Nobel Prize in Literature 2016 Speculation

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pinkunicorn

pinkunicorn

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Odds changes on the final morning:

Ngugi Wa Thiong'o 5 -> 6
Haruki Murakami 6 -> 7
Don DeLillo 13 -> 9
Claudio Magris 34 -> 13
Bob Dylan 51 -> 17

It seems that Thiong'o and Murakami are part of the furniture; they have both been at the top of the list all the time. Thiong'o has moved 8 -> 11 -> 5 -> 6 and Murakami 6 -> 5 -> 6 -> 7.

To me, more interesting movers seem to be Don DeLillo (67 -> 15 -> 13 -> 9), Claudio Magris (NEW -> 34 ->13), Adonis (26 -> 15 -> 7 -> 8 -> 7) and perhaps Javier Marias (67 -> 34 -> 26 -> 17, but all the changes happened in September).

I'll place my metaphorical money on DeLillo this year.
 
M

Marba

Reader
Dagens Nyheter did a piece similar to the one that Sevastefo posted from Aftonbladet, but where they asked 100 persons from the Swedish literary world: http://www.dn.se/dnbok/om-du-fick-a...s-nobelpris-i-litteratur-vem-skulle-du-valja/

They also have a column where one of their critics argues that it could be time for a shared prize once again and puts forward the "Language poetry" (Rosmarie Waldrop/Susan Howe/Charles Bernstein/John Ashbery) and the "Great American Postmodern Novel" (William Gass/John Barth/Don DeLillo/Thomas Pynchon) concluding with that DeLillo and Pynchon should share it.

And finally another piece like the ones in Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter, this time from Helsingborgs Dagblad: http://www.hd.se/2016-10-13/vem-far-priset

One of the respondents in the Dagens Nyheter article is a professor and he said António Lobo Antunes so I think we all can imagine who he has decided to nominate! :rolleyes:
 
Corswandt

Corswandt

FAFO
Late wishful thinking: I'm imagining that the delay in the announcement was due to the Academy as a whole disagreeing with the Committee's suggested pick (which I assume was tokenistic) on account of the lack of literary merits of the nominee and either

1) asking for a further week to pick the least bad among the remaining shortlisted writers;
2) asking "give us another list, a real one, not that tokenistic crap to appease SJWs on social networks".

One can dream.

Got this link from "the other place":

https://medium.com/@katafon/the-nobel-prize-in-literature-2e2e754987ca#.fqvqefgrf

Very good point there about it being really annoying that betting house odds are basically the only thing that gets discussed in the mainstream media in the leadup to the announcement.

But what I really liked was the conclusion.

Daniel del Real said:
Portuguese
Next one: Mia Couto
Will eventually win it: Goncalo M. Tavares
Will never win it: Lobo Antunes
Click to expand...

This is what I think as well. Only I'm not sure Gonçalo M. Tavares winning is a given because his work doesn't really fit the Nobel profile: a bit too dark and closed in its own metaliterary island.

Sevastefo said:
Although I agree with much of your conjectures, I don't in the case of french or in spanish choices.
In the case of french authors, I think Ernaux, Quignard or Echenoz - any of them - is more likely to be awarded next, ahead of Maalouf.
In the case of spanish ones, I think Muñoz Molina has also more possibilities than Marias...And, anyway... who's Emiliano Monge?
Click to expand...

For the French authors, I suspect/fear that Modiano winning killed any chance that Quignard or Echenoz (who are of a similar age) might have had of ever winning the Nobel. The next French nobel will only be given some years from now to a younger writer, with Mathias Énard as the frontrunner right now IMO. But he won't get it for 10 more years at least, and meanwhile things might change.

As for Spain, I agree that Antonio Muñoz Molina is a stronger contender than Javier Marías.
 
Corswandt

Corswandt

FAFO
Final post.

Who I hope would win, among those listed as candidates: António Lobo Antunes. Agustina Bessa-Luís would have been a perfect Nobel winner if she was better known internationally, but she isn't, so. Backup: Thomas Pynchon for the lulz.

Who I hope would win among those listed as favourites: Don DeLillo. Awarding better-known writers always raises the profile of the Nobel. Plus American postmodernism as a whole certainly deserves the recognition of the Nobel and Pynchon isn't a viable candidate as I'm sure he'd refuse the Nobel (and I'm sure the Swedish Academy, if it ever really contemplated giving the prize to Pynchon, has sought confirmation of that).

Who I think will win: switching to Le Guin, Erdrich or Marilynne Robinson, in this order, based on the latest clues. I think the ship for Thiongo'o or Adunis/Adonis has sailed. Jon Fosse will probably win within the next 3-4 years. A joint prize for Oz and Yehoshua is also a possibility.

For the record and just in case: I'd survive Murakami winning. Not going to happen ever though (thankfully).
 
pinkunicorn

pinkunicorn

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SØREN11 said:
If we are to accept that teasing the laureate is a new practice by the academy, then the common thread between three of the four Facebook posts (Faulkner, Steinbeck, Morrison) is American novelist. Seems too odd of a coincidence that those three laureates would be selected to promote the award in the last 72 hours among all other laureates. (Of course, Tagore is the odd man out—but the Nobel Foundation routinely promotes their most popular laureates from time to time, and this could be a red herring.) So, if we take the “teasers” and odds and past speculation to be our clues, does it then suggest this is DeLillo’s year?
Click to expand...

They have now added Kipling, noting that he was the youngest laureate to date. Whatever that means as a clue, if it is indeed a clue to begin with...
 
M

Marba

Reader
Just about an hour left until we know the name! I hope that it will be António Lobo Antunes but I think it will be someone from outside of Europe.
 
T

Taleb

Reader
O.K. some final predictions on the winner this year:

1. An under appreciated candidate(to tell you the truth a somewhat obscure name that emerges to be the winner, if widely considered to be worthy, is more exciting to know about than an established candidate). Let's hope that he won't be dull.

2. I think the laureate will be from the English speaking world.
 
Stewart

Stewart

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Staff member
pinkunicorn said:
They have now added Kipling, noting that he was the youngest laureate to date. Whatever that means as a clue, if it is indeed a clue to begin with...
Click to expand...

If you went with those as clues you have American, Indian (specifically Bengali), and young. The name that jumps out there is Jhumpa Lahiri, but she's hardly written anything.
 
T

Taleb

Reader
Stewart said:
If you went with those as clues you have American, Indian (specifically Bengali), and young. The name that jumps out there is Jhumpa Lahiri, but she's hardly written anything.
Click to expand...

This might seem far fetched, but concentrate on the words mentioned in the facebook posts highlighted in Gold....they might hint to something.
 
R

Ruuh

Reader
If Kipling is indeed a clue ("youngest (..) to date"), I wouldn't be surprised to see Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie taking the prize - she's 39 (younger than Kipling was), living in US, comes from a post-colonial country and is socially/politically active.

I've only read Purple Hibiscus, which definitely wasn't anywhere close to Nobel material (it read more like a failed movie script), but she was very young when she wrote that, so I'm willing to give her a benefit of doubt.
 
V

Vazquez

Reader
Cleanthess said:
Let's see, Tagore = Indian, Faulkner = brilliant prose, Steinbeck = Western America, Toni Morrison = Woman Novelist. I'm getting a strong Louise Erdrich vibe here: we can only hope.
Click to expand...


That would be fantastic!

Last post:

I just hope we don´t get a return of Horace Engdahl´s Nobel Prize for European Literature.

Or Roth.
 
Stewart

Stewart

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Staff member
Once it's announced, this speculation thread will be closed and the discussion can move to a new thread dedicated to the announcement.
 
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