Nobel Prize in Literature 2012 Speculation

[Liam]

Can't you see that Eric is just taking the piss?

And OK, Mia Couto (whom I haven't read) = bad, but Franzen = good? I don't get your logic.

[maidenhair]

Oh please, Daniel, I beg you: stop including Mia Couto in your Nobel worthy lists. That guy is a non-entity as a writer and therefore an insult to the others in your list.

Which ones of his books have you read?

[Eric]

Eric takes the piss much of the time, but I was serious about Günter de Bruyn.

[Stiffelio]

Which ones of his books have you read?

The Last Flight of the Flamingo. It was a short novel, about 150 pages long, but it took me ages to finish; it was so ridiculously bad.

[Stiffelio]

Can't you see that Eric is just taking the piss?

And OK, Mia Couto (whom I haven't read) = bad, but Franzen = good? I don't get your logic.

The logic of having read them both and made comparisons. But why should there be any logic? You are comparing oranges with bananas. Franzen is a brilliant novelist, of the nineteenth century realistic type, almost Tolstoyan in scope. He's been widely recognized by critics and by other writers alike. He's received a couple of important literary prizes, among which the National Book Award. Couto, on the other hand, writes awkwardly simple novels, in the mold of magic realism. The only reason his name has come to light is because he supposedly fought in the Mozambican independence war and he is constantly championed by one Henning Mankell as the voice of Africa.

[Eric]

I agree with Stiffelio about the reputation of Mia Couto. He's the "token White Mozambique author". If Henning Mankell, the Maoist millionaire who has set up some kind of do-gooding hotel in that country, has been promoting him, that is no guarantee for literary quality. Quite the reverse. Mankell's own books are mostly fairly violent, sometimes gruesome, with the added value of a moralistic lecture about some aspect of society.

Does anyone here seriously think that Couto is Nobel material? This is the thread about Nobel speculation.

[Daniel del Real]

The Last Flight of the Flamingo. It was a short novel, about 150 pages long, but it took me ages to finish; it was so ridiculously bad.

If you want to give him a second chance try reading Venenos de Dios, Remedios del Diablo. It was my first Couto novel and was greatly impressed with his prose. It was like taking the best moments of GGM's magical realism and transport it to the African lands of Mozambique. His characters very well personified, a mixture between stoic human beings fighting against all the limitations and problems of a bruised land and free spirits full of magic, always blending in one with the exotic nature and its rituals. In September I'll be reading Sleepwallking Land which is considered his finest novel. If it turns better than the other one then I can be even more serious to consider him as Nobel worthy.

[maidenhair]

Am I the only one finding it a bit strange to speak of a writer as a 'non-entity' after having read a single book by him?

Reviews of the Flamingo book:
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/17/bo.../17NIXONL.html
London Review of Books
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v27/n03/elizabe...-severed-penis

I do not know about his Nobel worthiness and I do not care, but these reviews here do not sound like he is a 'non-entity'.

[Eric]

Let's get this into perspective. This is the thread about Nobel speculation, not the thread for either the Mia Couto Admiration Society, or the Mia Couto Hate Week groupies.

Can't we just drop Mia Couto from this thread and concentrate on authors who stand a realistic chance of winning the Nobel?

[Daniel del Real]

Sorry Eric, but the term speculation can include guesses that probably doesn't have a minimum chance to win the big one, but that for some reason we have read and admired their works. Or do you really think your hundred year old untranslated Estonian dudes stand a chance? Free expression my friend.

[Eric]

I don't think that Mia Couto is heavyweight enough to stand a chance of winning the Nobel. If he wins the now reduced sum (from 10 million to 8 million Swedish kronor, as I understand it), I think that the credibility of the Nobel will be reduced. Forget Estonia; focus on the rest of the world.

[maidenhair]

I came across the name Can Xue quite often in recent years. Anyone read her? Is she writing Nobel material?
Short bio: http://web.mit.edu/ccw/can-xue/biography.shtml

[Caodang]

I'm reading her "Five Spice Street" and find it brilliant so far, but it's obvious that just one book isn't enough to give a fair assessment to an author.

[Flint]

1. If the Prize goes south:
When Saramago was awarded the Prize, Lobo Antunes was so shocked and angry (didn’t like him or his books very much to begin with) – he must have thought Oh my God, They’re not going to give the Prize to a Portuguese writer in the next fifty years. Well, maybe they’re not going to wait that long after all.
Personally, I love his short fiction (he has a talent to give his characters a credible voice – and he has a wonderful ear for idiom) but I am quite unable to digest his novels (the hyperinflation of metaphors, similes and other imagery – about 27 per line – makes my level of LDL cholesterol shoot up) in spite of my good disposition toward him.

2. If the Prize goes (slightly) farther south:
If that were to be the case, Juan Goytisolo is a good candidate. He’s been around for a long time – it’s nearly 60 years since he published his first novel – and he has an impressive corpus of fiction to his name.

3. If I had my way:
If if were up to me I’d give the Prize to Michael Moorcock, for three reasons:
-Reason One: He is a genre writer – it would be quite a break if the Prize was awarded to an author who has mostly written science fiction and (kind of spoof) historical fiction;
-Reason Two: He is not only a genre writer – he has written two great literary novels, Mother London (one of the best novels in English of the 20th century) and King of the City;
-Reason Three: He writes wonderfully.

[Uemarasan]

I will answer Uemarasan, #73. I have a smattering of Hungarian, having studied it for two terms at Uppsala University in the 1980s, but I dropped out of the course. I've been on a few Russian courses in my time, so my reading level is somewhere between lower intermediate and intermediate. But I cannot either speak it, or read literature in it. Many people think you either know a language or you don't This is not true; such knowledge involves a continuum and four skills: speaking, understanding, reading, writing. These can be at different levels.

You just reiterated what I said. So then there is much that you don't know about the Hungarian and Russian literary scenes. Thanks for the language lesson. I don't think I needed it. 努力に感謝します.でも不要です.ありがとうございます.

It is very frustrating with contemporary Russian literature, i.e. what is being written now, that non-Russian people do not seem to want to examine the literature as a whole, but instead appear to pull random names out of a hat, such as Shishkin, and turn these names and their owners into a cult. And the same is happening with Krasznahorkai - how many other contempoorary Hungarian authors apart from Nádas and him get an airing in English, if we discount Kertész because he won the Nobel? Again, as Hungarian is a difficult language for West Europeans, everything literary tends to get filtered via the German language and German tastes. There are very few people, such as the British translator George Szirtes, who can make judgements of their own about who the rising stars are in Hungarian liteatiure, For instance Péter Nádas' fat novel was already available in German in the late 1980s. When did it appear in English, and by way of what route (i.e. direct translation, translation via German, etc.)?

Good day! Have you read the books since we were last here? Well then...

[Caodang]

... how many other contempoorary Hungarian authors apart from Nádas and him get an airing in English, if we discount Kertész because he won the Nobel?

The following contemporary Hungarian writers have been translated into English, apart from Nádas and Krasznahorkai:

- Peter Esterhazy
- Antal Szerb
- Magda Szabo
- Dezső Kosztolányi
- Sandor Marai

And some others, I don't remember at this moment.

And, please, Eric, read the books themselves. Judge them by yourself. If you have read tons of Nobel-caliber writing by a lot of authors, it's highly likely you will be able to judge whether Krasznahorkai_or Nádas, or whoever_is producing Nobel-worthy stuff, isn't it?

Read them before saying with such certainty about Krasznahorkai as though you know everything about him. I, for myself, have never read Nestor Amarilla and that's why I keep myself from saying anything about that guy.

[lhsl]

I think that Brazil should finally win the Nobel. The 5 writers that I think that have the biggest chances are:
Ferreira Gullar: (81) A poet, maybe, the biggest chance and who have been told to be getting very popular this year In Sweden.
Ariano Suassuna: (85) Playwright and novelist. There are some people who believe in him but in my opinion his themes are too Brazilians so I don't know if foreign can identify themselves.
Nélida Piñon: (75) Mainly novelist. Well, she won the Principe de Asturias Prize, why not the Nobel?
Rubem Fonseca: (87) Short story writer and novelist. He is my definitely favorite Brazilian writer alive. I don't any special factor that would give him a chance, but he deserves it.
Dalton Trevisan: (87) Short story teller. 2012 is his year, he won the Camoes Prize (the Nobel for writers in Portuguese language wich have been won by Ferreira and Rubem too) and the Machado de Assis Prize (the Brazilian Nobel which have been won by Ferreira too). To formalize this year of good luck, he can win the real Nobel. And it would be a great recognition of the short story as a gender (I don't know why people loves his short storys, Fonseca's are definitely more interesting)
The only problem I could find in this list is that they are all maybe too old for the prize...

[Daniel del Real]

Jorge Amado should have been the first Brazilian to win the Nobel. After that huge omission a Brazilian writer would be a nice decision by the Swedish Academy. Unfortunately, from the 5 writers you propose I've only read Rubem Fonseca, and he is terrific, probably one of the best short story tellers alive. Besides, you wouldn't beleve he is 87 as he is always so active and full of energy; he's a great human being, no doubt about it and for sure he deserves the prize.
Ferreria Gullar has been in the news lately so probably I need to read something from him. Nelida Piñón is probably the most recognized from the bunch, but for some reason or another, something has kept me away from her works, don't know why.
Thanks for bringing these names lhsl.

[adaorardor]

Jorge Amado should have been the first Brazilian to win the Nobel. After that huge omission a Brazilian writer would be a nice decision by the Swedish Academy. Unfortunately, from the 5 writers you propose I've only read Rubem Fonseca, and he is terrific, probably one of the best short story tellers alive. Besides, you wouldn't beleve he is 87 as he is always so active and full of energy; he's a great human being, no doubt about it and for sure he deserves the prize.
Ferreria Gullar has been in the news lately so probably I need to read something from him. Nelida Piñón is probably the most recognized from the bunch, but for some reason or another, something has kept me away from her works, don't know why.
Thanks for bringing these names lhsl.

Clarice Lispector.

[Daniel del Real]

Clarice Lispector.

Don't know, haven't read her. However I can speak for Amado, tremendous novelist.