While I do not doubt the literary merits of Nobel prize of Literature winners, and the honor is awarded to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced “in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction.” Maybe it’s the ideal direction that disqualifies some of the greatest and well-known authors of our time. According to wikipedia,
“the Nobel Committee interpreted the intent of the will strictly and did not award certain world-renowned authors of the time such as James Joyce, Leo Tolstoy, Henrik Ibsen and Henry James. More recently, the wording has been interpreted more liberally, and the Prize is awarded both for lasting literary merit and for evidence of consistent idealism on some significant level, most recently a kind of idealism championing human rights on a broad scale, and hence more political, some would argue.”
The Prize in Literature has a history of controversial awards and notorious snubs. Notable literati have pointed out that more indisputably major writers have been ignored by the Nobel Committee than have been honored by it,
“including Marcel Proust, Ezra Pound, James Joyce, Vladimir Nabokov, Jorge Luis Borges, August Strindberg, John Updike, Arthur Miller and others, often for political or extra-literary reasons. Conversely, many writers whom contemporary and subsequent criticism regard as minor, inconsequential or transitional have been the recipient of the award.”
The ones whose works I have cultivated and enjoyed are Jose Saramago, Toni Morrison, and recently J.M. Coetzee. Gao Xin-jian is another writer whose works I would re-visit. What about you? Do you seek out Nobel Prize winners? Do you think they are more obscure and minor? Do you think it’s political gesture? I know Knut Hamsun lionized the Nazis, and he incorporates many life values in his works, but I’m not all that impressed with The Growth with the Soil, which is marketed as his greatest novel.
Filed under: Books, Literature, Personal | Tagged: Books, Literary Prizes, Nobel Prize for Literature, Reading
I do seek out Nobel prize winners, but I think I may be odd in that I’m always excited when the winner is someone I’ve never heard of it. That just means that now I’ll get to discover a great writer that’s new to me! Especially because sometimes a foreign writer’s work is finally translated into English because he/she won the prize.
I go back and forth on this, but I recently picked up a JMG Le Clèzio book called Wandering Star just because he won the Nobel and I’m really glad I did. It’s a lovely book.
I don’t know much about the judging process, but I do seek out Nobel winners. I have enjoyed the majority of ones I’ve read – especially Saramago. There is controversy behind every award, but the arguments behind the Nobel sound particularly interesting – I think I’ll have to research it a bit more!
Dear Sir,
I do seek out the Nobel Winners under the assumption that I can’t possibly see or keep track of everything, and a committee of people bringing multiple intelligences to bear on the question of who is making significant contributions to literature is more likely to get it right than I am. Admittedly, they can go badly wrong–as happened frequently in the early years. But just yesterday I was at the library looking for the works of LeClezio, Kertesz, and Jellnek.
I find myself more often rewarded by the pursuit than disappointed. And while the list of those not receiving the prize is quite long, it would be given that only one recipient a year can receive it and one cannot possibly honor all of the greats who have contributed to world literature given the constraints of time, etc.
Thank you for raising this interesting question.
Steven
I don’t think Nobel prize winning or not has much effect on what I read – compared with prizes awarded to specific books, which I often will read on the strength of a nomination or win. Generally if I’m reading a Nobel author, it’s because of a recommendation from somewhere else.
I occasionally look at the list and am sometimes inspired by it. But, in general I do not seek out Nobel winners. I did recently read my first Doris Lessing, which I liked quite a bit. And, if you haven’t already, you should check out Sinclair Lewis who was the first American to win the prize. His books are fantastic. Start with Main Street or Arrowsmith.
I looked at the list for the first time last year, and was appalled to realize I didn’t recognize most of the names! It’s hard for someone who is newer to literary fiction to approach such a list, because the prize is awarded to the author, not a specific book. How does one go about it: Read one book by each author? Which one? Read everything by one author and then move down the list? Start with the newest or the oldest?
At the moment, I’m using the Nobel list as a flag for authors I might not have come across, but I’m focusing on what I find to be more approachable prizes like the Pulitzer and the Orange.
Like most awards, I don’t really actively seek out those that win the Nobel prize, but I do keep track of it, and if I happen to be browsing at the bookstore and come across an author I’ve not heard of who has won it, it may push me in the direction of giving them a try. I tend to think I have a fairly good knowledge of literary fiction, and while I wouldn’t claim to know every single author who’s ever published, I tend to recognize a lot of names. I think the Nobel Prize is particularly nice because it does often highlight authors who are not necessarily as prominent in many readers’ consciousness, and of the Nobel winners I’ve tried, they’ve all written fantastic fiction (Coetzee, Morrison, Saramago, Marquez, Steinbeck). So far it’s one of the few prizes where the books I’ve read have been truly magnificent and transcendental, but of course, others may feel otherwise (and I certainly haven’t sampled every author on the list!).
I have always planned to read all of the Nobel Prize for Literature winners but have never gotten around to it. I have to admit my ignorance regarding the criteria used to bestow the award upon an author and I have to also say I was not aware of prominent authors that have been left out. Your post gives me food for thought for the coming year and how I might actually read some of the winners as I have planned to do in the past.
Interesting. Food for thought. Committees and juries sometimes strike gold, but very often overlook some of the most meritorious artists for a variety of reasons. Even if the committee, with all good will, sought to give their awards based on literary merit alone, in retrospect it shows the truth of John Steinbeck’s remark: “Time is the only critic without ambition.” And one might append, “self interest.”
Hi, Matt! I’m always excited every time the Nobel Committee chooses their winner for the literature prize. I would never have discovered Saramago if he weren’t given the award. So yes, I seek out Nobel Prize Winners.
Also, I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed Sartre’s novels. I’ve always thought that they were somewhat difficult to go through, but the narrative is very straightforward and compelling.
However, I bought the first novel of last year’s winner (Le Clezio) and I can’t seem to finish it. I guess I’m still not used to his style.
I think it’s legitimate to pick and choose books based on if they’ve won certain awards. I’ve had fairly good experiences with Nobel prize winning authors and so I do seek them out. Sure, there are issues with the award, like who wins and who doesn’t, but the “prize” is always a good author deserving of praise. And yeah, sometimes I personally don’t like all of the books, but that doesn’t diminish that pick. It means not everyone agrees on everything…
I do read Nobel Prize winners, like Morrison, Coetzee and Saramago. I want to know why they were chosen, and it’s introduced me to some great authors: Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Par Lagerkvist, Thomas Mann, Naguib Mahfouz.