Nobel Prize in Literature 2021

[palinuro]

A Venezuelan twitter user was awaiting this prize for a few years. Even the newspaper "El País" published a note about her. Amazing.

Evelyn Córdova, la tuitera que vaticinó el Nobel para Abdulrazak Gurnah: “Por fin el mundo va a conocerlo”

Una economista venezolana afincada en Chile venía reivindicando en solitario en la red social desde 2013 que la Academia Sueca reconociera el trabajo del escritor tanzano

elpais.com

 

[Bartleby]

“TARADOS” ?

Arghh again: damn you paywall

Oh, “somehow” I got access to it now

 

[nagisa]

I was watching this video yesterday in which the most recent Nobel laureate in Literature talks at a conference, and although the subject matter tbh didn’t quite interest me much, by the end I was captivated. I’m excited for his Nobel lecture, it should be a great one coming from someone who is used to writing and giving speeches.

Thanks for this. The complicated history and societal makeup of the place he evokes and its centering around the sea remind me strongly of Le Clézio and Naipaul, as well as other writers I've enjoyed (non-western or not using a "western lens"). I'm very intrigued by this new prize recipient.

 

[Morbid Swither]

Thanks for this. The complicated history and societal makeup of the place he evokes and its centering around the sea remind me strongly of Le Clézio and Naipaul, as well as other writers I've enjoyed (non-western or not using a "western lens"). I'm very intrigued by this new prize recipient.

I’m also reminded of Caryl Phillips and Amitav Ghosh.

 

[Bartleby]

Horace Engdahl wrote to a Swedish paper about why he wasn't present at the prize announcement (he lives far from Stockholm now and didn't want to travel), stating "let's say the first excitement has cooled somewhat, although I still think it's a beautiful ceremony."

But a most interesting thing the said was:

The academy meeting immediately preceding the event is taken up by a vote which is in fact a formality, because the real decision has been taken a week earlier.

 

[Bartleby]

Morose Mary shared her post-Nobel thoughts

Post-Nobel Prize in Literature 2021 Thoughts

A blog about literature, translated literature, book reviews and literary news.

morose-mary.blogspot.com

 

[Leseratte]

Thanks for sharing this, Bartleby. Whoever responds to the nick of Morose Mary does a lot of research in Nobel Literature and is anything but morose!

It seems that Mats Malm is not the ideal SA Secretary at least as Ceremonialist of the Nobel Award. Anyone looking for a job here?

But I specially liked her considerations about the use of the colonizers language (English in these case) by African writers:
"Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o argues that in the inclusion and promotion of indigenous African languages are the cornerstone of reclaiming a postcolonial African identity and independence. Contrary Chinua Achebe expressed ambivalence to language, going so far as to state that the singular importance of a writer should be to write well regardless of language; though Achebe did recognize that language can be weaponized to destroy and brutalize a culture and people, and expressed that it can also be used in turn to revolt against colonial perspective through their own language. In the case of Abdulrazak Gurnah whose first language is Swahili and literary language is English, stated that the arguments presented by both Chinua Achebe and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o do not share his own understanding of language. The use of languages as his literary language stemmed from circumstance and environment. As a refugee in the United Kingdom and writing at the age of 21, Abdulrazak Gurnah read works in English, spoke English in his daily life, and then began to write in English. He will endorse the perspective that he learned English because of colonialism, but again the use of language is not viewed in any political or cultural perspective and incorporates phrases from Swahili into his language."

 

[Uemarasan]

I’ve always believed that the best response to the colonial legacy of a language is to become its greatest masters.

 

[Leseratte]

Sure! But that seems to be far easier said than done. It involves school opportunities and quality of learning. And then there are the feelings towards that language which seems to vary from author to author.

What else the English colonization might have done to it´s colonies, at least it seemed it provided a good education.

 

[nagisa]

What else the English colonization might have done to it´s colonies, at least it seemed it provided a good education.

Wow.

 

[hoodoo]

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's literary show Writers and Company has unearthed this 2017 interview with Mr Gurnah

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcasts/mobile/arts-culture/writers-company/

 

[Uemarasan]

Sure! But that seems to be far easier said than done. It involves school opportunities and quality of learning. And then there are the feelings towards that language which seems to vary from author to author.

Oh, I do mean the authors who have access to and choose to write in the colonial language, of course. I have equal admiration for those who reject or refuse the colonial language. Both are valid attitudes toward colonialism.

However, for all the observations that English has been awarded yet again the Nobel, I will have to say that the English of the colonies is a different beast altogether from the English of the colonizer, not to mention the English of migration or English as a second language. So I do think Morose Mary has a rather simplistic view of language when she collapses all kinds of English into something monolithic (she most explicitly did this with Ishiguro). What makes this laureate interesting is that I believe it’s the first time that the language of the refugee has been acknowledged? Correct me if I’m wrong.

 

[Leseratte]

"Uemarasan, post: 166181, member: 9435"

"However, for all the observations that English has been awarded yet again the Nobel, I will have to say that the English of the colonies is a different beast altogether from the English of the colonizer, not to mention the English of migration or English as a second language."
I absolutely agree with you here, in fact my post was in the sense that the matter of language is rather complex and diversified in itself. I erroneously thought by your first post that you were putting all the cats in the same bag, simplifying the matter.

In the case of Morose Mary I am not quite sure how much of the views she expresses are entirely her own or if she is trying to interpret the points of view of the authors she is writing about . But at least she recognizes that: "There are complex concerns regarding language, politics, and the role of colonization and the postcolonial perspective". It´s a generic enough statement but at least she acknowledges complexities.

I didn´t find the citation about Ishiguro in the article. For known reasons I´ll not discuss my view on that author here, but I am quite open to discuss it per PM, if you want to.

"What makes this laureate interesting is that I believe it’s the first time that the language of the refugee has been acknowledged? Correct me if I’m wrong."
By the SA committee you mean? I don't know. With Elias Canetti, perhaps.

 

[Uemarasan]

By the SA committee you mean? I don't know. With Elias Canetti, perhaps.

Ah, but in the case of Canetti, he had already learned German before his status as a refugee. For Gurnah, he learned English precisely because he became a refugee. In a way, it’s a language learned under duress, as a matter of survival.

 

[Leseratte]

In a way, it’s a language learned under duress, as a matter of survival.

I see what you mean.

 

[Liam]

I’ve always believed that the best response to the colonial legacy of a language is to become its greatest masters.

Yeah, the Irish have pretty much wiped the floor with their English counterparts as far as 20th-century literature is concerned, ?

 

[Uemarasan]

I didn´t find the citation about Ishiguro in the article. For known reasons I´ll not discuss my view on that author here, but I am quite open to discuss it per PM, if you want to.

By the way, this is what Morose Mary says on her blog:

“He’s only Japanese in name. He speaks with a refined English accent, writes very English novels, with understated prose, reserved emotional touches, wrapped up in the grace and pomp of Anglophone culture. One would be hard pressed to find anything truly or extraordinarily Japanese in his writing; beyond at the least, the utilization of ‘mono no aware..’”

Post-Nobel Prize for Literature Thoughts 2017

A blog about literature, translated literature, book reviews and literary news.

morose-mary.blogspot.com

This is what the man himself says:

“I’m not entirely like English people because I’ve been brought up by Japanese parents in a Japanese-speaking home. My parents didn’t realize that we were going to stay in this country for so long, they felt responsible for keeping me in touch with Japanese values. I do have a distinct background. I think differently, my perspectives are slightly different.

Would you say that the rest of you is English? Do you feel particularly English?

People are not two-thirds one thing and the remainder something else. Temperament, personality, or outlook don’t divide quite like that. The bits don’t separate clearly. You end up a funny homogeneous mixture. This is something that will become more common in the latter part of the century—people with mixed cultural backgrounds, and mixed racial backgrounds. That’s the way the world is going.”

BOMB Magazine | Kazuo Ishiguro

"Memory is this terribly treacherous terrain, the very ambiguities of memory go to feed self-deception. And so quite often, we have situations where the license of the person to keep inventing versions of what happened in the past is rapidly beginning to run out. The results of one’s life, the…

bombmagazine.org

So in a sense Ishiguro, like Gurnah, is readjusting the parameters of what English in his circumstances accommodates, rather than thinking of the English language as totalitarian, possessing cultural dominance over his writing (which is what Morose Mary is suggesting with Ishiguro). Anyway, feel free to PM me if you would like a further discussion.

 

[ministerpumpkin]

By the way, this is what Morose Mary says on her blog:

"He’s only Japanese in name.

Imagine saying something like this. I bet she wouldn't have if some of the details were different.

 

[Leseratte]

I didn't read this blogpost of MM and I absolutely agree with you. She was more careful when she wrote about the African authors.

 

[OverTheMountains]

Someone on this board has recently talked about Javier Marías as probably the most unique stylist writing in any language today. This has made me curious about him, but unfortunately I don't have a lot of time right now to dive deep into a long novel. I have added A Heart So White to my wishlist, however, so I'll probably get to it at some point in 2022,

Let's add him to the WLF prize list for next year!