Nobel Questions

[JCamilo]

I think the major problem is that it seemed like a cheap self-promotion of the Academy appealing to a huge pop icon.

While there is no way Dylan's songwritting can be compared to Taylor Swift's in terms of quality and influence (or however at this level), there is no doubt, Rock and Roll is forever considered a form of pop art and we have this notion pop art is something consumable, the 15 minutes of fame, even if the production this art genre was quite different before MTV plastified everything for easy consume. Dylan shadowed any good discussion derivated from the Nobel, it actually created a taboo if their had intention to discuss aspects of oral poetry in the modern world and (of course) didnt worked to give the award some sort of cloness to the young public (because Dylan is old after all). So it seemed as if the nobel was being commercial, even that was not their intention and we know literary field does not receive well this idea.

 

[DouglasM]

So I mean, are there songwriters from lesser known countries with fairly large groups of academics backing there works and saying they’re literary and should be canonized and taught as literature? I have no clue. Even if they’re not widely known outside of their own countries I could conceivably see another songwriter winning if they had this sort of larger academic backing. I’m just not sure that exists for others besides Dylan.

Well, yes, there are. I don't see how it can be assumed that Dylan is the only major lyricist studied nationally in the world's nearly 200 countries. Can't speak for other places, but Chico Buarque is widely studied in Brazil mostly as lyricist/songwriter, though he's also a respectable novelist and playwright. He is constantly referred to as the greatest lyricist in the history of Brazilian music (there may be some debate, but his name is always among the best), has released dozens of albums since 1966 and still does so constantly, in addition to having been honored with several literary recognitions, especially the highest one in Portuguese, the Camões Prize, which was awarded mainly for his songs. The only plausible reason why Dylan has a Nobel and others from other nations don't is the English language spoken by him.

EDIT: I think Leonard Cohen is superior to Dylan in literary prowess, but that's just my personal opinion.

 

[hayden]

EDIT: I think Leonard Cohen is superior to Dylan in literary prowess, but that's just my personal opinion.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if Cohen was a serious contender to win in the 00s and early 10s. As far as Canadians go, I understand why the SA would prefer Munro, and as songwriters go, I understand why the SA would prefer Dylan, but by all means he was well worthy. Have you read his two novels? I think the prose in them is excellent. His poetry collections are fantastic too. Doesn't hurt to have Hallelujah under your belt either.

The fact he won the Asturias Award in the same class as Oz, Roth, Atwood and Kadare (which... hasn't always been a Nobel precursor I suppose) makes me believe he had quite a few nominations.

 

[redhead]

EDIT: I think Leonard Cohen is superior to Dylan in literary prowess, but that's just my personal opinion.

I go back and forth on which I prefer. I think Dylan had higher highs, with songs like Visions of Johanna, but lyrically Cohen was a far more consistent artist. He certainly never wrote anything as bad as Tarantula or the album Under the Red Sky, and even his worst album, Death of a Ladies Man, has some great lyrics.

 

[Ben Jackson]

Favourite Winner
Octavio Paz
runners-up: Odysseus Elytis, Joseph Brodsky
Least Favourite
Elfriede Jelinek
runners-up: Jaroslav Seifert, Bob Dylan
Overrated: I think every writer I've read have been great thus far.
Underrated:
Yasunari Kawabata
runners-up: Patrick White, Patrick Modiano
Remove: Jaroslav Seifert
runners-up: Elfriede Jelinek, Bob Dylan
Add: Max Frisch
runners-up: Gerald Murnane, Adonis
Favourite decade: 1990s
runners-up: 1980s, 1970s

 

[Benny Profane]

Favorite winners: Günter Grass, William Faulkner, Hermann Hesse, Samuel Beckett, TS Elliot and St. John Perse;
Runners up: Isaac Bashevis Singer, Albert Camus, Gabo, Vargas Llosa and Thomas Mann;
Remove (Least): Sully Proudhomme (any parnasian worldwide was better than him), Erik Axel Karlfeldt ("the poetry of Erik Axel Karlfeldt"), Henrik Pontoppidan (very weak), Karl Adolph Gjellerup (who?), Rudolph Eucken (who?) and Pearl Buck (the worst Nobel Prize of Literature winner ever);
Add: Leo Tolstoy, August Strindberg, Ingmar Bergman (yeah! - his films are pure poetry), Henrik Ibsen, Karen Blixen, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, Jorge Luis Borges, João Cabral de Melo Neto, Kobo Abe, António Corrêa d'Oliveira, Zbigniew Herbert, Vladímir Holan, Jaroslav Vrchlický, Paul Valéry, Primo Levy, Ezra Pound, Yukio Mishima, Lu Xun, Vladmir Nabokov, Italo Svevo, Munshi Premchand etc
Decade: 90's.

Like Reply

 

[Mise Eire]

Remove (Least): .......Erik Axel Karlfeldt ("the poetry of Erik Axel Karlfeldt"),

Like Reply

I've always thought this to be the most hilarious commendation in SA history. Hey, he won for his own poetry, bully for him. I was also super surprised to learn that Karlfeldt's award was posthumous. He died April 1931 and won the 1931 Prize. Maybe Joyce and Borges are not done yet.

 

[Ben Jackson]

Favorite winners: William Faulkner and Toni Morrison
Runners up: Isaac Bashevis Singer, Naguib Mahfouz
Remove: Bob Dylan (love his music, but hard for me to see him as a writer. If I had to pick a musician for this prize it would be Patti Smith.)
Overrated: If I had to pick it would be Steinbeck
Who should have won: Willa Cather. In fact I thought she HAD won and I came here ready to say that she was my favorite Nobel laureate. Good thing I checked wikipedia first!

Love your list, my friend. I totally agree with you on Smith. I read her short work Devotion last year and was amazed. Her poems recall to mind some of Artaud and Blake.

 

[Ben Jackson]

Favorite winners: Günter Grass, William Faulkner, Hermann Hesse, Samuel Beckett, TS Elliot and St. John Perse;
Runners up: Isaac Bashevis Singer, Albert Camus, Gabo, Vargas Llosa and Thomas Mann;
Remove (Least): Sully Proudhomme (any parnasian worldwide was better than him), Erik Axel Karlfeldt ("the poetry of Erik Axel Karlfeldt"), Henrik Pontoppidan (very weak), Karl Adolph Gjellerup (who?), Rudolph Eucken (who?) and Pearl Buck (the worst Nobel Prize of Literature winner ever);
Add: Leo Tolstoy, August Strindberg, Ingmar Bergman (yeah! - his films are pure poetry), Henrik Ibsen, Karen Blixen, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, Jorge Luis Borges, João Cabral de Melo Neto, Kobo Abe, António Corrêa d'Oliveira, Zbigniew Herbert, Vladímir Holan, Jaroslav Vrchlický, Paul Valéry, Primo Levy, Ezra Pound, Yukio Mishima, Lu Xun, Vladmir Nabokov, Italo Svevo, Munshi Premchand etc
Decade: 90

Like Reply

Love your selection, Benny. Erik Karlfeldt was one of those poets I read few poems of, wasn't inspiring. I would rate his poems as some of the poorest I've read from a Nobel Laurete (in the same category as well with Spitteler and Carducci). Poems from Prudhomme and Maeterlinck are even better. I haven't read Eucken yet, but from what I've read from reviews, he seemed to be a faded philosopher. I've read the review of Pontoppidan's Lucky Per in January 2020 in Irish Times and was hailed as one of the finest novels from 20th Century Scandanvian Literature, but haven't got the chance to read it. And Pearl Buck? I tried to read The Good Earth but after fifteen pages, I got tried. I can't really remember what happened in those fifteen pages.

As for the writers you listed in your to add category, I'll go with Tolstoy, Ibsen, Strindberg, Woolf (had enough works to help her clinch the Nobel in 1938, the year Buck won, but was surprised she wasn't nominated at all), Borges (I read few of his stories and some of his poems in 2019) Blixen (Out of African is amazing both in book and movie forms), Valery, Pound (fascist views dismissed him of the honour), and Japanese giants Mishima and Kobo whose book Woman in the Dunes I read last year and was amazing work. To be honest, I love Joyce's intention of revolutionising the novel with Ulysses and A Portrait of the Artist, but found Finnegans Wake frustrating. Also love Zbigniew Herbert, Nabokov (read Per Wastberg pushed for his candidature in the 70s), and Holan. Even though some his movies are highly artistic (I watched Persona, classic indeed, last year) I have doubt for Ingmar Bergman's chances as his movies aren't literature in the actual sense (although Luis Bunuel was nominated but not shortlisted in 1968). Lu Xun, I have heard he's a giant in 20th century Asian Literature, and Primo Levi are writers I will read hopefully before the end of the year. Antonio Correira was shortlisted around 1933, for his work "Job" (a work I didn't know it existed until I read an article of the Nobel choices in the 30s) was praised by the Nobel Comittee, but he lost out to Bunin. And De Melo, Neustadt Winner in 1992, is one poet I read few poems of his online around November, seems he's good but wouldn't have pushed for his candidature left for me.

Once again, I love your selection and choices.

 

[Benny Profane]

Love your selection, Benny. Erik Karlfeldt was one of those poets I read few poems of, wasn't inspiring. I would rate his poems as some of the poorest I've read from a Nobel Laurete (in the same category as well with Spitteler and Carducci). Poems from Prudhomme and Maeterlinck are even better. I haven't read Eucken yet, but from what I've read from reviews, he seemed to be a faded philosopher. I've read the review of Pontoppidan's Lucky Per in January 2020 in Irish Times and was hailed as one of the finest novels from 20th Century Scandanvian Literature, but haven't got the chance to read it. And Pearl Buck? I tried to read The Good Earth but after fifteen pages, I got tried. I can't really remember what happened in those fifteen pages.

As for the writers you listed in your to add category, I'll go with Tolstoy, Ibsen, Strindberg, Woolf (had enough works to help her clinch the Nobel in 1938, the year Buck won, but was surprised she wasn't nominated at all), Borges (I read few of his stories and some of his poems in 2019) Blixen (Out of African is amazing both in book and movie forms), Valery, Pound (fascist views dismissed him of the honour), and Japanese giants Mishima and Kobo whose book Woman in the Dunes I read last year and was amazing work. To be honest, I love Joyce's intention of revolutionising the novel with Ulysses and A Portrait of the Artist, but found Finnegans Wake frustrating. Also love Zbigniew Herbert, Nabokov (read Per Wastberg pushed for his candidature in the 70s), and Holan. Even though some his movies are highly artistic (I watched Persona, classic indeed, last year) I have doubt for Ingmar Bergman's chances as his movies aren't literature in the actual sense (although Luis Bunuel was nominated but not shortlisted in 1968). Lu Xun, I have heard he's a giant in 20th century Asian Literature, and Primo Levi are writers I will read hopefully before the end of the year. Antonio Correira was shortlisted around 1933, for his work "Job" (a work I didn't know it existed until I read an article of the Nobel choices in the 30s) was praised by the Nobel Comittee, but he lost out to Bunin. And De Melo, Neustadt Winner in 1992, is one poet I read few poems of his online around November, seems he's good but wouldn't have pushed for his candidature left for me.

Once again, I love your selection and choices.

Thank you, brother!

I forgot some names as Chinua Achebe (I always wonder why Achebe didn't receive the prize), Maxim Gorky, Anna Akhmatova, Marina Tsvetaeva, Giuseppe Ungaretti, Miroslav Krleža, Taha Hussein and many others and the pop names as Umberto Eco, Edward Albee, Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Susan Sontag etc.

About Carducci, he is one of my inspiration in poetry! Please, give him an another chance! He was a brilliant poet! Revolucionary, dense, erudite etc.
Carl Spitteler was a great poet too! His book Prometheus and Epimetheus is a neglected masterpiece.

And João Cabral de Melo Neto was the greatest poet on 20th century in Brazil.
Along with Jorge de Lima (it's said that Lundkvist was a supporter of his poetries), Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Cecília Meirelles, Manuel Bandeira and Guilherme de Almeida, he was one of the big poets in my country.

Trivia: Manuel Bandeira and João Cabral de Melo Neto were cousins.

 

[Ben Jackson]

Thank you, brother!

I forgotten some names as Chinua Achebe (I always wonder why Achebe didn't receive the prize), Maxim Gorky, Anna Akhmatova, Marina Tsvetaeva, Giuseppe Ungaretti, Miroslav Krleža, Taha Hussein and many others and the pop names as Umberto Eco, Edward Albee, Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Susan Sontag etc.

About Carducci, he is one of my inspiration in poetry! Please, give an another chance to him! He was a brilliant poet! Revolucionary, dense, erudite etc.
Carl Spitteler was a great poet too! His book Prometheus and Epimetheus is a neglected masterpiece.

And João Cabral de Melo Neto was the greatest poet in 20th Brazil.
Along with Jorge de Lima (it's said that Lundkvist was a supporter of his poetries), Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Cecília Meirelles, Manuel Bandeira and Guilherme de Almeida, he was one of the big poetries in my country.

Trivia: Manuel Bandeira and João Cabral de Melo Neto were cousins.

Few years ago, I asked myself the same question why Achebe didn't receive the Nobel, but after reading more of his works, I felt he didn't win, and this is what I'm thinking, because he didn't write enough quality novels and didn't possess the range of themes and styles required for the Nobel. If you look at the African writers that won the Nobel, you could see the innovation and quality pervading their works. Take Soyinka, Achebe's countryman for example. You could see the range of Soyinka's works, from Death and King's Horseman to Madmen and Specialists to A Dance to the Forests to his novel Interpreters, his poems and even his memoirs Ake, his boldness, expansiveness, the readiness to take up experiments and turn to perfection. The same can be said of Coetzee as well. I've read few works of Mahfouz but I can testify that he's also have quality and range more than Achebe (Journey of Ibn Fattouma, for example, is very different in theme to Palace Walk). The only African writer that won the Nobel that I don't really know much is Gordimer. I wouldn't mention Gurnah because he won the Nobel way after Achebe's demise. I could've been happy if Achebe won because he's one of the finest writers Africa has ever produced but failing not to win didn't surprise me.

Thank you for mentioning Akhmatova, she was shortlisted in 1965 but lost to her countryman Sholokhov, and Giuseppe Ungaretti. Two talented poets. I heard how brilliant Gorky and Krleza were but haven't got the chance to read them. Gorky was shortlisted by the way in 1928 and 1933. I read Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf and Who's Sylvia by Edward Albee, both plays awed me. I remember reading Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman and will, time permits, read Timebends, his autobiography and some of his other masterworks. I've also read Teneesse Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, the only work of his I've read, but will have time to read his other famous plays. Rumours had it he was shortlisted for the Nobel in the mid/late 70s. And Susan Sontag still remains one of the finest literary critics I've ever read, but I think her failure in getting the Nobel, even though she wrote about three or four novels which I've not read yet, is due to majority of her work falling under the category of Literary Criticism. Umberto Eco was a very famous name in world literature but whether he deserves the Nobel is what I don't know. I tried reading Foucault's Pendulum about three years ago but found the book so frustrating I stopped at forty something pages. I will make an attempt to read Name of the Rose, a book loved by, after reading an interview, Wole Soyinka. Marina Tsvateva is another brilliant poet who wrote in the same epoch as Pasternak and Akhmatova but died very young. I read somewhere that Egypt's Taha Hussein failed to get the Nobel because his work weren't translated enough.

As for Carducci, I didn't really like his poetry because of its classical nature, calling to mind Virgil and Homer. I'm a fan of Modernist, Symbolist and Surrealist poets, my favourite poet (and my poetic inspirations) been Ungaretti, Akhmatova, Brodsky, Elytis, Paz, Neruda, Eliot, Walcott, Pasternak, Yeats, Seferis, Senghor, Okigbo e.t.c. Really surprised that you consider him your poetic influence Benny. I remember listing your favourite French language writers, most writers you listed were Modernist/Surrealist (Char, Artaud, Cendars are examples). I'll make an attempt to re-read some of his poems.

And you never told me that you have so much interest in poetry, Benny.

 

[Leseratte]

1. Olga Tokarczuk, William Faulkner.
Runners up: William Golding,
2. Who is your least favorite winner?
3 and 4. Difficult to say as I haven´t read so many of them.
5. Bob Dylan
6. All the overlooked Brazilian authors: Guimarães Rosa, Clarice Lispector, Machado de Assis, Mario de Andrade, Manuel Bandeira, Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Cecília Meireles, João Cabral de Melo Neto, Ferreira Gullar, Manoel de Barros, Ferreira Gullar, Ariano Suassuna, Chico Buarque. And also Cortázar, Borges,Joyce, Virginia Woolf and Alfred Döblin.
7.I don´t prefer a particular decade.

 

[Ben Jackson]

1. Olga Tokarczuk, William Faulkner.
Runners up: William Golding,
2. Who is your least favorite winner?
3 and 4. Difficult to say as I haven´t read so many of them.
5. Bob Dylan
6. All the overlooked Brazilian authors: Guimarães Rosa, Clarice Lispector, Machado de Assis, Mario de Andrade, Manuel Bandeira, Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Cecília Meireles, João Cabral de Melo Neto, Ferreira Gullar, Manoel de Barros, Ferreira Gullar, Ariano Suassuna, Chico Buarque. And also Cortázar, Borges,Joyce, Virginia Woolf and Alfred Döblin.
7.I don´t prefer a particular decade.

Clarice Lispector could've been a great addition to the Nobel canon had she not died in her prime. Her works are very innovative and bold, the type of writing I always endorse. Haven't read Guimares Rosa and Machado de Assis, who's, by the way, placed in the Western Canon as one of South America's finest writers. Probably will start Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas before the end of the year.

Good choices, Leseratte.

 

[Leseratte]

Thanks, Ben, I sort of relied on you for looking them up. There was to be published a new Translation of Guimarães Rosas´novel Grande Sertão Veredas, but so far I haven´t found anything in the net.

 

[Benny Profane]

Few years ago, I asked myself the same question why Achebe didn't receive the Nobel, but after reading more of his works, I felt he didn't win, and this is what I'm thinking, because he didn't write enough quality novels and didn't possess the range of themes and styles required for the Nobel. If you look at the African writers that won the Nobel, you could see the innovation and quality pervading their works. Take Soyinka, Achebe's countryman for example. You could see the range of Soyinka's works, from Death and King's Horseman to Madmen and Specialists to A Dance to the Forests to his novel Interpreters, his poems and even his memoirs Ake, his boldness, expansiveness, the readiness to take up experiments and turn to perfection. The same can be said of Coetzee as well. I've read few works of Mahfouz but I can testify that he's also have quality and range more than Achebe (Journey of Ibn Fattouma, for example, is very different in theme to Palace Walk). The only African writer that won the Nobel that I don't really know much is Gordimer. I wouldn't mention Gurnah because he won the Nobel way after Achebe's demise. I could've been happy if Achebe won because he's one of the finest writers Africa has ever produced but failing not to win didn't surprise me.

Thank you for mentioning Akhmatova, she was shortlisted in 1965 but lost to her countryman Sholokhov, and Giuseppe Ungaretti. Two talented poets. I heard how brilliant Gorky and Krleza were but haven't got the chance to read them. Gorky was shortlisted by the way in 1928 and 1933. I read Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf and Who's Sylvia by Edward Albee, both plays awed me. I remember reading Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman and will, time permits, read Timebends, his autobiography and some of his other masterworks. I've also read Teneesse Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, the only work of his I've read, but will have time to read his other famous plays. Rumours had it he was shortlisted for the Nobel in the mid/late 70s. And Susan Sontag still remains one of the finest literary critics I've ever read, but I think her failure in getting the Nobel, even though she wrote about three or four novels which I've not read yet, is due to majority of her work falling under the category of Literary Criticism. Umberto Eco was a very famous name in world literature but whether he deserves the Nobel is what I don't know. I tried reading Foucault's Pendulum about three years ago but found the book so frustrating I stopped at forty something pages. I will make an attempt to read Name of the Rose, a book loved by, after reading an interview, Wole Soyinka. Marina Tsvateva is another brilliant poet who wrote in the same epoch as Pasternak and Akhmatova but died very young. I read somewhere that Egypt's Taha Hussein failed to get the Nobel because his work weren't translated enough.

As for Carducci, I didn't really like his poetry because of its classical nature, calling to mind Virgil and Homer. I'm a fan of Modernist, Symbolist and Surrealist poets, my favourite poet (and my poetic inspirations) been Ungaretti, Akhmatova, Brodsky, Elytis, Paz, Neruda, Eliot, Walcott, Pasternak, Yeats, Seferis, Senghor, Okigbo e.t.c. Really surprised that you consider him your poetic influence Benny. I remember listing your favourite French language writers, most writers you listed were Modernist/Surrealist (Char, Artaud, Cendars are examples). I'll make an attempt to re-read some of his poems.

And you never told me that you have so much interest in poetry, Benny.

Yep, brother! I like so much poetry because, originaly, I'm poet (amateur poet).
I have strong background in poetry and I like so much classical poetry, the first movement of romantism, symbolism and modernism (acmeism, russian cube-futurism, expressionism, impressionism, imagism, surrealism etc).

So, I'll aways defender the worst poet in front of the best novelist.

And thank you for sharing your views about the writers.

I always joke about the neglected writers who deserved the Nobel Prize saying that the list of non-laureates is heavier than the list of the laureates.

 

[Leseratte]

Few years ago, I asked myself the same question why Achebe didn't receive the Nobel, but after reading more of his works, I felt he didn't win, and this is what I'm thinking, because he didn't write enough quality novels and didn't possess the range of themes and styles required for the Nobel. If you look at the African writers that won the Nobel, you could see the innovation and quality pervading their works. Take Soyinka, Achebe's countryman for example. You could see the range of Soyinka's works, from Death and King's Horseman to Madmen and Specialists to A Dance to the Forests to his novel Interpreters, his poems and even his memoirs Ake, his boldness, expansiveness, the readiness to take up experiments and turn to perfection. The same can be said of Coetzee as well. I've read few works of Mahfouz but I can testify that he's also have quality and range more than Achebe (Journey of Ibn Fattouma, for example, is very different in theme to Palace Walk). The only African writer that won the Nobel that I don't really know much is Gordimer. I wouldn't mention Gurnah because he won the Nobel way after Achebe's demise. I could've been happy if Achebe won because he's one of the finest writers Africa has ever produced but failing not to win didn't surprise me.

Thank you for mentioning Akhmatova, she was shortlisted in 1965 but lost to her countryman Sholokhov, and Giuseppe Ungaretti. Two talented poets. I heard how brilliant Gorky and Krleza were but haven't got the chance to read them. Gorky was shortlisted by the way in 1928 and 1933. I read Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf and Who's Sylvia by Edward Albee, both plays awed me. I remember reading Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman and will, time permits, read Timebends, his autobiography and some of his other masterworks. I've also read Teneesse Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, the only work of his I've read, but will have time to read his other famous plays. Rumours had it he was shortlisted for the Nobel in the mid/late 70s. And Susan Sontag still remains one of the finest literary critics I've ever read, but I think her failure in getting the Nobel, even though she wrote about three or four novels which I've not read yet, is due to majority of her work falling under the category of Literary Criticism. Umberto Eco was a very famous name in world literature but whether he deserves the Nobel is what I don't know. I tried reading Foucault's Pendulum about three years ago but found the book so frustrating I stopped at forty something pages. I will make an attempt to read Name of the Rose, a book loved by, after reading an interview, Wole Soyinka. Marina Tsvateva is another brilliant poet who wrote in the same epoch as Pasternak and Akhmatova but died very young. I read somewhere that Egypt's Taha Hussein failed to get the Nobel because his work weren't translated enough.

As for Carducci, I didn't really like his poetry because of its classical nature, calling to mind Virgil and Homer. I'm a fan of Modernist, Symbolist and Surrealist poets, my favourite poet (and my poetic inspirations) been Ungaretti, Akhmatova, Brodsky, Elytis, Paz, Neruda, Eliot, Walcott, Pasternak, Yeats, Seferis, Senghor, Okigbo e.t.c. Really surprised that you consider him your poetic influence Benny. I remember listing your favourite French language writers, most writers you listed were Modernist/Surrealist (Char, Artaud, Cendars are examples). I'll make an attempt to re-read some of his poems.

And you never told me that you have so much interest in poetry, Benny.

The theme of original communities falling apart because of colonization and imperialism seems to me one of the greatest themes of our new continents @Ben Jackson . I think, some writers won the Nobel for much less than that.