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Nominate Annie Proulx for the Nobel Prize?

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moremojo:

--- Quote from: Mikaela on December 10, 2006, 01:54:15 pm ---I must admit that my respect for the Academy went down the drain when they year after year failed to award Swedish author of children's literature Astrid Lindgren. She died a few years back, after a long life well lived, an event that created immense national mourning in all of Scandinavia. If ever an author deserved the prize, it was her. One can only surmise that the pompous old guys were of the outdated opinion that children's literature, even of her exceptional quality (and quantity) is not "literature". My respect for the Swedish Academy and the AMPAS actually are on the same level. I think both are uninformed and pathetic enough to snub Annie Proulx.

--- End quote ---
There probably is something to the male bias, however unconscious it may be in our supposedly more enlightened era. I'm surprised that Doris Lessing, a very highly regarded writer whose work is frequently anthologized, has yet to garner the Nobel. She is quite aged now, and could well end up permanently snubbed like Astrid Lindgren.

Front-Ranger:

--- Quote from: moremojo on December 13, 2006, 06:27:36 pm ---There probably is something to the male bias, however unconscious it may be in our supposedly more enlightened era. I'm surprised that Doris Lessing, a very highly regarded writer whose work is frequently anthologized, has yet to garner the Nobel. She is quite aged now, and could well end up permanently snubbed like Astrid Lindgren.

--- End quote ---
You're right, she should have won it after "The Golden Notebook." Do you think she suffered from being a former communist?

Mikaela:
I think she suffers from being a woman.  :-\



--- Quote ---Okay, then, please let me know what author you do think is a success and should be nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. I definitely want to read this person's work.
--- End quote ---

As an a propos to this, it's interesting to note that my country's society of novelists (or whatever the English title would be) has proposed to the Academy that Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen should be awarded the Nobel prize for Literature. They assert it's not the form and format of the writing, but the consistent literary quality that is of importance. I can't quite see the Academy going along with it. But you never know!

moremojo:

--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on December 13, 2006, 06:34:07 pm --- Do you think she suffered from being a former communist?
--- End quote ---
I don't think that is the most likely reason for her being overlooked. Certainly many recipients of the prize have been leftist in their politics (I'm thinking right now of Jean-Paul Sartre, who declined the prize), and/or have hailed from socialist regimes (Boris Pasternak comes to mind).

At the same time, I would be wary of overemphasizing a lack of sensitivity towards the feminine on the part of the Swedish Academy. Toni Morrison, for example, is a recent high-profile woman recipient. There are no doubt a variety of factors that play into a writer's winning (or not), but still, judging from Lessing's fame and recognized talent, her omission continues to puzzle.

Kd5000:
Well the Nobel Prize for Literature has already been awarded for the year.  I suppose we'd have to try for this coming April.   

Actually, I know prizes in the sciences come with the USD equiv of 1.2 million.  I'm not sure if that applies to the literature award as the money for sciences is suppose to allow the award winner to continue his research (which can be costly). Many are RETIRED.   

My economic professor thought that some years an award for economics should not be handed out as nothing substantial had been turned out, so to speak.   However, I think there are many great writers around the world who go unrecognized.

I still respect the Nobel Prizes more the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.  If Proulx would win this award, it would be a crowing achievement for her contribution to literature. Let's face it, she's won every other literary award she qualifies for.  ;)

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