Um, what? Handke is an ethical moron, a real life troll and provocateur who understands any press is good press. He knows how to game the system. What he's
said is abhorrent and inexcusable. However - and I dislike having to compare the two - he's only written and said things. Ko Un, on the other hand, systematically sexually abused women for decades. He used his fame and power (both as a critic and an editor) to force up and coming writers to appease his sexual desires.
At home, poet Ko Un, 84, has remained mum on fresh allegations that he abused his status in the literary world to sexually harass female writers and publishers. But he was vocal in...
www.koreatimes.co.kr
Whatever attachment you feel to his literary legacy, and I'm all for reading the works of authors who have disgusting personal lives, he no longer deserves the Nobel Prize. As we've seen in the 80 pages this year, there are plenty of authors. Should the Academy do double laureates for a decade, there are plenty of candidates. What he's done is unforgivable, and the Academy will not go unscathed rewarding him the prize like they did with Handke.