Nobel Prize in Literature 2021 Speculation

[Morbid Swither]

I've never read Fosse but definitely will if he wins. As a non-superfan of his, you might be a good person to get an objective recommendation from as to what would be a worthwhile point of introduction to his work. I'll weigh your judgement against what possible works the SA emphasizes in those bio-bibliographies they whip up for each winner. I really love those things!

Well, I’m hardly an expert on him! Books I’ve read this far (in English of course) are Melancholy, Melancholy II, Scenes from Childhood, and Aliss at the Fire (so far my favorite). I have requested a translation of his poetry through ILL and look forward to that. I am waiting until all volumes of Septology appear in English before taking that on. His writing evokes writers (such as Beckett), but also of strong writers such as Thomas Bernhard and fellow countryman Tarjei Vesaas. I can’t conclude if his similarities to this writers help or hurt his chances, but I do think that (to borrow a term from Bernhard) that a process of Correction could be a the rationale behind his support. I really don’t know.

 

[Stevie B]

By the looks of the library

a) Francophone: they considered Ernaux, and then weighed her up against Houellebecq (apparently discarded now?), then Cixous and then threw Conde into the mix...

b) Norwegian: considered Fosse and weighed up Knausgaard against him, and...Eldred Lunden?

c) African continent: Couto weighed against Vladislavic (and Wicomb), Okri, and (!!!) Ngugi...

d) Probably not going with Chinese authors.

e) i don't get the check out surge in Ulitskaya...

have I missed/overstated anything?

(Btw, just joined the forum. This is my first post. This is all so exciting!!!!!)

Welcome, Abhi. I like how you connected the dots with your post. By the way, when I searched for information for Eldred Lunden, I did find a short wikipedia page under the first name "Eldrid". Looks like she received a few accolades many years ago, but her literary output seems fairly small.

 

[redhead]

Looks like she received a few accolades many years ago, but her literary output seems fairly small.

She also won the Nordic prize the SA gives out earlier this year

 

[ministerpumpkin]

Well, I’m hardly an expert on him! Books I’ve read this far (in English of course) are Melancholy, Melancholy II, Scenes from Childhood, and Aliss at the Fire (so far my favorite). I have requested a translation of his poetry through ILL and look forward to that. I am waiting until all volumes of Septology appear in English before taking that on. His writing evokes writers (such as Beckett), but also of strong writers such as Thomas Bernhard and fellow countryman Tarjei Vesaas. I can’t conclude if his similarities to this writers help or hurt his chances, but I do think that (to borrow a term from Bernhard) that a process of Correction could be a the rationale behind his support. I really don’t know.

Thank you for this. Hope I didn't put you on the spot too much. I always enjoy your insights!

 

[Stevie B]

She also won the Nordic prize the SA gives out earlier this year

Thanks for the catch. "Nordiska Pris 2021" is indeed listed on her Wiki.

 

[Daniel del Real]

He does, that’s true. But really, of all the names you’ve mentioned, Beckett is really what comes to the fore. You know, it’s not just that he’s elliptical and repetitive. Or minimalist—or miniturist. Or that the writing deploys an aesthetics of the peripheral. But taken altogether, it’s just a little less exciting. These are vague criticisms. Fosse is a major world writer, but as far as enthusiasm for his work goes, here on this forum, I have to admit, I’m kinda stumped. Even among fellow Norwegians, I don’t prefer his work above all. For me, that would be Kjell Askildsen. But I also think Solstad and Knausgaard are equally as good…. Just my take here. I realize Fosse is well regarded and I do like the obscure mysticism of his vision. But…

Count me in among Askildsen fans. His short stories are absolutely amazing, this and his advanced age makes me think Fosse can wait, although I know it's not gonna happen

Well, I’m hardly an expert on him! Books I’ve read this far (in English of course) are Melancholy, Melancholy II, Scenes from Childhood, and Aliss at the Fire (so far my favorite). I have requested a translation of his poetry through ILL and look forward to that. I am waiting until all volumes of Septology appear in English before taking that on. His writing evokes writers (such as Beckett), but also of strong writers such as Thomas Bernhard and fellow countryman Tarjei Vesaas. I can’t conclude if his similarities to this writers help or hurt his chances, but I do think that (to borrow a term from Bernhard) that a process of Correction could be a the rationale behind his support. I really don’t know.

Well, your Fosee favorite is the only one I've read and I was bored to death when I finished it. Can't think of another slim book more tedious than this one.

Agree on Ana Blandiana. Quite formidable on her own. Circe Maia and Ida Vitale of Uruguay can get into this equation for comparison and contrast. But age can pull them down just as we used to parade Nadal El Sadaawi of Egypt as a prospect despite her advancing years. Thankfully, she herself has put it to rest with her exit in March this year. But Daniel you are lucky that you can read them in the original. For someone like me, a stranger to both Spanish and Portuguese, getting English translations of Circe Maia or Ida Vitale is a task by itself.

Circe Maia is not a big name at libraries or bookfairs in México you know. To be honest, first time I heard of her was at the Mary Morose's quite extensive Nobel list. Now I'm really curious about her work, so I'll try to get an anthology, which I don't think it will be particularly easy to get.

 

[Stevie B]

Count me in among Askildsen fans. His short stories are absolutely amazing, this and his advanced age makes me think Fosse can wait, although I know it's not gonna happen.

Beautiful set of books but, unfortunately, my younger brother is the German reader in my family. It does look like Penguin published a book of Askildsen's short stories earlier this year. I'm not sure if it includes the same stories from his collection A Sudden Liberating Thought, a slender book I read a while back.

 

[Skinnyfists]

Who do you want to see awarded the prize?

Ali Smith, William T Vollmann

Who do you think will win this year?

Annie Ernaux

Who will never win?

Hilary Mantel

 

[redhead]

View attachment 938
Beautiful set of books but, unfortunately, my younger brother is the German reader in my family. It does look like Penguin published a book of Askildsen's short stories earlier this year. I'm not sure if it includes the same stories from his collection A Sudden Liberating Thought, a slender book I read a while back.

Where would you recommend starting with Askildsen?

Edit: never mind, there appears to be only one book of his in English, some selected stories, that wouldn’t require me to sell my first born to afford

 

[Stevie B]

Where would you recommend starting with Askildsen?

Edit: never mind, there appears to be only one book of his in English, some selected stories, that wouldn’t require me to sell my first born to afford

Funny and sad that I've long since traded away my paperback copy of A Sudden Liberating Thought (cheapest copy on Amazon is over $700 ). Everything Like Before is currently in print and is available from Penguin and Archipelago at reasonable prices.

 

[Septularisen]

Who do you want to see awarded the prize?

Haruki MURAKAMI, Laszlo KRASZNAHORKAI, Jon Kalman STEFÁNSSON, Karl Ove KNAUSGAARD, Antonio LOBO ANTUNES, Javier MARIAS, José Eduardo AGUALUSA...

Who do you think will win this year?

David GROSMANN, Mia COUTO, Nuruddin FARAH, Ben OKRI, Ngugi Wa THIONG'O...

Who will never win?

Haruki MURAKAMI, Normann MANEA, Lydie DATTAS, ADONIS, Milan KUNDERA, Ismaïl KADARÉ, Richard FORD, Salman RUSHDIE, John IRVING, Hans Magnus ENZENSBERGER, Hanif KUREISHI, ...

Who is now deceased but “should” have won? — limited to past decade — Umberto ECO, Gore VIDAL, Agota KRISTOF, Amos OZ, Philip ROTH, Edgar HILSENRATH...

 

[Morbid Swither]

Can't think of another slim book more tedious than this one.

Tedious is a pretty good word for Fosse’s work. Obviously, it has a strange magic for some. I guess not us, Daniel. That being said, the themes of Aliss at the Fire did strongly appeal to me. You may recall from my share of Vollmann’s rubric, that mediations on memory and loss get me every time.

 

[Morbid Swither]

I realize that this post likely would be better for New and Notable, but I’m not active there. For the interest of members into Lusophone/Brazilian lit, LGBTQ lit, or creative independent publishing projects, I cannot recommend more highly Two Lines Calico Series’ newest publication, “Cuíer”, an anthology of different genres of LGBT contemporary Brazilian literature. 5 star.

 

[Morbid Swither]

who do you want to see awarded the prize?: Carson, Thiong'o, Adonis, Abdellatif Laabi (Moroccan poet, I was his sole nominator for the WLF prize this year, he's great)
who do you think will win this year? Annie Ernaux, she's the kind of candidate I could see the SA tripping over themselves to award. Plus, they love the French and 7 years without one shows great restraint ha ha!
who will never win? Pynchon, if they weren't going to give it to him in the year when you didn't have to give an in person speech, it's never going to happen. (Although awarding him would have been awesome)

Abdellatif Laabi, João Cabral de Melo Neto, Ghassan Zaqtan, and Saadi Youssef are others I would like to add to my ‘Who I Would Like to Win’ list!

 

[Morbid Swither]

I don’t know what’s wrong with me (maybe I need more interests / a therapist) but I want to say that Antonio Moresco of Italy writes so beautifully. His style is every bit as distinctive and beautiful as any writer I’ve discovered in the past decade; highly reminiscent of masters like Tarjei Vesaas (who should have won!) and Antonio Tabucchi…. The only reason why I haven’t mentioned him sooner is that he seems obscure, even too obscure for the SA, but his writing is pure beauty and his stories are exquisite. If not to throw out his name into the Nobel arena, to just recommend his name to my friends at WLF.

 

[Stevie B]

I don’t know what’s wrong with me (maybe I need more interests / a therapist) but I want to say that Antonio Moresco of Italy writes so beautifully. His style is every bit as distinctive and beautiful as any writer I’ve discovered in the past decade; highly reminiscent of masters like Tarjei Vesaas (who should have won!) and Antonio Tabucchi…. The only reason why I haven’t mentioned him sooner is that he seems obscure, even too obscure for the SA, but his writing is pure beauty and his stories are exquisite. If not to throw out his name into the Nobel arena, to just recommend his name to my friends at WLF.

Thanks for the Moresco recommendation. Learning about new authors is one of the biggest reasons I’m a WLF regular. Regarding Vesaas, I’ve only read one of his books - The Bridges. Do you have a favorite novel by him?

 

[Leseratte]

I don’t know what’s wrong with me (maybe I need more interests / a therapist) but I want to say that Antonio Moresco of Italy writes so beautifully. His style is every bit as distinctive and beautiful as any writer I’ve discovered in the past decade; highly reminiscent of masters like Tarjei Vesaas (who should have won!) and Antonio Tabucchi…. The only reason why I haven’t mentioned him sooner is that he seems obscure, even too obscure for the SA, but his writing is pure beauty and his stories are exquisite. If not to throw out his name into the Nobel arena, to just recommend his name to my friends at WLF.

Thanks for this recommendation. I'm always impressed how many authors of all countries you have read. Hope you have a good and restful night!j

 

[hayden]

Thanks for the Moresco recommendation. Learning about new authors is one of the biggest reasons I’m a WLF regular. Regarding Vesaas, I’ve only read one of his books - The Bridges. Do you have a favorite novel by him?

Not my question to answer, but just add The Birds, The Ice Palace, and The Boat In The Evening into your queue if you can get your hands on them (in that order). All fantastic. Vesaas was crazy consistent. I've never come across something by him I didn't like. Super clean, crisp poetic prose, always with complex heart underneath.

 

[Morbid Swither]

One more little post to throw out there before retiring for the evening….

British authors….. Oh yes how the SA loves a French writer, but so too is there a love for a Briton. There are several writers of a “new” generation that really have made some big waves. It seems that once there was quite a bit of love for Tom Stoppard (maybe eliminated from contention bc of Pinter). But I thought, as unlikely a choice as it may be considering the pop in English-language authors and Ishiguro in 2017, Martin Amis and Julian Barnes; Carol Anne Duffy.

Thanks for the Moresco recommendation. Learning about new authors is one of the biggest reasons I’m a WLF regular. Regarding Vesaas, I’ve only read one of his books - The Bridges. Do you have a favorite novel by him?

yea, The Birds.

 

[Morbid Swither]

Thanks for the Moresco recommendation. Learning about new authors is one of the biggest reasons I’m a WLF regular. Regarding Vesaas, I’ve only read one of his books - The Bridges. Do you have a favorite novel by him?

To be fair, I think one of our Italian members has brought up Moresco. But we’ve had a dynamic discussion here in ‘21 and I wanted to emphasize how great a writer he is!