front as well as how he was compared to other Japanese writers in 1968, I assume there were more than Mishima and Kawabata that year.Personally I think that shared the prize would be a better decision, much like Agnon and Sachs shared the prize as representatives of jewish literature(in general I think that for some reason shared prizes are underused in literature Nobel), I think that Mishima has written enough at that point to be considered worthy of the prize and maybe that hindsight, but reading through his biography he seemed to be the type who would die young.Kawabata of course is also worthy and since Mishima quite clearly was strongly influenced by him provides additional justification for the shared award.





Also I wonder who the other four Japanese nominees were in '63. Kawabata seems obvious, Jun'ichiro Tanizaki almost certainly as well, but the other two I can only guess at. Maybe Kobo Abe. And I can't come up with a fourth.



Rereading the Nobel website, there is some confusion about the number of Japanese nominees




Yukio Mishima, one of the new candidates this year, was one of four Japanese nominees and it was decided that his authorship was not yet to be given preference in comparison with the other four from Japan.



One of these fours has to be a mistake(or else one non-japanese writer from japan?).Asahi paper seem to think that there were three beside Mishima, and guesses Kawabata, Tanizaki and Junzaburo Nishiwaki. While Kawabata seems natural, I find it weird that he wasn't mentioned specifically and had to be guessed.i wish people at charge would finally update the nominees database at the Nobel website beyond 1950 and would save us all the chore of sifting through myriad of online newspapers.



ETA:Found this: http://english.kyodonews.jp/photos/assets/201401/0103021-thumbx300.jpg which gives us to more nominees for the year : Vilhelm Moberg and Ramon Menendez Pidal


Edited by Schlimazl
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  • 4 months later...

Since the nominees for the 2014 Prize are in (210 total, 36 first timers) I thought we'd start this up again. Here are links to some lists of possible candidates discussed earlier in the thread: 1, 2, 3, 4.

Here's a few more names to consider (once again, a * by the name means I haven't read the author):

Cees Nooteboom*: Primarily known as a novelist, Nooteboom is also a poet and travel writer, and has been mentioned as a viable Nobel candidate for years now. His novels deal with the themes of meaning and meaninglessness, displacement and acceptance. He won the Austrian State Prize in 2002. If he won the Nobel he'd be the first Dutch writer to be awarded the Prize (even though Mulisch totally deserved one).

Enrique Vila-Matas*: Vila-Matas is a Spanish writer known for exploring existential themes with sharp wit, and for combining disparate styles to create a unique narrative voice. He's won a slew of literary awards, including this year's Prix Formentor. Although I think the fact that he's Spanish will hurt his chances, since I feel that if the Academy goes to Spain they'll choose Javier Marias.

Marilynne Robinson: I actually don't think Robinson has much of a chance, but since she won was shortlisted for the 2013 Booker International, I felt I should mention her. I've only read one of her novels (Housekeeping, which I thought was great), but from that I can say I found her major strength was in building atmosphere. Her novel Gilead won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. I doubt her chances for two reasons: 1) she's American, and 2) her body of work is relatively slight.

Laszlo Krasznahorkai*: Krasznahorkai has been around for a long time, but it's only fairly recently that he's gained a large international following. It seems over the past few years that he's gone from relative obscurity to being everyone's favorite wirter, or at least critical darling. I undertand that his novels are dense, difficult, and beautiful. I'm not really sure what to think of Krasznahorkai's chances, but if everything I hear about his books is true I figure he's got a decent shot at it.

Once again this year the author I would most like to see win is Milan Kundera, and will reamain so for every year until he is no longer eligible.

I'm also gonna double down on Ngugi as who I think will win this year. If you consider the last four winners they came from South America, Europe, Asia, and North America respecively. It's Africa's turn.

Also worth considering is that the Academy might feel it's time for the first ever back-to-back female winners, in which case I'd say Assia Djebar and Anita Desai have good chances at it.

Correction: I don't know why I thought Marilynne Robinson won the 2013 Booker International; she was shortlisted for the prize, but Lydia Davis won it.

Edited by Myshkin
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I think Kundera has better chances to win this year, he got a new book out for first time in years and the recent events in Eastern Europe might remind the members of the academy that there is this worthy candidate.


Svetlana Alexievich is also a possibility I think, once again because of the political climate and being well known in Sweden.The fact that Russian language authors haven't won the award for quite some time might also help.


Beyond that i agree that Africa looks likely.


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I too have hopes that Kundera's new novel will push him over the top. I've heard really good things about it, but will have to wait until I believe late 2015 for the English translation.



I read an article last year by a guy who set out to test Ladbrokes' oddsmaking system. Among other things he placed a large bet on Svetlana Alexievich, who after the bet went from not even being listed to being a frontrunner. So I don't much believe in her chances.


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