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It’s rarely awarded to the latest best-sellers, yes, and the Academy has a well-earned reputation for not picking the most obvious choices. It’s not intended to reflect popular taste.
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That list has quite a few bestselling authors in their time... Hemingway, Pearl S. Buck, Thomas Mann, Wlliam Golding etc. They were hardly 'obscure' writers when they were awarded the Nobel Prize for Lit.
If Kertesz had not won the prize, I doubt if I would have read him. I did and found his writing less effective and less moving than Primo Levi (cf. above).
However, I must be honest, if Mahfouz had not won, I doubt if I would ever have read him. I did and was completely hooked!