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Nobel Literature Prize Speculation: Jon Fosse


Myshkin
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I forgot to mention that the delay in announcing the winner this year is very interesting. Maybe the Academy is just tired of the Peace Prize folks stealing their thunder, but the delay is more likely to mean that the judges are having a difficult time agreeing on a winner. And that means there's a decent chance we get a controversial laureate this year. Could be some one like Adunis, who some might feel is too political, or another Jelinek type writer (who that would be I don't know). Or maybe, just maybe, some members of the Academy are pushing for one of the big name snubs: Pynchon, Roth, Kundera, Rushdie. That last part is probably just wishful thinking though. 

ETA: Just checked Ladbrokes and found that Don DeLillo's odds have gone up considerably.

Edited by Myshkin
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17 hours ago, Myshkin said:

I forgot to mention that the delay in announcing the winner this year is very interesting. Maybe the Academy is just tired of the Peace Prize folks stealing their thunder, but the delay is more likely to mean that the judges are having a difficult time agreeing on a winner. And that means there's a decent chance we get a controversial laureate this year. Could be some one like Adunis, who some might feel is too political, or another Jelinek type writer (who that would be I don't know). Or maybe, just maybe, some members of the Academy are pushing for one of the big name snubs: Pynchon, Roth, Kundera, Rushdie. That last part is probably just wishful thinking though. 

ETA: Just checked Ladbrokes and found that Don DeLillo's odds have gone up considerably.

In their defense, while it may be true that this sort of thing went on, the Academy said this was simply because of the schedule and how the days landed this year with the desire to announce on a Thursday and the last Thursday of September (the first day they meet) landing on the 29th.

Don DeLillo now at 12/1 - up from 66/1 just the other day.  Often a sign of a winner, or at least of someone on a leaked shortlist.  He'd be an interesting choice.

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I'd say it's a pretty good bet that DeLillo is on the shortlist. A lot of times the odds move in the final days, but it's usually perennial front runners moving from around 12/1 to 5/1, and that can be explained by last minute betting. DeLillo moving from 66/1 to 12/1 is something else. I'd also say that Ngugi and Adunis are likely on the shortlist as well. 

Here's something else to consider: earlier this year the Academy, after only 27 years of silence, finally officially condemned the fatwa against Rushdie. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Rushdie, but I'll be delighted if it's DeLillo. 

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OK, I am pushing for Freddie Mercury now :D

Jokes aside, I think I will need some time to think about this. Generally, I like Dylan's songs and but I was hoping Murakami could take this one. Not to mention Roth or Kundera. IDK, it is not the worst choice, but IMHO, not the best either. 

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I'm honestly shocked. I'm one of the people who has believed for awhile that Dylan was a ladbrokes con - a way of getting suckers to bet money on someone who was never going to win. My reaction on seeing it this morning was...go back in this thread and you'll find evidence to roast me on.

Simple twist of fate, I guess.

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There has been talk about Dylan as a candidate for many years, probably 2 or more decades. With all respect, I find it a somewhat bizarre choice but this is of course not at all uncommon for the Nobel comittee. When Dario Fo who just died received the prize some people also were puzzled and there were other odd cases before, e.g. middle/low brow author Pearl S. Buck

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YES! :D  Although I know and understand the arguments against why a musician/songwriter might be miscategorized, I can totally support this selection, not least of which for me being a longtime fan of his music/lyrics.

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The award isn't for novels alone though, is it? Plays and poetry are eligible, so why not lyrics? It seems a bit of a arbitrary distinction to draw.

That said, I do wonder if they Nobel Committee thought the chances of Dylan coming down with a case of 2016 was getting pretty high so they decided to give some recognition whilst he's still alive.

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I don't want to sound like I think Dylan is shit; I like him, I like his music, and I recognize his impact. That said I don't think he deserves the Nobel Prize in Literature. But it's not him winning the prize that pisses me off; it's the circumstances under which he won the prize. By giving Dylan the prize this year the Academy is saying unequivocally that two generations of American writers are undeserving. The are saying that American postmodernism and late era American realism as movements are undeserving. Can anyone, even their detractors, honestly say that Bob Dylan deserves the world's biggest literary prize more than Thomas Pynchon, Philip Roth, or Don DeLillo? More than Joyce Carol Oates, Richard Ford, Cormac McCarthy, or John Ashbery?

Not to make light of a person's death, but it's fitting that this announcement came just hours after Dario Fo passed away. Guess the Academy felt it was time to choose another living reminder of just how petty they can be.

Edited by Myshkin
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6 hours ago, Myshkin said:

Can anyone, even their detractors, honestly say that Bob Dylan deserves the world's biggest literary prize more than Thomas Pynchon, Philip Roth, or Don DeLillo? More than Joyce Carol Oates, Richard Ford, Cormac McCarthy, or John Ashbery?

 

Or Ursula K. LeGuin.

And the prize for Dylan makes sure they never will get a Nobel. Next American laureate due in 20 years :-(

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1 hour ago, OlafK said:

Or Ursula K. LeGuin.

And the prize for Dylan makes sure they never will get a Nobel. Next American laureate due in 20 years :-(

That's the big problem right there. But hey, maybe they'll get enough blowback from this that they'll feel compelled to right a previous wrong next year. Salman Rushdie 2017!

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21 hours ago, Myshkin said:

I don't want to sound like I think Dylan is shit; I like him, I like his music, and I recognize his impact. That said I don't think he deserves the Nobel Prize in Literature. But it's not him winning the prize that pisses me off; it's the circumstances under which he won the prize. By giving Dylan the prize this year the Academy is saying unequivocally that two generations of American writers are undeserving. The are saying that American postmodernism and late era American realism as movements are undeserving. Can anyone, even their detractors, honestly say that Bob Dylan deserves the world's biggest literary prize more than Thomas Pynchon, Philip Roth, or Don DeLillo? More than Joyce Carol Oates, Richard Ford, Cormac McCarthy, or John Ashbery?

Not to make light of a person's death, but it's fitting that this announcement came just hours after Dario Fo passed away. Guess the Academy felt it was time to choose another living reminder of just how petty they can be.

This is exactly how I feel. I'm not opposed to thinking "outside the box" but this is a slap in the face of deserving American authors who will be essentially ignored. An entire generation, cast to the wastebin. Another American won't get his award for decades and they're all being thrown away to do some lame stunt to show how "relevant" they are. I like Dylan, I appreciate his impact to music. But the award is for literature. I'm not even certain his song lyrics could or should be considered literature.  I'm not certain he's the best living songwriter. Or the best American songwriter.

There were ways to go outside the box. The Academy chose a dumb one. You want to get the attention of the literary world?  Give it to Pynchon or Ursula le Guin - show that genre and postmodernism are important.  You want to honor the greatest living American author?  Go with Roth or DeLillo, McCarthy or Ford. You want to draw attention to short fiction, which sometimes seems to be a dying art in this country? Joyce Carol Oates. You want to make a political statement and be "outside the box?" Give it to Tony Kushner.

The fact that most of that list will never ever be considered for this award should be heartbreaking. But sure...Blood on the Tracks is great. *sigh*

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Even though the Literature prize hasn't been as controversial as the Peace one, let's remember that the very first one was awarded to Sully Prudhomme, who's totally forgotten even by the French, instead of, say Zola, or even a few later laureates like Kipling and Sienkiewicz - who would already have been worthier candidates in 1900. Not to mention they went way beyond mere literary considerations with awarding Bertrand Russell and Winston Churchill (and Bergson and Sartre, probably)...

(I also agree that the committee seems to favour way more often European writers than US ones these last years, specially a few countries like France and Germany - as if modern French literature was more than a shadow of what it once was)

 

Also worth noting that Dylan himself hasn't officially reacted, as far as I know. He must be as puzzled as most commenters. One can even wonder if he's considering rejecting it because it looks too "out there", or he's not seeing himself as making literature - he could try totally ignoring it, but that would be a tough act to maintain over the years.

 

On ‎09‎.‎09‎.‎2015 at 9:12 PM, banjax451 said:

I now get a yearly laugh at the Ladbrokes "sucker bets" - Dylan, Gaiman, Mantell.

Makes me wonder who should be considered a "sucker bet" for this US presidential election ;)

Edited by Clueless Northman
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