Nobel Prize in Literature 2009

[Stewart]

The laureate for the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature has been announced by the Swedish Academy. And the prize goes to:

Herta Müller

"who with the concentration of poetry and frankness of prose depicts the landscape of the dispossed."

What are you thoughts on this?

[anchomal]

Ladbrokes do it again!

[Daniel del Real]

I don't see the point on Englund's previous declarations the prize had been very eurocentric last years. Then again, it lands in Europe. This prize is only for Europeans novelists now.

[Clarissa]

So now we know. So now I shall have to read something she has written. Then I'll be able to agree - or disagree - with the attribution. Not that it makes a blind bit of difference!
Leak? As I wrote further up on this thread, tonight Austrian radio has an hour's interview with her at 9:00 p.m.

[Mirabell]

I've finished Atemschaukel last night and I'm still trying to find my words.

I do think it's come too early but there's no doubt whatsoever that she deserves the prize.

As a writer she writes usually (but not in The Appointment) very pleasurable, warm prose. She is alert to issues like memory, victims and power, but not in an overt way. Like Celan (another Romanian German writer) she uses words in a way few writers are ABLE to, she burrows into the meaning of words that's older, frequently, than the one used today. She is an extraordinary, extraordinary writer. She should have been given this award as a joint award with Oskar Pastior but I'm happy as it is.

[Scott89119]

Jelinek part deux ftw!

I look forward to reading her wildly original work. In all seriousness, I am currently studying Ceaucescu's after-effects in Romania so I'm sure she'll make for some intriguing reading.

[peter_d]

Originally Posted by anchomal

Ladbrokes do it again!

Well, apparently there has been a leak again... That's the first reason why I am not really pleased with the announcement 10 minutes ago. The other reason is that I don't see why they couldn't have waited a couple of years. How old is she, 55 or something? I think this is the confirmation that authors born in the 1920s and 1930s have had their chance. I never read something by her, so can't say if she deserved it for artistic reasons. But in the speculations part people where quite positive, so I´ll give it a try soon.

[adaorardor]

Originally Posted by Mirabell

I've finished Atemschaukel last night and I'm still trying to find my words.

I do think it's come too early but there's no doubt whatsoever that she deserves the prize.

As a writer she writes usually (but not in The Appointment) very pleasurable, warm prose. She is alert to issues like memory, victims and power, but not in an overt way. Like Celan (another Romanian German writer) she uses words in a way few writers are ABLE to, she burrows into the meaning of words that's older, frequently, than the one used today. She is an extraordinary, extraordinary writer. She should have been given this award as a joint award with Oskar Pastior but I'm happy as it is.

I'm only disappointed that the news leaked...Ladbrokes is making the guessing game less fun. Next year I may have to go media blackout for a few weeks beforehand.

Mirabell, want to school us on Oskar Pastior?

And yeah, if what you're saying is accurate it does seem soon..this is what troubles me about the Nobel, the complete inconsistency. On the other hand you can have someone like Pynchon who wrote a genuine masterpiece like Gravity's Rainbow over three and a half decades ago and hasn't been recognized.

[Daniel del Real]

Now the controversy will start. Is she Romanian or German. She was born in Romania and apparently her writings deal with the problematique of the country under the claws of the Ceaucescu's regime. However all her works are written in German and she is a German citizen.

[Clarissa]

Mirabell,

Which do you recommend as an intro to her work? Before I rush out and buy something that does not show her at her best!

I've finished Atemschaukel last night and I'm still trying to find my words.
...
As a writer she writes usually (but not in The Appointment) very pleasurable, warm prose.

[Stiffelio]

A leak again.........European again........Politically motivated again (c'mon, do you need to be "dispossed" to win it?).

Rants apart, her credentials do seem impressive. I shall try to read her soon.

[Daniel del Real]

I only found two of her works available in Spanish, both by Siruela (oh boy those books are hell expensive)
El Hombre es un gran faisán en el mundo (Der Mensch ist ein großer Fasan auf der Welt) and a short stories book En Tierras Bajas.
Any experience with that novel? It seems it's her first.

[Damian Kelleher]

The Book Depository seems to have nothing of hers that isn't going to cost me far too much money, so I'll wait for the inevitable reprints.

That said, the comments by Peter Englund in recent times have, now, somewhat of a confusing affect. How can the award be too Eurocentric if, under his reign, they just awarded it to a European? Doesn't he have more control than that?

And, excepting Lessing, it does seem that writers in their late 50s and early 60s are being awarded at the expense of those in the 70s and up. That means a sizable portion of writers are pretty much out of the running, and it seems that America will never win it again (do they ever mention authors who aren't a thousand years old??). But then I never thought Oates was even a consideration, let alone a contender. Let's be realistic.

Still disappointed that Kundera or Antunes didn't win. Kundera seems to have missed the boat, but Antunes still might.

[Daniel del Real]

Originally Posted by Damian Kelleher

That said, the comments by Peter Englund in recent times have, now, somewhat of a confusing affect. How can the award be too Eurocentric if, under his reign, they just awarded it to a European? Doesn't he have more control than that?

That is a question I also have. How much power of decision the Permanent Secretary has over the rest of the board. Does he has the last word on who to choose? I know this informations is hardly spread, but a clue anyone?

And I'm also with you in the disappointment field. Not because I think she is a terrible decision, since I haven't read her, but because again there are another excellent options, way older, with more diversity who are awaiting for their chance.
This reaffirms that the best international award is the Premio Principe de Asturias de las Letras who this year awarded Ismail Kadaré. If you take a look at last decade laureates at this award in comparison with the Nobel prize winners, the list of the last one pales in contrast with the other.

[Bjorn]

Sounds like a fun win. Everyone whose opinion I trust who's read her seems to think she's great. Looking forward to reading her.

Originally Posted by Damian Kelleher

That said, the comments by Peter Englund in recent times have, now, somewhat of a confusing affect. How can the award be too Eurocentric if, under his reign, they just awarded it to a European? Doesn't he have more control than that?

No, and nor should he; he's still just one of 15 people voting. If indeed there's been a eurocentrist policy, policy change takes time. And the award is still for individual writers, not for geographical entities.

[Damian Kelleher]

Surely if he doesn't have the power, he shouldn't make the statement.

I don't have a problem with Herta Müller's Nobel. I haven't read her, so I'm not qualified to say whether it was deserved or not. I will order some books and then read them.

But, should the permanent secretary make remarks before a prize that conflict so dramatically with the winner? I daresay not. A united front, if it does nothing else, suggests that they have some sort of purpose in mind rather than just shooting darts at lists of potential authors. Nobody really thinks that is the case, but it'd be nice if the ostensible 'first among equals' would toe the party line a little.

[Mirabell]

Originally Posted by Clarissa

Mirabell,

Which do you recommend as an intro to her work? Before I rush out and buy something that does not show her at her best!

Atemschaukel. Hands down. I strongly!!! recommend you also get "Der König verneigt sich und tötet" as companion volume. If Atemschaukel is too expensive, read Herztier.

[Eric]

Mirabell #5, you yourself should win a little prize for saying something concise but informative about Atemschaukel. I'm glad that one of our number has read a book by her. As I've said elsewhere, I started reading Heute wär ich mir lieber nicht begegnet yesterday. I borrowed the Dutch translation as well, to support me where my German fails me. Too expensive? We have public libraries where I live, ones which even have a few German books. Though from today there'll be a horrible rush in the bookshops to shove Müller into the display windows.

I agree with Peter D that there is a whiff of a leak. Someone said somewhere that Austrian TV had arranged an interview with her. Seems a bit of a coïncidence.

I'm perfectly happy for the Nobel gang to swing in the direction of anti-Communism, as opposed to JellyNeckism (bourgeois screwed up armchair loony sexyslimyfuck revolutionism) when they previously picked a German-speaking female (Frauenzimmer, to you).

As for Peter Englund, he strikes me as a right 'nana. I suppose he's trying to tell Asia, Africa, Latin America, etc., not to sulk because they once again haven't got anything. But after Horrors the Hedgehog started banging on about the USA last year, you would have thought that Swedish Academy bigwigs would have had the sense to keep their big gobs shut this year.

A bit of Eurocentrism does no harm. Isn't it time that the other continents started creating prestigious literary prizes of their own, also worth a million quid or so? Brazil is half a continent with a fine literary tradition and a minority of very rich people; so why doesn't Lula scrape around for a million quid? Or maybe that sophisticated cultural figure, the Chav of Venezuela, will start one. We Europeans should be Eurocentric in order to provoke other countries, regions, and continents to stop whingeing, get off their bottoms, and fork out for a big prize. When is that Jewish gentleman, Mr Sabourjian, going to finance a literary prize instead of hoarding nuclear warheads?

[Igu Soni]

Originally Posted by Mirabell

Atemschaukel. Hands down. I strongly!!! recommend you also get "Der König verneigt sich und tötet" as companion volume. If Atemschaukel is too expensive, read Herztier.

Okay, in English we have only The Passport, The Appointment, and The Land of Green Plums. Which one, would you say?

Edit: Also, Travelling on One Leg.

[promtbr]

Ironically, I am only troubled by the age of the recipient...57 yrs olde...Are you kidding me? If I am one of the oft listed writers of magnitude over the age of 70, I would resign myself that the Nobel is never going to be in the cards and start looking into assisted suicide.

On the other hand, if I am Marias or Makine or Hemon or _______, I am starting to get the warm fuzzies.

I have The Land of Green Plums, The Appointment, and Traveling on One Leg enroute. I was in a rural small college town bookstore last week and had her The Passport in my hands and went hmmm where have I heard that name and put it back on the shelf...