Americans too ignorant for the Nobel prize in literature

SpeedoGuy

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STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) - Bad news for American writers hoping for a Nobel Prize next week: the top member of the award jury believes the United States is too insular and ignorant to compete with Europe when it comes to great writing....

"The U.S. is too isolated, too insular. They don't translate enough and don't really participate in the big dialogue of literature," Engdahl said. "That ignorance is restraining."

Another gem:

"Very many authors who have their roots in other countries work in Europe, because it is only here where you can be left alone and write, without being beaten to death," he said. "It is dangerous to be an author in big parts of Asia and Africa...."

(note: Dutch film-maker Theo van Gogh was unavailable for comment)


Full story at:

Nobel literature head: US too insular to compete


Of course competitions such as the Nobel prize, are, by nature, subjective. Its comforting to know that the judges are taking as much of an objective and non-prejudiced stance prior to the selection process.
 

faceking

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Couldn't give a flying fuck about the Nobel Prize... the same institution that awarded Arafat.

Enough said.

Then they doubled down the disaster awarding Gore.

The legitimacy of the Prize and whole institution is forever compromised.
 

Ethyl

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The legitimacy of the Prize and whole institution is forever compromised.

Arafat and Gore were awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace not Literature. You can't convince me that the institution is "compromised" as a result of two wins that might be considered questionable and that Garcia Marquez, Morrison, Faulkner and all the other greats in Literature who were chosen are now rendered meaningless.
 

Ethyl

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back on subject...

I can see where the head of the Academy is coming from since most of the works that won the Prize deal with universal themes on some level. That said, there are authors whom i'm surprised haven't won. Margaret Atwood, Jorge Luis Borges (only because the Academy doesnt' recognise children's literature, a lack of insight on their part IMO) and others. I think americans are so used to living in a country with various cultural influences that our homogenisation of those influences can have an effect on the literary world. I don't think it's fatal. Liberal arts are not longer encouraged as are the sciences, business and other fields of study. Once we do that it sort of takes care of itself.
 
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An ounce of pretension is worth 10lbs of mud. Of course they are going to snub Americans. That is no huge surprise.

There are ignorant folks everywhere, America cannot possibly hold the monopoly on a "polarized" view of the world. To say otherwise is unrealistic.

Overall, I think a certain majority of these people slight us because we don't encourage our children to read as much as we need to. Education is not the priority it once was. All it takes is one bad apple.

As for being "left alone to write" if they want to get snippy about it, some of the world's worst have came from elsewhere in the world (NOT the US) and even (if memory serves) burned books in heaping bonfires. You know the story.

These people have their noses out of joint, even if there is some degree of legitimacy to their statement.

Perhaps my view is limited and I cannot express a more knowledgeable opinion like some of the others here, that being said, IMO Gore deserved the Nobel. The committee got that one right on.

Someone needed to say something in such a way as to bring proper attention and focus to what is and has been going on for decades. To say it is not happening, is denial pure and simple.
 
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SpeedoGuy

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As for being "left alone to write" if they want to get snippy about it, some of the world's worst have came from elsewhere in the world (NOT the US) and even (if memory serves) burned books in heaping bonfires. You know the story.

A good point.

We need only look back a few generations to find a time when sneering European intellectuals weren't so sleek and self-assured. In fact, they were fleeing Europe for....where? The new world.