Nobel Prize in Literature 2022 Speculation

[Mr.Search]

Author/s* you want to win this year?
Tomas Venclova, Paul Muldoon, Gerald Murnane

Author/s* you think would win this year?
Given the current situation in Europe, probably someone with a strong anti-war stance, possibly an Eastern European

My bet is for António Lobo Antunes. (Colonial) war and its aftermath are at the center of his work.

Author/s you think shouldn't win yet (but maybe later)?
Sofi Oksanen, Serhiy Zhadan

Author/s you think shouldn't win this year or EVER?
Jonathan Franzen, Joyce Carol Oates, the list is too long, really,

 

[Liam]

My bet is for António Lobo Antunes. (Colonial) war and its aftermath are at the center of his work.

I wouldn't be disappointed if he won. It would be a solid, respectable choice!

 

[Morbid Swither]

Any recent visitors of the Nobel.org page notice Ellen Mattson’s posh look? I think she looks fabulous! — literary interests aside.

Also, I guess Nelly Sachs was into crystals? Interesting…

 

[HaveOneOnMe]

Any recent visitors of the Nobel.org page notice Ellen Mattson’s posh look? I think she looks fabulous! — literary interests aside.

Also, I guess Nelly Sachs was into crystals? Interesting…

She does look great but the most fabulous member ever of the academy was the late Sara Danius. I was genuinely shocked when I heard about her death from breast cancer in late 2019. Her figure, her voice, her hair, those skirts cinched at the waist and paired with the bow-tie blouses. Her announcement at the 2016 conference epitomises this. She lent the whole thing an air of _glamour_. Of sexiness. That nonetheless wasn't unserious. She made literature look _cool_! When you compare her energy and look with Mats Malm, whose whole energy is catatonic zombie, you can't help but wince. It's a pity because I think in his own way, Malm is hot...but he's just so arid and flat...

 

[Bartleby]

It's a pity because I think in his own way, Malm is hot..

We can certainly agree on that ?

But yeah, he could just, like, be livelier (or show any sign that he's alive at all)...

 

[Stewart]

On the spine of my copy of Afterlives his publisher couldn't even be bothered to spell his name right. 'Abdulraza Gurnah'.

It happens.

 

[Marba]

Per Wastberg praising Knausgaard and Cusk might mean he might be backing them or will back them in the near future. An interview of his I read around January, before my membership here, once mentioned candidates he felt were deserving: Kapusincki, who he felt regrettably never won the Nobel (died in 2007), and Greene (who he tried to push for the Nobel in 70s and early 80s but found an obstacle in Lundkvist). These two writers found Laureates who wrote similar to them: Alexeich, an oral historian who writes "Witness Literature" like Kapusincki, and Vargas Llosa, who has diversity of themes from politicial works to social like Greene, although Llosa has erotic works which Greene doesn't have (In Praise of Stepmother, Don Rigoberto's Notebooks for example), and Llosa doesn't write works through a theological lens like Greene. In the same interview, Wastberg talked about his friednship with Gordimer (artistic not romantic please), which might have helped in Gordimer's Nobel candidature.

And even though Cusk and Knausgård can be considered on the verge of being too young, Wästberg still would need to push for them very soon as he now, after the passings this year of Sture Allén and Kjell Espmark, is the oldest member of the SA and turns 89 in November.

I know that he has said in interviews that he thought Greene was deserving of the Nobel and he has referred to Gordimer as a "sister from another country", but I am not sure how much influence he might have had on the prize decisions back then as he only entered the SA in 1997 and hence for the first time was on the Nobel jury in 1998.
Mario Vargas Llosa on the other hand is someone I have heard that Wästberg supposedly has been pushing for, like Katarina Frostenson for J.M.G. Le Clézio and Horace Engdahl for Patrick Modiano. I would say that it has generally been considered surprising that so few African writers have won the Nobel during the years Wästberg has been in the SA and its NC (even chairing it for many years) as he has had many connections to the continent and been expected to push for African writers.
We know that in his position as chairman for Swedish PEN he nominated Vladimir Nabokov in 1968, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in 1969 and 1970, and Yannis Ritsos in 1971, but all these decisions had been taken democratically in the organisation. Swedish PEN is also supposed to have nominated Kazuo Ishiguro in 2017.

 

[Morbid Swither]

Catalan people

Has anyone read work from Quim Monzó? I’ve been thinking about tracking down some of his short stories?

 

[Stewart]

Has anyone read work from Quim Monzó? I’ve been thinking about tracking down some of his short stories?

I read The Enormity of the Tragedy, about fifteen years ago, but remember little beyond the comedy of its protagonist's priapic condition.

 

[Ben Jackson]

And even though Cusk and Knausgård can be considered on the verge of being too young, Wästberg still would need to push for them very soon as he now, after the passings this year of Sture Allén and Kjell Espmark, is the oldest member of the SA and turns 89 in November.

I know that he has said in interviews that he thought Greene was deserving of the Nobel and he has referred to Gordimer as a "sister from another country", but I am not sure how much influence he might have had on the prize decisions back then as he only entered the SA in 1997 and hence for the first time was on the Nobel jury in 1998.
Mario Vargas Llosa on the other hand is someone I have heard that Wästberg supposedly has been pushing for, like Katarina Frostenson for J.M.G. Le Clézio and Horace Engdahl for Patrick Modiano. I would say that it has generally been considered surprising that so few African writers have won the Nobel during the years Wästberg has been in the SA and its NC (even chairing it for many years) as he has had many connections to the continent and been expected to push for African writers.
We know that in his position as chairman for Swedish PEN he nominated Vladimir Nabokov in 1968, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in 1969 and 1970, and Yannis Ritsos in 1971, but all these decisions had been taken democratically in the organisation. Swedish PEN is also supposed to have nominated Kazuo Ishiguro in 2017.

Very interesting information, Marba. Didn't know that Frostenson pushed for Le Clezio, indeed it shows that Academy members has different tastes. Thanks for this.

 

[Ben Jackson]

She does look great but the most fabulous member ever of the academy was the late Sara Danius. I was genuinely shocked when I heard about her death from breast cancer in late 2019. Her figure, her voice, her hair, those skirts cinched at the waist and paired with the bow-tie blouses. Her announcement at the 2016 conference epitomises this. She lent the whole thing an air of _glamour_. Of sexiness. That nonetheless wasn't unserious. She made literature look _cool_! When you compare her energy and look with Mats Malm, whose whole energy is catatonic zombie, you can't help but wince. It's a pity because I think in his own way, Malm is hot...but he's just so arid and flat...

She once said that she learnt her dressing sense from David Bowie, her favourite musician, and Marcel Durchamp, the artist. I missed her too, the swagger, sexiness, just unfortunate she died so soon. The way she announced the Nobel recipient is just amazing, unlike Malm who stands grave (is he an undertaker?) and like a log of wood, and of course who can forget the misleading pronouncement from last year (based on the way I heard it): abgulrakak grune.

 

[Leseratte]

It's not that Africa doesn't have quality, of course there's, but sometimes African writers oeuvre just fall short somehow.

Like my compatroit Achebe for example. Arrow of God, TFA, even No Longer at Ease, are very good works. But A Man of the People isn't as good as the other novels I just listed (it's the same view I shared with Tiganeasca). A Man of the People is just a novel about corruption and failed politicians and their ideologies that's all, no more, no less, nothing extraordinary. That's just the problem. Ayi Kwei Armah is one amazing writer from the continent (I've read Beatuyful One's Aren't Yet Born and Fragments, both beautiful works), but he hadn't written enough works (I don't know if he has written anything notable in this century). Fugard is Africa's finest dramatist after Soyinka (Sizwe Bansi is Dead, Tsotsi are works from his I've read), and Awoonor is fantastic poet (he wrote This Earth, My Brother, a fantastic novel with stream of consciousness technique), Ngugi (who I think lost to Gurnah) has been one of the continent's best intellectuals (A Grain of Wheat, Weep Not Child are the works I've read, haven't seen Wizard of Crow), Aidoo is an amazing dramatist (Our Sister Killjoy and Anowa I've both read), but just like Armah, I'm not sure she has published anything notable for a long time now. There's difficulty in finding works by North-African writers, so I haven't read Al-Koni at all and have only read a book each from Ben Jelloun (This Blinding Absence of Light, one of the continent's best novels IMHO), and El-Sadawwi (Woman at Point Zero). Have also found difficulty on finding Couto (only read Sleepwalking Land, wonderful work). As for Gordimer, I haven't read her (yea I've read July's People, but reading one book from her isn't enough I know). The continent also boast of Angalusa (a writer I would be reading next year, hopefully), Okri (Famished Road, Dangerous Love are amazing works), even Farrah, and there are still writers who I think will have a shot in the next decade, Teju Cole and Adichie and Leila Aboulela. The continent has missed great writers who I think could have been worthy candidates: Brink, Djeber, Albert Memmi, Mohammed Dib, even Fugard and maybe Breytenbach would have been worthy candidates in the past, but I think their chances has long gone. So my friend, I know my continent.

And thanks for mentioning N'Diaye as not African, just checked her bio now.

Just adding one information. For someone who is 21, Ben has read a lot. It´s not always so easy to keep pace with the expertise of the forum. Specially not at Nobel eve!

 

[Uemarasan]

Couldn't agree more.

I used to think that the New Republic was a respectable outlet but this is honestly sub-undergrad rubbish. It's not funny. It reminds of that joke in Friends when Chandler is talking to his new roommate Eddie and the punchline of the joke Chandler's telling Eddie is "I mean, she thought the capital of Cambodia was Sean Penn" [self-congratulatory laughs between the two of them] "When we all know that the capital of Cambodia is......well, not Sean Penn."

All too true. It’s a style of especially American humor that, like Friends, peaked (?) in the nineties. And should stay there. There’s a reason this kind of feigned smugness and insult humor Alex Shepard indulges in no longer plays well with the younger generation. It’s so dated.

Just sort of driving by this Nobel week because work has been a true crucible for me these past few months. Wish I could have participated more in the discussion, but I am enjoying what you guys have been posting on this thread. I am sort of expecting a woman to win this year but would really be delighted if the winner were one of the three: Carson, NDiaye, or Tawada. Carson probably being one of the strongest candidates for this prize ever.

 

[Leseratte]

The elephant in the room is that while Gurnah was a cool choice on paper - unknown, totally out of nowhere - the reality is that, unlike someone like Alexievich - his work just doesn't seem to have inspired much curiosity or interest post-win, and, if comments here are anything to go by, the quiet, not very publicised feeback from those who have sampled his work, is that it's merely fine. So, going with a totally obscure writer is a great idea but it's less great if the writer you choose, to suit this purpose, is just ok and not really remarkable in any way...

It seems that the merit of his oeuvre is predominantly social (and political?). And there could be a repetition of this, this year.

 

[Liam]

Just sort of driving by this Nobel week because work has been a true crucible for me these past few months. Wish I could have participated more in the discussion, but I am enjoying what you guys have been posting on this thread.

Always good to see you back, my friend! Good luck with work, I hope it gets easier soon,

 

[Davus]

For some reason, I can't check Ladbrokes from my country. Can anybody share odds?

 

[namelesshere]

Here you go.

 

[Benny Profane]

She once said that she learnt her dressing sense from David Bowie, her favourite musician, and Marcel Durchamp, the artist. I missed her too, the swagger, sexiness, just unfortunate she died so soon. The way she announced the Nobel recipient is just amazing, unlike Malm who stands grave (is he an undertaker?) and like a log of wood, and of course who can forget the misleading pronouncement from last year (based on the way I heard it): abgulrakak grune.

Matts Malm seems a mix of Lurch (Addams Family) and Nosferatu. ?

 

[Davus]

Here you go.

Thanks!

 

[Marba]

Poor Mats Malm! He is not just the stiff old man he appears to be in the SA context. One of his major hobbies is mountain biking! ?