Re: Re - Our expectations ( great and small) about the 2022 Nobel Prize in Literature
Cornelius Hamelberg
2022 Nobel Prize in Literature
First, to dispel the main misunderstanding that the Prize in Literature is to be awarded to "the greatest writer". "literary giant/giantess” etc. since that is not the express will of Alfred Nobel, according to Aldred Nobel’s Last Will and Testament in which it is clearly written that the prize should go to "the person who shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction”. Of course, there's ample room for interpreting "an ideal direction".
The winner will be announced on Thursday, the 5th of October ( which coincides with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. ) I remember that it was announced that Harold Pinter had won it on the Day of Atonement / Yom Kippur which fell on 13 October 2005…I remember because, during the intermission at Solna, I couldn’t help rushing to the library, and there it was: HAROLD PINTER! ( BTW he also got married some years earlier, on Yom Kippur of all days, a day that seems to have been very favourable to him, as 13th October 2005 can testify…
This year, I think that it's going to France, and her name is Annie Ernaux .
But when it comes to the Nobel Prize in Literature, The Swedish Academy has been the ruin of many a false prophet...
This article by Matilda Källen was published on the Culture pages of Dagens Nyheter on 1st October 2022 and gives some clarity on how the literature Prize is determined.
CULTUREThis is how Nobel Prize winners in literature are appointed
PUBLISHED 2022-09-30Photo: Fredrik Sandberg/TTOn Thursday, it will be revealed who will be this year's prize winner. Who are actually allowed to nominate for the Nobel Prize, how is the laureate selected - and how do the academy members manage to keep the mask when curious relatives ask snooping questions? DN's Matilda Källén explains what the process looks like.
TextWhen the Nobel laureate is announced on Thursday next week, it's not just the starting point for hundreds of cultural journalists hungry for comment. Then the kick-off is also given for the extensive work which, over the course of twelve months, will lead to the selection of next year's prize winner.
In the flood of writing around the world: How does the work actually work? And is it possible to please everyone?
The very first step in the process is for those who are authorized to nominate authors to be asked to do just that. These include former Nobel laureates and members of the Swedish Academy and similar institutions around the world.
Since a year ago, a group of external experts in the field have also been allowed to submit suggestions for authors. One reason for the investment is that the Swedish Academy regularly receives criticism for its focus on writers from the West. Out of 118 awarded authors so far, well over 90 have been European or North American.
You are still a well-read bunch. Do you get tips on authors you've never heard of?
- Yes, there are many great authors that we do not know about because they have not been translated into languages that we have access to, and there the field experts can contribute, says author Ellen Mattson, who is in her second year on the Nobel Committee, the group within the Swedish Academy that responsible for the Nobel Prize work.
- The core itself is names you know, which have been on the lists for several years, but new names can come in quickly if someone gets excited.
Anders Olsson, chairman of the Nobel Committee since 2019, says that it is too early to evaluate the investment in area experts.
- But we have had much more to read, he notes.
In some cases, the expert proposals are added to the so-called "long list", which this year consisted of 240 nominated names. After that, the Nobel Committee's reading work begins. The long list must be shortened to the semi-long list, which in turn must be boiled down to approximately five names.
How do you actually manage to read so much?
- It is of course a huge task, but luckily we have experience and many names will return, says Anders Olsson. I think we all read in different ways and from different perspectives, because we are different genders and ages. It is important. Getting that spread is also a way to create renewal.
Ellen Mattson guesses that she read "at least 7-8,000 pages" during the summer alone.
- Sitting on the Nobel Committee is demanding in a very special way, but it is very stimulating to read as deeply as we do. A danger with reading is otherwise that you give up if it takes, but here that opportunity does not exist and it means that I discover things and writing that I would not have discovered otherwise.
Have you had to neglect your social contacts?
- I wouldn't say that. However, there is no time to read anything else.
When the short list is approved by the Academy in May, it is up to all members to read up on the authors, if they are not already familiar with them, in order to make a decision in early October. At the same time, the demands on discretion are high and secrecy far-reaching: Reveal nothing to anyone. Keep an eye on books and papers.
- Total zero applies, says Ellen Mattson.
Is it difficult to keep the secret when family or friends ask?
- No, my surroundings are so involved that I can't talk about that. But I'm also very careful. When I had a birthday party a week or so ago, I locked the door to my study, so that no one could walk in and accidentally see anything. If I read outside my home, I always use a protective cover. But I'm terrified of accidentally putting something important down, so I usually read at home or in the garden.
Photo: Naina Helén Jåma/TTNevertheless, information and suspicions of leaks have been a recurring feature of Nobel reporting over the years. Not least in 2008, when the odds for the French writer Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio plummeted the day before he was announced as a Nobel laureate. When the betting company Ladbrokes registered deviant betting patterns in France, the game was stopped completely. The Academy's permanent secretary at the time, Horace Engdahl, also stated that there was a leak, but also that the Academy "should not play James Bond". His successor Peter Englund had a different idea, and soon began an intricate investigation to plug the holes. Nevertheless, the odds also appeared for Tomas Tranströmer in 2011 and Svetlana Aleksijevitj in 2015.
Today it is clear that one of the leaks was the rape convict known as Kulturprofilen, who for many years was married to a member who has now left the Academy. According to an investigation by the Academy , he allegedly leaked as many as seven Nobel Prize winners in advance – most recently Bob Dylan in 2016. The crisis that shook the institution in connection with metoo led to the 2018 Nobel Prize being postponed.
Four years later, there are no leaks in the Academy, says Anders Olsson.
- No, it is not a problem we have, he says.
- It is clear that psychologically it can be difficult to keep secret something that you find incredibly exciting, but in practice it is easy not to reveal anything.
Even if the members keep quiet, there are others who are happy to dig into potential prize winners. In addition to turning to psychic animals (parrots at Skansen, Björn Wiman's dwarf rams, Eva Beckman's cat), Swedish cultural editorial offices often turn into a kind of mini-MI6 in Nobel times. Sometimes it pays dividends, as when DN's literature editor Malin Ullgren noted in 2020 that all copies of the American poet Louise Glück's books were on loan from the Nobel Library. Shortly afterwards, she was announced as the prize winner.
- Trying to figure out in advance who will get the Nobel Prize has a purely practical value for us. As a literature editor, of course, I want the person who is going to write the essay about the prize winner to have more time than the small hours from 1 pm until we send the paper to print, says Malin Ullgren.
This year, however, the Nobel Library will be closed from September 23 until the day after the prize winner is revealed. The head of the Swedish Academy's chancellery says that it is because you have "a lot to do".
Right now, the Academy is in the intensive final sprint leading up to the selection of a prize winner. For that to happen, several meetings are required and a candidate receives more than half of the votes.
Anders Olsson describes the final phase as "a special drama, where we are sometimes very much in agreement and sometimes very much in disagreement".
- I have been involved for such a short time, but I think it is very different from year to year, says Ellen Mattson. There can be a consensus, but I think the usual thing is that there are strong contradictions. It is more often difficult than simple processes.
The discussions are "extremely fun", she continues.
- The point is that no matter who it is, even if you feel "that is not my author", it will always be a good choice, because we are dealing with the world's best authors who are always meaningful to read. The cruelest thinning has already been done.
Is there any person or grouping in the Academy whose voice or opinion carries more weight than others?
- No, every single vote is worth exactly as much as another. There are many strong wills, but we listen to each other.
After the crisis - how is the mood in the Academy these days?
- It's a very good atmosphere. Not every second, of course, and it's hard at times, but I always feel excited before the meetings, says Ellen Mattson.
