Nobel Prize in Literature 2023 Speculation

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Phil D

Phil D

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nagisa said:
I don't think they should do it either — but if they do, Coetzee would certainly be the best candidate. Post-Prize, Slow Man is a great redoubling of and metanarrative game with Elizabeth Costello, and Diary of a Bad Year very interesting in its device of running two (then three) narratives on the same page. And Summertime is a great unorthodox way to close his biographical trilogy: a fictitious biographer collecting memories of the dead writer Coetzee... I was an early devotee of Coetzee's, going through most of his fiction and now his literary criticism (which is stellar); I have been anxious to read the Jesus trilogy, and now his short fiction.

I agree that he still shouldn't get a second Nobel — but why not a third Booker, for the lolz (his last was in 1999, he's due) ?
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Maybe a Nobel of Nobels, like when they gave Rushdie the Booker of Bookers
 
N

namelesshere

Reader
Daniel del Real said:
September is about to start. After reading all summer the writers from the shortlist, discussions should start in a couple of weeks.
Who do you think is in this shortlist?

I think Fosse should be there, also a Chinese writer, but since we don't have the Library info anymore, I'm clueless about who else could be there.
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?‍♂️ Who knows.

I'd imagine they've got some representation from Southeast Asia and North/Eastern Europe. Maybe the Middle East. Maybe the Caribbean.

Because all the clues have been whisked away, we're in the dark really. The only real unresolved insight we have from the library is that they've looked at China and Scandinavia in recent years.
 
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Ben Jackson

Well-known member
Daniel del Real said:
September is about to start. After reading all summer the writers from the shortlist, discussions should start in a couple of weeks.
Who do you think is in this shortlist?

I think Fosse should be there, also a Chinese writer, but since we don't have the Library info anymore, I'm clueless about who else could be there.
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My shortlist, five to eight names:

Fosse
Gerald Murnane
Yan Lianke
Hwang Sok-Yong
Enrique Vilas-Matas
Ibrahim Al-Koni
Salim Barakat
Andrey Kurkov

I decided to remove Kraszhnarhokai and replace him with Hwang Sok-Yong.
 
Z--

Z--

Member
Ben Jackson said:
My shortlist, five to eight names:

Fosse
Gerald Murnane
Yan Lianke
Hwang Sok-Yong
Enrique Vilas-Matas
Ibrahim Al-Koni
Salim Barakat
Andrey Kurkov

I decided to remove Kraszhnarhokai and replace him with Hwang Sok-Yong.
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Surprised many people are removing Krasnzahorkai; is this on the basis that they're unlikely to select a continental European?
 
Piblo

Piblo

Well-known member
Z-- said:
Surprised many people are removing Krasnzahorkai; is this on the basis that they're unlikely to select a continental European?
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I believe that the Nobel Prize will be awarded to a European country that is currently underrepresented in awards or not a significant power.
Countries such as Norway, Croatia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Holland, Romania, Spain (the Spanish language hasn't been on the prize for over 10 years), or Portugal could be potential recipients.

However, I doubt France, Germany, England, or Italy will be chosen (unfortunately, Calasso is no longer there).
 
Leseratte

Leseratte

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More in a wish fulfillment line and probably I'm repeating myself. In any order:
Rushdie
Adonis
Ibrahim Al-Koni
Lobo Antunes
Fosse
an wholly unexpected Asiatic female author.
I would love Adélia Prado to win, but I don´t see many chances.

By the way, Morose Mary must be reading WLF. Where else could she have got the name of Adelia Prado? She is certainly not on any betting list.
 
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Ben Jackson

Well-known member
Z-- said:
Surprised many people are removing Krasnzahorkai; is this on the basis that they're unlikely to select a continental European?
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Not that Krasnzahorkai isn't a great writer, but I don't see Europe getting in this year. Secondly, I talked about, earlier in the speculation, about the Committee focusing on auto-fictional/ Gurnah-themed kind of writer: migration, history and exile and all of that, which made me pick Sok-Yong in my shortlist over Krasznahorkai despite not having read him. I'm not too sure if Latin America will get it, hence not putting Cesar Aira, who's one of Latin America's biggest names currently. A lot of people has picked Rushdie, but again, not too sure if he has been shortlisted for some years now. I have talked about Adonis, Antunes and Kadare in the past, as writers who, I believe, was shortlisted in the 90s and up till around 2012, but since then their chances becoming very dim.
 
Piblo

Piblo

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Ben Jackson said:
I'm not too sure if Latin America will get it, hence not putting Cesar Aira, who's one of Latin America's biggest names currently.
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Perhaps the judges could give some consideration to the remarkable oeuvre of Raul Zurita. This year would be an ideal time to honor him, as his works are closely tied to the period of dictatorship in Chile. Furthermore, this year marks the 50th anniversary of the coup d'état that propelled Pinochet into power. He is very worth reading, as I said before.
 
Z--

Z--

Member
Ben Jackson said:
Not that Krasnzahorkai isn't a great writer, but I don't see Europe getting in this year. Secondly, I talked about, earlier in the speculation, about the Committee focusing on auto-fictional/ Gurnah-themed kind of writer: migration, history and exile and all of that, which made me pick Sok-Yong in my shortlist over Krasznahorkai despite not having read him. I'm not too sure if Latin America will get it, hence not putting Cesar Aira, who's one of Latin America's biggest names currently. A lot of people has picked Rushdie, but again, not too sure if he has been shortlisted for some years now. I have talked about Adonis, Antunes and Kadare in the past, as writers who, I believe, was shortlisted in the 90s and up till around 2012, but since then their chances becoming very dim.
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I think I agree with most of this -- certainly can't see them selecting Adonis (tragic miss) or Kadare (whom I like, but don't adore). Those ships have long sailed. Not sold on Rushdie either; I loved Midnight's Children, but I think his best works are behind him.

My guesses in any case:

Fosse or Solstad
Krasznahorkai or Nadas
Lianke, Hua or Xue
Cartarescu

Poets seem to win fairly infrequently. Think before Gluck, we had a 10 year glut since Transtromer. Might explain Adonis being overlooked. I also don't think the Chinese Misty poets are going to win for that reason. Same deal with Ko Un (amongst other reasons).
 
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redhead

redhead

Blahblahblah
Daniel del Real said:
September is about to start. After reading all summer the writers from the shortlist, discussions should start in a couple of weeks.
Who do you think is in this shortlist?

I think Fosse should be there, also a Chinese writer, but since we don't have the Library info anymore, I'm clueless about who else could be there.
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I'm thinking:

Jon Fosse
Karl Ove Knausgaard
A Chinese Writer (Can Xue, Yan Lianke)
Lyudmila Ulitskaya
Peter Nadas

I also think Rushdie has a chance and might be on the shortlist; his two most recent novels got good reviews and one was shortlisted for the Booker. They may not be on par with Midnight's Children, but then most people thought The Buried Giant wasn't as good as Never Let Me Go or The Remains of the Day, and ditto for Grass's My Century and The Tin Drum.
 
Morbid Swither

Morbid Swither

Well-known member
Piblo said:
I believe that the Nobel Prize will be awarded to a European country that is currently underrepresented in awards or not a significant power.
Countries such as Norway, Croatia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Holland, Romania, Spain (the Spanish language hasn't been on the prize for over 10 years), or Portugal could be potential recipients.

However, I doubt France, Germany, England, or Italy will be chosen (unfortunately, Calasso is no longer there).
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I think it may be a mistake to rule out an Italian writer this year.
 
tiganeasca

tiganeasca

Moderator
It is worth keeping in mind that four times in the last fifteen years--that is more than 25% of the time--the winners were 80 or older

2007 Doris Lessing, age 88
2011 Tomas Transtromer, age 80
2013 Alice Munro, age 82
2022 Annie Ernaux, age 82

and in 2019 (Peter Handke) and 2020 (Louise Gluck), the winners were both 77.
 
Morbid Swither

Morbid Swither

Well-known member
redhead said:
Who are you thinking from Italy could be in contention this year? Claudio Magris and Dacia Maraini seem like good candidates, but at 84 and 86 respectively, they might have unfortunately aged out.
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Of course Magris is a perennial consideration, but I was actually thinking about the likes of Antonio Moresco. However, I’m convinced that there are many worthy Italian poets as well, and of course there is Elena Ferrante, Domenico Starnone…
 
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