Nobel Prize in Literature 2021 Speculation

[redhead]

Tbh I’m surprised at the response so far. I took Bartleby’s supposition (“I keep thinking the SA for some reason believes they’d run out of really worthy women to award real quick”) to be a more specific version of what I posited—I mean, if the SA did think that, what other reason would there be for the belief? We can see (and read) for ourselves that it’s a ludicrous idea they’d run out of worthy women.

As for the SA and their historical gender bias, it’s true we can’t lay the blame squarely at their feet. There’s a lot of historical factors and the gender imbalance of the prize is partially a symptom of a larger and ongoing issue. That said, that doesn’t mean the SA is absolved of blame, especially when members could (and did) nominate writers themselves.

 

[hayden]

Apologies for opening a can of worms, I honestly didn't think I would. However, I will stick with my opinion. I don't see there being any reason for a female writer not to win this year. Like I said before, I think Ernaux and Can Xue are in the final five, and possibly even (either) Carson or Ugresic.

 

[Bartleby]

Tbh I’m surprised at the response so far. I took Bartleby’s supposition (“I keep thinking the SA for some reason believes they’d run out of really worthy women to award real quick”) to be a more specific version of what I posited—I mean, if the SA did think that, what other reason would there be for the belief? We can see (and read) for ourselves that it’s a ludicrous idea they’d run out of worthy women.

I see. I guess what I was getting at was not a slight at the academy, but an attempt at thinking what is the ratio of currently working women and men writers, and not only that but those with a considerable body of work, and one with the qualities to be deemed worthy of this prize - so no Stephen Kings for instance... but still, we have some grey areas to cover. Example: I've seen many people here and elsewhere say Atwood or Ugresic would be great picks, but, from the (small amount of) stuff I've read from them I wouldn't consider these writers deserving... then there are the Joyce Carol Oatess of Literature, who, while writing stuff that is seen to be "serious", I guess most of us would agree she's not cut for the prize... and the same goes for men. Many of the serious writers constantly named in the Nobel predictions' articles I wouldn't see being deserving winners. And sure, sometimes reading only one book by an author isn't enough to having an idea of said writer's body of work in general - I myself am not so sure yet about Mia Couto, after having read his amazing first novel years ago, and am trying to take a look at his other books to assess the likelihood of him winning...

 

[Ludus]

Man I love coins

 

[Salixacaena]

Emmanuel Carrère is a name that we should look closely. I think it's still early to award another French author after 2014 Modiano's win (not sure though, those Swedes seem to love award frenchies) but his new book Yoga has been highly acclaimed. Not sure if the English translation is already out, but it's already available in a few languages.

I don’t think it’s too soon. They’ve had two American poets in four years.

 

[Salixacaena]

According to this italian article (https://www.homolaicus.com/letteratura/nobel-letteratura.htm), the favorites for this year are :

Margaret Atwood

Haruki Murakami

Maryse Condé

Javier Marías

Lyudmila Oulitskaya

Ngugi Wa Thiongo’o

Not very realistic in my opinion...

Uhhhh no lol

There’s no way they’re considering Conde. Murakami hasn’t been in consideration in years if he ever seriously was. Atwood isn’t going to happen.

 

[Salixacaena]

I see. I guess what I was getting at was not a slight at the academy, but an attempt at thinking what is the ratio of currently working women and men writers, and not only that but those with a considerable body of work, and one with the qualities to be deemed worthy of this prize - so no Stephen Kings for instance... but still, we have some grey areas to cover. Example: I've seen many people here and elsewhere say Atwood or Ugresic would be great picks, but, from the (small amount of) stuff I've read from them I wouldn't consider these writers deserving... then there are the Joyce Carol Oatess of Literature, who, while writing stuff that is seen to be "serious", I guess most of us would agree she's not cut for the prize... and the same goes for men. Many of the serious writers constantly named in the Nobel predictions' articles I wouldn't see being deserving winners. And sure, sometimes reading only one book by an author isn't enough to having an idea of said writer's body of work in general - I myself am not so sure yet about Mia Couto, after having read his amazing first novel years ago, and am trying to take a look at his other books to assess the likelihood of him winning...

I don’t think anyone in the literary world has truly considered Oates a “serious” literary writer in decades. For the past 20 years or so she’s been writing vampire novels, children’s books, ghost stories aimed at teenagers, and various airport type books all based around what’s hot in the news (that novel about the shooting at the abortion clinic). There’s also been a lot of accusations that she steals plot ideas from her writing students.

 

[Ludus]

Uhhhh no lol

There’s no way they’re considering Conde. Murakami hasn’t been in consideration in years if he ever seriously was. Atwood isn’t going to happen.

In one of the alternate realities this post is going to be really really fun to read someday ?

 

[Ludus]

Let's not totally dismiss other users candidates, it has backfired real fast

 

[Salixacaena]

In one of the alternate realities this post is going to be really really fun to read someday ?

Probably. The only reason anyone even discusses Conde is because she won that sham fake Nobel prize that Swedish librarians threw together. At least Murakami had the wherewithal to yank his name from consideration.

Murkakami hasn’t had more than one or two books checked out from their library in years and typically they’re only being checked out because they’re his latest release.

 

[Bartleby]

I don't think Conde is winning either, but I'm not being sharp about it, not only not to be disrespectful, but also: remember Alex Shephard writing he'd eat his copy of Blood on the Tracks if Dylan won hehe

 

[Liam]

There’s also been a lot of accusations that she steals plot ideas from her writing students.

At the rate she's going, I don't find this altogether impossible to believe, LOL. I've never hated anything I read by Oates, but I've never loved any of her books either. She's always been a solid, middle-of-the-road kind of writer to me.

 

[Salixacaena]

I don't think Conde is winning either, but I'm not being sharp about it, not only not to be disrespectful, but also: remember Alex Shephard writing he'd eat his copy of Blood on the Tracks if Dylan won hehe

I mean, he’s always been clueless. He also included Glück in his category of Americans who had no chance at winning last year. He doesn’t seem to know much about the prize as a whole or how the nomination/winning process works.

 

[Salixacaena]

At the rate she's going, I don't find this altogether impossible to believe, LOL. I've never hated anything I read by Oates, but I've never loved any of her books either. She's always been a solid, middle-of-the-road kind of writer to me.

Don’t recall the exact source (may have been an old New York Times interview with an Academy member) but back in 1981 (I think this was the year) a few Academy members really pushed for her to win. She’d just finished some quartet of novels and they believed she was the next big/serious American literary figure. Given the serious downgrade in quality she’s had since then I find it really really unlikely she’d even be considered at this point, let alone shortlisted.

 

[Bartleby]

Another thing (and I'm not trying to be an activist here): in our WLF prize thing, of the 50 names nominated, 14 were women... so, idk, just something to chew over ??

 

[Verkhovensky]

Does anyone think Paul Auster has a chance? OK, probably not this year since an American won it last year, but in the next couple of years?
It seems to me he is held in higher esteem here in Europe than in the U.S., but well, this is awarded in Europe.

Also Banville. Do you think writing all those crime novels in the recent years destroyed his chances for Nobel?

I would love to see Carrere win, I "discovered" him last year and of the three books I've read, I liked all of them (The Class Trip little less, but Lives Other Than My Own and The Kingdom were really great). I haven't read Yoga (it wasn't published here yet, although I hope it will be), but I'm not surprised by that book, since he mentioned practising yoga a lot in The Kingdom.

 

[Septularisen]

I haven’t read him yet, so I can’t comment on his merits as a writer (or lack thereof), but, well, given the amount of his books out from the library, I guess we should all be ready for it, as a real possibility ??‍...

OK. In this case don't be surprised if I'm not there for the Nobel Prize Literature 2022 Speculation... I would have had a stroke!

 

[Septularisen]

I would love to see Carrere win, I "discovered" him last year and of the three books I've read, I liked all of them (The Class Trip little less, but Lives Other Than My Own and The Kingdom were really great). I haven't read Yoga (it wasn't published here yet, although I hope it will be), but I'm not surprised by that book, since he mentioned practising yoga a lot in The Kingdom.

Emmanuel CARRÈRE Nobel Prize for Literature? Frankly? Is that a joke?
No one chance! Not the level, very few good books (Apart maybe LIMONOV and The Kingdom), and above all a very (over-) developed ego which leads him to speak systematically of himself in all his books ... A completely overestimated writer!..
No. I don't believe it for a minute!

 

[Ludus]

OK. In this case don't be surprised if I'm not there for the Nobel Prize Literature 2022 Speculation... I would have had a stroke!

I can't really say he got no chances, but oh boy I hated his poetry! Can you guys recommend me some good novel to start with Houellebecq? I really don`t want to feel like I'm missing something.

 

[nagisa]

I think this is especially interesting NOW, when (I hope) plenty of women are getting nominated: but addressing the Academy's historical gender bias, remember: they could only work with nominated candidates, so the thing to do would be to consult the publicly available records for the years 1900-1970 and to see how many women were NOMINATED for the award, because that would give us the pool of potential nominees that the Academy (during the first 70 years of the Prize) had to work with. If there were plenty of women nominated and the board chose not to award them then yes, you can talk of a definite gender bias.

How convenient that we have a series of threads on the nominations then. Going off the last three we have, the ratio is something like 6%...